TWO NEW RODENTS FROM BRITISH EAST AFRICA 



Bv EDMUND HELLER 

 Field Naturalist, Smithsonian African Expedition 



With One Plate 



Two Murine rodents collected by members of the Smithsonian 

 African Expedition in British East Africa during June and Tuly, 

 1909, appear to be new to science. This paper, in which they are 

 described, is the second dealing with the results of the expedition. 



THAMNOMYS LORINGI, sp. nov. 



(Plate LVL CI. skull, natural size) 



Type No. 161904, U. S. Nat. Mus., adult female (skin and skull), 

 Lake Naivasha. British East Africa, July 17, 1909; collected by 

 J. Alden Loring; original No. 6684. 



General characters. — A large Thamnomys agreeing with T. dryas 

 Thomas in dental characters and number of mammas (p o — o, 

 i 2 — 2 = 4); coloration distinctive, the face marked on each side 

 with a broad black band from tip of snout through eye to base of ear. 



Color. — Upperparts wood-brown, washed with black medially, 

 tinged with light tawny on rump and lumbar region ; sides paler and 

 grayer, but brown color continuing well down to the creamy white 

 of the underparts, the line of demarcation sharply defined ; sides of 

 head marked by a broad band of black from the snout through the 

 eye to base of the ear ; interorbital region and crown dusky, with a 

 slight grizzle ; ears scantily covered by ferruginous hairs ; whole 

 underparts, including cheeks and the fore and hind feet, creamy 

 white, the hair basally slate-gray ; tail black, clothed scantily with 

 short black hairs which become more numerous posteriorlv and 

 form a slight pencil at the tip. 



Measurements. — Head and body, 160; tail, 174; hind foot, 30; 

 ear. 21 (dry). Skull: condylobasal length, 36.0; zygomatic breadth, 

 20.2; interorbital constriction, 4.8; mastoid breadth, 15.6; depth of 

 braincase at middle. 19.6; nasal, 14.0; diastema, 10.8; mandible, 

 22.4; maxillary toothrow falveoli), 5.8; mandibular tootlirow 

 (alveoli), 5.6. 



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