EAST AFEICAN MAMMALS IN NATIONAL MUSEUM. 63 



THAMNOMYS MACMILLANI GAZELLE Thomas. 



1910. Thamnomys macmillani gazellse Thomas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8. 

 vol. 5, p. 282. March. (Chak-Chak, Bahr-el-Ghazal, Sudan; type in 

 British Museum.) 



Specimens. — Ten, as follows: 



Lado: Rhino Camp, 8, including 1 in alcohol (Loring, Heller). 



Uganda: Lialo, 1 (Loring); Nkyanuna, 1 (Loring). 



THAMNOMYS MACMILLANI OBLITUS Osgood. 



1910. Thamnomys oblitus Osgood, Field Mus. Zool. ser., vol. 10, No. 3, p. 16, 

 April 7. (Voi, British East Africa; type in Field Mus. Nat. Hist.) 



Specimen. — One, as follows: 



British East Africa: Summit of Mount Sagalla, Taita Hills 

 (HeUer). 



The type-specimen of Thamnomys ochraceus G. M. Allen ^ from the 

 Mem River, north of Mount Kenia, is almost intermediate in colora- 

 tion between our Lado skins of T. macmillani gazellse, and this Sagalla 

 skin of oblitus. It is distinguished from gazellse by its slightly paler 

 coloration and uniformly colored upperparts (lacking the decidedly 

 grayish head and shoulders of gazellx) and from ohlitus by its- slightly 

 darker, less bright ochraceous, dorsal coloration and larger hind foot. 

 The tliree forms are closely related and doubtless intergrade. 



Our specimen of ohlitus almost exactly matches the type, which 

 has been lent me by the Field Museum of Natural History. The 

 species must be rare or difficult to collect, for on Heller's two visits 

 to the Taita Hills he has captured only these two individuals, while 

 at the same time large series of the commoner polionops were obtained- 



Genus (ENOMYS Thomas. 



1904. CEnomys Thomas, Ann and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 13, p. 416. June. 

 {(E. hypoxanthus.) 



The recognized forms of the rusty-nosed rats included in this 

 genus are not well distinguished. It is clear from an examination 

 of even our smaU series that almost aU of the characters which have 

 been assigned to various subspecies are merely individual variations, 

 or differences in the color and sloiU due to age. I can distinguish 

 three rather poorly marked forms in our collection from British East 

 Africa, but would not be at all surprised if some of these eventually 

 could not be maintained. 



For measurements of specimens see page 65. 



« Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 54, p. 442. April, 1912. The type has been lent me by the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology through the kindness of Mr. Samuel Ilenshaw. 



