EAST ArmCAN MAMMALS IN NATIOaSTAL MUSEUM. 161 



Genus HELIOPHOBIUS Peters. 



1846. Heliophobius Peters, Mon.-ber. Akad. Berlin, 1846, p. 259. (H. argenteo- 



cinereus.) 

 1890. Mijoscalops Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 448. (To replace Helio- 



phobius on supposition that it was preoccupied by Heliophobus Boisduval, 



1829.) 



The blesmols of this genus are in need of a careful systematic 

 revision. For the present it seems best to use for our specimens 

 the name proposed by Heller for the Kapiti Plains species. Although 

 this name may be antedated by others, at present of doubtful status, 

 it unquestionably applies to the form, and should not be replaced 

 without due consideration. 



HELIOPHOBIUS KAPITI (Heller). 



Plate 38. 



1909. Georychus Icapiti Heller, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 54, part 4, p. 469. 



September 24. (Potha, Kapiti Plains, British East Africa; type in U. S. 

 Nat. Mus.) 



1910. Myoscalops kapiti Roosevelt, African Game Trails, Amer. ed., pp. 473, 



479, 486; London ed., pp. 485, 490, 497. 



Specimens. — Forty-three, from localities as follows: 



British East Africa : Kapiti Plains, 8 (Loring) ; Kiambu, 1 

 (Loring) ; Loita Plains, 19 (Heller) ; Narosurra River, 2 (Turner) ; 

 Southern Guaso Nyiro River, 3 (Loring) ; Telek River, 5 (Heller) ; 

 Tsavo, 1 (Turner) ; Ulukenia Hills, 4 (Loring) . 



All of the specimens of Heliopliohius from British East Africa in 

 the United States National Museum collection appear to belong 

 to a single form. The skin and skull from Tsavo are indistin- 

 guishable from specimens from Kapiti Plains and other localities 

 and do not approach in any manner Heliophoiius spalax ^ of Taveta. 

 A single skin in the series (No. 181638 from Loita Plains) has a white 

 nose; otherwise all are without abnormal markings of any kind. 



The status of two forms of HeliopTiolius described from "East 

 Africa" by Gray in 1864 ^ has never been settled. These were based 

 on specimens collected by Speke, the types of which are in the British 

 Museum. One, H. alhifrons, has a large white frontal spot; the 

 other, //. pallidus, is of a peculiar pale and possibly albinistic color.* 



On the Loita Plains, May 26, Heller found female blesmols with 

 two and three embryos each. The members of the Smithsonian 

 African Expedition found numerous skulls of Heliophohius in owl 

 pellets on the Kapiti Plains. 



1 Thomas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 6, p. 315. September, 1910. 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864, pp. 123, 124. 



3 Thomas, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, vol. 6, p. 316. September, 1910. 



