exlix 
The fauna of the High Plateaux is essentially a steppe 
fauna, its composition recalling Egypt, Palestine and Syria. 
In the province of Constantine many species of the Tell have 
penetrated south into the Aures Mountains, while in the west 
forms of the High Plateaux have extended into the Tell of 
Oran on account of its dry climate. 
Apart from the Barbary sheep which the Aurés Mountains 
have in common with the mountains of the Sahara, and the 
lion which occurred from the coast into the Southern Atlas, 
but not in the desert, the mammals characteristic of the 
High Plateaux are mostly rodents, of the genera Meriones, 
Jaculus and Gerbillus, all abundantly represented in Egypt 
and the steppes of Western Asia and also occurring in the 
Sahara in species generally different from those of the High 
Plateaux. The Meriones, of the size of rats, are the com- 
monest of all, and their burrows are met with whichever 
locality one visits, a number of holes being together on a> 
small area as in the case of the continental short-tailed field- 
mouse. The burrows are favourite resorts for Blaps, toads 
and snakes, which one must expect to find in the traps instead 
of Meriones. A species of Ictonyx, black and white, belonging 
to the marten tribe, is found on the High Plateaux; it is 
closely related to an Egyptian species. The stink glands 
under the tail are strongly developed, and in skinning a 
specimen one has to be careful not to cut into the glands. 
We obtained a couple of specimens of this pretty marten at 
Guelt-es-Stel, where our collection of small mammals was 
particularly large and varied, and we threw the Ictonyx 
glands in the yard where some pigs walked about and used 
to devour the carcases of the specimens we had skinned, and 
everything else from the animal kingdom, be it a beetle or 
a snake. The pigs inspected the Ictonyx glands, turned and 
walked away; that was their verdict. We buried the glands 
outside in the sand. Small mammals generally come out of 
their burrows or hiding-places at dusk and one does not often 
see them in bright sunshine. However, there is one species 
on the High Plateaux which the Entomologist is sure to 
encounter when collecting in rocky ground, that is the peculiar 
Elephant shrew (Elephantulus), also an Entomologist, but of 
