28 



SOUTH AFRICAN MAMMALS 



commoner and better known species. These are the 

 Common or Cape Elephant Shrew {M. prohoscideits) 

 and the Kock Elephant Shrew (il/. rupestris). 



The former inhabits the plains or flats of the Cape 

 Colony — especially lightly wooded tracts — the latter, 

 rocky ridges or rocky patches or outcrops near water 

 courses. It ranges from the Northern Cape Colony to 

 the Transvaal. We have collected examples of the latter 

 species at Orange Grove, near Johannesburg, and along 

 the stony ridges of Pretoria. These belong to a sub- 

 species named after Dr. Lyster Jameson, one time of the 

 Transvaal University College. 



Both these animals are of a light brown colour, tending 

 to a reddish tinge in some individuals. Below the colour 

 is white, the latter gradually merging into the brown of 

 the upper surface. The Rock Elephant Shrew is a little 

 larger than the Cape species, measuring from 5 to 6 

 inches to the latter's 4J inches, and has reddish patches 

 behind the ears, a characteristic wanting in the other 

 species. 



The Cape Elephant Shrew lives in burrows in the 

 earth, while the Bock species inhabits the cracks between 

 the rocks, or forms cavities and runs under overhanging 

 rocks. They both live upon insects of various kinds, 

 grasshoppers and beetles probably forming the bulk of 

 the fare. The mode of progression is kangaroo-like, 

 a slow ungainly walk when the animal is at its leisure, 

 or long rapid jumps on its hind legs when hurried or 

 disturbed. 



The second genus, Petrodromus, has so far only been 

 recorded within our limits from Inhambane, in Portuguese 

 East Africa 



