new Shrews from Africa. 113 



Dimensions of the type : — 



Head and body 96 mm. ; tail 51; hind foot (s. u) 15*5 ; 

 ear 10*5. 



Skull, condylo-incisive length 24*3 ; breadth of brain-case 

 10*2 ; maxillary breadth 7*5; upper tooth-row 10 - 4. 



Hob. Aberdare Mts., British East Africa. Alt. 11,000'. 



Type. Adult male. Kudd Collection. B.M. no. 10.5.3.25. 

 Original number 595. Collected 5th February, 1910, by 

 R. Kemp. Nine specimens. 



The very short tail of this species will distinguish it from 

 the Nairobi G t. zaodon, with which it agrees in the characters 

 used to distinguish that form from the Bangweolo G. turba. 

 Ten specimens of zaodon average 60 mm. in tail-length, with 

 a minimum of 56, while eight examples of prooocax average 

 49*6, with a maximum of 53. 



Sylvisorex somereni, sp. n. 



A giant Sylvisorex, rivalling in proportions the largest 

 species of Crocidura. 



Size immensely larger than in the other species of Syloi- 

 sorex, all of which are quite small shrews. Fur very long, 

 soft, and rather woolly, not crisp, ordinary hairs of back 

 about 11-12 mm. in length; mixed with these hairs there 

 are a considerable number of longer hairs, 15-16 mm. in 

 length, these being most numerous on the posterior back. 

 A small lateral gland present. General colour above uniform 

 " smoke-grey," slightly paler anteriorly, darker posteriorly, 

 the hairs slaty grey with dull buffy-whitish tips ; under 

 surface with the bases of the hairs darker slaty, and their tips 

 more suffused with isabella. End of muzzle, ears, upper 

 surface of hands and feet blackish brown. Tail shorter than 

 head and body, without longer bristles, its short fine hairs 

 brown above and at the end, dull whitish proximally. 



Skull nearly twice as long lineally, and many times as 

 large in bulk, as that of the next largest species of the genus, 

 S. lunaris. In correlation with this great increase in size, 

 the lambdoid crests are enormously developed and extended 

 backwards, surpassing posteriorly on each side the level of 

 the condyles, and continuous with a posterior extension of 

 the lateral temporal crests, the whole masseteric area forming 

 a sort of shield on each side of the brain-case bordered by the 

 sharp edges of the crests ; on the top of the skull, however, 

 the muscular regions do not meet to form a median sagittal 

 crest, as they do in large CrocidinEe. The surface of the 

 bone of this masseteric area is strongly pitted and sculptured, 



Ann. & May. N. Hist. Ser. 8. Vol. vi. 8 



