EAST AFEIOAN MAMMALS IN NATIONAL MUSEUM. 37 



Family SORICID^. 



Genus wSURDISOREX Thomas. 



1906. Surdisorex Thomas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. IS. p. 22-3. Sep- 

 tember. (iS*. norse.) 



Two closel^y related species of short-tailed shrews are included in 

 the collections. All the specimens are from high altitudes, none 

 having been taken below 9,000 feet. 



For measurements of the specimens see table, page 38. 



SURDISOREX NOR^ Thomas. 



1906. Sardisorex norx Thomas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 18, p. 223. 



September. (East side of Aberdare Range, near Nyeri, British East 



Africa; type in British Museum.) 

 1910. Surdisorex norx Roosevelt, African Game Trails, Amer. ed., pp. 474 and 



480; London ed., pp. 486 and 491. 



Specimens. — Nine (three m alcohol), from— 



British East Africa: Aberdare Mountains, 10,000 to 11,000 

 feet (HeUer). 



Only one skull, out of the nine specimens of this shrew in the 

 collection, shows the small second lower unicuspid tooth described 

 by Thomas in the type. In this specimen the extra tooth is well 

 developed on both sides and can be plainly seen without the aid of a 

 glass. A single female, preserved in alcohol, August 10, shows 3-3 

 inguinal mammas. Heller records two embryos in a female collected 

 October 12. His notes state that the species is diurnal. 



SURDISOREX POLULUS Holllster. 



Plate 7, figs. I, 2. 



1910. Surdisorex norse Roosevelt, African Game Trails, Amer. ed., p. 487; Lon- 

 don ed., p. 498. (Not of Thomas.) 



1916. Surdisorex polulus Hollister, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 66, No. 1, 

 p. 1. February 10. (Mount Kenia, British East Africa; type in U. S. 

 Nat. Mus.) 



Specimens. — Thirty-five (four in alcohol), from — 



British East Africa: West side of Mount Kenia, 9,000 to 

 12,000 feet (Loring, Mearns). 



Out of this large series only a single skull shows the extra [ower 

 unicuspid, and this one on one jaw only. ITie specimens v.^ere all 

 collected betweeji September 22 and October 8. There are some in 

 complete ncAv coat and others in which the change has barely com- 

 menced. The numerous moultiiig skins show the process of renewal 

 to be rather evenly accomplished, from the head backward, in a 

 definite line. Loring records a female, October 4, vrith one embryo 



