( 28 ) 



II. 



MAMMALS. 



By OLDFIELD THOMAS. 



{Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.') 



This cullcotioii was maik' by Dr. Hartert and Mr. Ili.lgert during' an cxiiedition 

 southwards to Tidikelt, in the centre of the Western Sahara, a region hitherto 

 entirely uncollected, at least so far as Mammals are concerned. Considering the 

 difficulties of the country and the fact that Birds and Insects were their chief 

 object, the collection of nianinials is of remarkable extent, and gives a good idea 

 of the Fauna of the country. 



This ])ri)ves, however, to be disappointingly similar to tiiat of the Northern 

 Sahara, only one mammal, tiie (iundi, being distinct enough to need description 

 as new. Tiie others are all known desert animals, some described by Lataste from 

 the region between Biskra and Ghardaia, and others wide-ranging forms extending 

 even into Egypt. 



No sign of an admixture of Ethiopian forms oi:curs in the collection, the 

 animals being all typical N. African sj)ecies, only differing — when they differ at all 

 — from their Algerian relatives by tlieir greater adaptation to a desert life — this 

 adaptation being generally in paler colour and larger ears. 



Mention has here also been made of a few species collected in former years by 

 the Hon. Walter Rothschild and Dr. Hartert in Algeria. 



Mr. Uothscliiid has been good enough to present to the National Museum 

 most of tiie animals collected, and these form a most valuable accession to tiic 

 Museum, wiiich had not previously possessed any mammals from the Sahara south 

 of Biskra. 



1. Asellia tridens (Jeoff. 



cJ 41, ? 4:i ; EI-Golea. (Also some in spirits.) 



Paler than ordinary Egy))tian specimens of .1. tridens, but e(|ualled in this 

 resjject by a few cxcejitional individuals from that country. 



[Many hundrcils of this bat were found in one of the senii-sublerrancan for- 

 saken houses among the ruins of the ancient Zenata fortress on tlie hill above El- 

 Golea. This was the only place where we met with the species. — E. H.] 



2. Plecotus christiei (iray. 



? 22 ; Onmash, near Biskra. (W. Rothschild and E. Hartert.) 

 Agrees with Egyptian specimens in the size of the bullae, which are far larger 

 than in the European F. aiiritiis. 



'■^. Pipistrellus kuhli Kuhl. 



i 4 ; El-Golea. 



(S 45, 46, 47 ; 50 km. south of Ghardaia. 



Specimens of this common bat were also obtained at El-Kantara and Biskra. 



[These Bats sleep in houses, and begin to fly about fairly early. We found 

 them very common at El-Kantara and Biskra as well as in El-Golea, also in the 

 Bordj of the little oasis of Sebseb, 51) km. south of Ghardaia. — E. H.] 



