THE NAKED RAT 



Heterocephalus glaber, Riipp. 



Somali name, Faranfat 



DESCRIPTION. This quaint little creature is only sparsely 

 covered with hair over the body and tail. In point of fact, the 

 few hairs on it are hardly worthy of notice. The eyes are about 

 the size of pins' heads, and the external ear consists of a fold of 

 cartilage of oval shape surrounding the external meatus. The 

 head is large in comparison with the rest of the body. The skin 

 covering the body is very loose, and can easily be peeled off. 



MEASUREMENTS in the flesh of a female were : 



Head and body ; . ; . .92 mm. 



Tail 41 



Ear . . . . 2 



Hindfoot . . '. . . . . . 21 



DISTRIBUTION. The naked rat, curiously enough, is found in 

 the coldest parts of Somaliland. It is common on the Golis 

 Range, and from there right away to Hargeisa and south into 

 the Haud. I have caught it as far south as Banissa, Gurre country, 

 British East Africa. 



HABITS. This peculiar rat lives in burrows under the ground. 

 These burrows extend for great distances and have exits at 

 intervals, through which the mud dug out during the burrowing 

 is shot out in jets. These small tumuli look like miniature 

 volcanoes when the earth is being shot out of them. The best 

 way to get specimens is to creep up softly to one of these " active 

 volcanoes," when one can often see the hindlegs hard at work 

 shooting out the mud. A good stout stick with a nail at the 

 end or a small Somali spear can then be thrust in rapidly and the 

 rat transfixed. 



J37 



