belonging to the Genus Crocidura. 77 



Type. Adult female. B.M. no. 7. 7. 8. 50. Original 

 number 11. Collected by the late Captain Boyd Alexander 

 during the Alexander-Gosling Expedition. 



The narrower unicuspids and paler colour separate this 

 form from hindei, hirta, and the allied races. 



|(34) Crocidura sericea, Sund. 



Sorex sericeus, Sundevall, Vet.-Ak. Handl. Stock, pp. 173 & 177 



(1842). 

 Crocidura strauchii, Dobson, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. p. 225 (1890). 



Allied to the hirta and hindei groups, general dimensions 

 rather larger. 



Colour very variable, the usual bleached pelage grey 

 washed with cinnamon-brown, the general effect as in 

 " snuff-brown " speckled with " neutral grey." In some 

 cases where the bleaching process has been carried still 

 further the grey tint is much less conspicuous, the colour 

 between " snuff-brown " and " cinnamon-brown." Under- 

 pays pale greyish white, the transition from the reddish 

 brown to the light grey rather sudden. Backs of hands and 

 feet dirty white or buff. Lateral gland white-haired. Tail 

 brownish above, white below ; bristle-hairs very long and 

 conspicuous, evenly distributed over nearly the entire length 

 of the tail. 



Skull with a rather larger brain-case than in hindei ; teeth 

 about equal in size, small upper unicuspids narrower, more 

 oval in transverse section, and of equal size. 



Dimensions of the type (as given by Sundevall): — 



Head and body 90 mm. ; tail 49 ; hind foot 14. 



Skull : length 22 ; interorbital breadth 45. 



The following are the dimensions of a series in the 

 Museum Collection (measured in the flesh) : — 



Head and body, 

 mm. 



S . Bahr-el-Ghazal 94 



6- „ .... 90 



?. „ .... 90 



— . Fashoda 105 



d . Lake No, Sudan 87 



?• » , 82 



