DKSCRIPTIONS OF SEVEN NEW SPECTEvS OF EAST 

 AFRICAN MAMMALS 



(With Three Pirates) 



By EDMUND HELLER 



KIELD NATl'RALIST, SMITHSONIAN AFRICAN EXPEDITION 



The seven species and subspecies of mammals here described 

 were collected by members of the Smithsonian African Expedition. 

 This paper is the ninth dealing- with the results of the expedition. 



TATERA VARIA, new species 



Type from the Loletai Plains, Southern Guaso Nyiro River, Sotik 

 District, British East Africa ; adult male, number 162249, U. S. Nat. 

 Mus. ; collected by J. -\. Loring, June 15, 1909; original number 

 6338. 



Coloration. — Dorsal coloration tawny ochraceous overlaid faintly 

 with blackish posteriorly ; sides lighter, pure ochraceous without any 

 black intermixture, the ochraceous not very sharply defined from the 

 pure white of the underparts ; area between eye and ear, and spot 

 behind ear whitish. Underparts pure white, the hair white to the 

 roots. Feet white. Ears dusky, very sparingly haired. Tail 

 clothed with white hair except the dorsal surface of the anterior half, 

 which is tawny like the back. 



Measurements. — Head and body, 169 mm.; tail, 239; hind foot. 

 43. Skull : condylo-nasal length, 45.5 ; basilar length, 36.5 ; palatilar 

 length, 22 ; zygomatic breadth, 24 ; nasal, 20 ; interorbital constric- 

 tion, 8; diastema, 13.5 ; maxillary toothrow, 7.5. 



Most closely allied to fallax, from which it is distinguishable 

 chiefly by its longer pencillate tail and the larger audital bullae. 



This species shows great variation in the character and number ot 

 the longitudinal grooves of the upper incisors. This variation ex- 

 tends from incisors which show no grooves to specimens showing 

 as many as three grooves to each incisor. In a series of fourteen 

 fully adult skulls from the same locality there are five specimens 

 which show no indication of grooving even under magnification, 

 three which show only one groove, five which have two grooves to 

 each incisor, and one which possesses three grooves. The grooving 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Vol. 56, No. 9 



