ALLEN: AL\.MMALS FROM THE BLUE NILE VALLEY. 335 



robusfa, a tufted-tailed species, was the only member of the genus 

 kno^^■n from this part of the Nile Valley. 



Graphiurus orobinus (Wagner). 

 Pigmy Dormouse. 

 Myoxus orobinus Wagner, Abh. Kon. Baier. akad. wnss., 184:3, p. 1-19. 



There is much doubt as to the identity of Wagner's M. orobinus, the 

 tN-pe locality of which is Sennar. The original description is too brief 

 to be of much avail, nor does Reuvens in his re\new of 1890, shed 

 further light on the subject. The length of the body ( = head and 

 body) is given as 4"2'" or about 107 mm. We obtained five dormice 

 on the Blue Nile, at El Garef and ^Magangani in traps set at the foot of 

 thorn trees in scattered groves with vines and undergrowth. As no 

 other species was met \\'ith, it may be that these represent orobinus 

 though the largest is smaller than Wagner's measurement indicates. 

 They are of the group to which G. parvus belongs, but rather pallid, — 

 a broAMiish gray above, slightly clearer on the shoulders, black eye- 

 ring nearly obsolete, tail pale drab; below whitish, with a tinge of 

 buff. The gray bases of the hairs show through on the abdomen. 

 The tail is not white-fringed. The measurements of two adult fe- 

 males (M. C. Z. 14,483, 14,486) are: —head and body 83, 88; tail 75, 

 71; hind foot 15, 17; ear from meatus 13.5, 12.5; greatest length of 

 skull 25. It is not unlikely that Wagner's specimen was one of the 

 larger b^o^^'ner group of dormice, and that ours is an undescribed race 

 of the smaller group. DoUman's Graphiurus butleri seems to be a 

 larger species ; it was described from Jebel Ahmed Agar, on the \Miite 

 Nile below Fashoda. 



EUXERUS ERYTHROPUS LEUCOUAIBRINUS (Ruppell). 



Side-striped Ground Squirrel. 



Scuirus leucoumbrinus Ruppell, Neue wirbelth. fauna Abyssinien. Saugeth., 

 1835, p. 38. 



We first saw this Squirrel between Sennar and Singa, and it was 

 subsequently met with all along the Blue Nile to Fazogli where we 

 obtained a young one, not more than a third g^o^^'n, in late January. 

 Heuglin states that these animals appear in early forenoon and late 



