202 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Oustalet (1902, p. 399) records a specimen from Massaua, 

 Eritrea. 



"This animal is said to occur in the Khor Baraka and also at 

 Tamai [respectively south and west of Suakin], and it is stated 

 that it burrows under the roots of trees like a rat" (Anderson, in 

 Anderson and de Winton, 1902, p. 290) . 



All, or nearly all, of the above-mentioned specimens, except the 

 type of aethiopicus, were recorded as "L. imhausi" before the plas- 

 ticity of the genus was recognized, but all of the localities are much 

 nearer to the type locality of aethiopicus than to that of any other 

 described form. 



Imhaus's Maned Rat; Imhaus's Crested Bush Rat 



LOPHIOMYS IMHAUSII A. Milne-Edwards 



Lophiomys Imhausii A. Milne-Edwards, L'Institut, vol. 35, p. 46, 1867. (Based 

 upon a specimen secured alive at Aden, Arabia, but of unknown prove- 

 nance (A. Milne-Edwards, 18676, p. 115) ; Thomas remarks (1910, p. 222) 

 that Aden is "a place to which Somali animals are very commonly brought 

 for sale.") 



SYNONYM: Lophiomys smithi Rhoads (1896) ("Sheikh Husein, West Somali- 

 land" = Ethiopia) . 



FIGS.: A. Milne-Edwards, 18676, pis. 6-10; Kull, 1894, p. 136, fig.; Rhoads, 

 1896, pi. 25; A. D. Smith, 1897, p. 64, fig.; Drake-Brockman, 1910, pi. 

 facing p. 133. 



This species is " found probably throughout the Somali country, 

 but [is] undoubtedly a very rare animal" (Drake-Brockman, 1910, 

 p. 134). 



It is covered with very long silky hairs, of mixed white and black ; 

 those of the back rising in a crest from the crown to the tip of the 

 tail, and separated from those of the sides by an area of much shorter 

 hairs, brittle and grayish tawny; tail long, not prehensile, covered 

 with hairs like those of the body (A. Milne-Edwards, 1867a, pp. 46- 

 47) . The general appearance is not ratlike. The dorsal crest is 

 erectile. An adult male from British Somaliland measured: head 

 and body, 11 inches; tail, 8 inches. (Drake-Brockman, 1910, p. 133.) 



The known distribution includes British Somaliland and south- 

 eastern Ethiopia. 



Kull (1894) describes and figures two specimens from Somaliland. 



A specimen (the type of L. smithi) secured by A. D. Smith (1897, 

 p. 64) at Sheikh Husein, Ethiopia, in 1894 was the only one seen in 

 a journey of 4,000 miles through British Somaliland, Ethiopia, and 

 Kenya. 



In British Somaliland "I have seen it at Sheikh and near Burao, 

 but never lower than 4,000 ft. One specimen was killed by Somalis 

 at Upper Sheikh and one caught alive, while an adult female and 

 young male were caught near Burao .... 



