46 XERLS ERYTHOPUS. 



Ciold- coast (Pel), Ashantee (Verreaux), Yoruba (Mann), 

 Aburi (Reichenow) ; Loaugo , (Jhinxoxo (Dr. Falkenstein ) ; 

 Buruu [Fr. Cuvierj , Sudan (v. Heuglin) ; Egypt (Clot-l!ey), 

 Nubia, Keren, Bogos , Sennar, Kordofan (Riippell, v. Heu- 

 glin and Dr. Prunner) ; Abyssinia (Riippell, v. Heuglin, 

 Blanford); Zanzibar, Kitui (Hildebrandt). 



Temminck (fide Pel) reports that this species is very 

 common on the Gold-coast there where the woods bord( r upon 

 the cultivated grounds. It feeds on millet and other grains , 

 is very shy and by day it hides away in holes at the base 

 of trees or in shrubs. Von Heuglin says that it has the same 

 manner of living as Xerus rutiliis. Blanford found this spe- 

 cies in rocky places about Senate and elsewhere, in ïigré 

 up to about 9000 feet and as low as 4500 feet in the An- 

 seba valley. It has six mammae. On the second of March 

 near Takonda he shot a gravid female containing four well 

 developed young ones: two, a male and female in each horn 

 of the uterus. Büttikofer relates that they are very nume- 

 rous in groundnut plantations and also in newly planted 

 cassave-farms : they dig out the young cassave-plants , the 

 bark of Avhich they gnaw off. They burrow holes in the 

 ground in which they sleep at night. They feed at each 

 hour of the day, even during the hot meridian sun. They 

 are very attentive and shy , and more easy to observe than 

 to shoot , as they mostly make their escape in the neigh- 

 boring shrubs , where nobody can find them. In captivity 

 they soon grow very tame. 



Ruppell relates that his specimens from Abyssinia were 

 darker colored than the Kordofan-individuals and Blan- 

 ford states that the specimens from AVestern Africa are 

 of the same size of the Abyssinian species , but much 

 darker in color. 



Etienne Geotfroy Saint Hilaire was the first to describe 

 this .species. He only disposed of a single individual from 

 an unknown locality. As his description is very clear and 

 the book in which he described this species seems to be 

 exceedingly rare (cf. Catalogue méthodique de M. Is. Geottroy 



Notes Irom the Leyden JMusewni , Vol. 1\'. 



