542 APPENDIX B 



Arvicanlhis abyssinicus nairdbcR (Athi Grass Rat). The commonest mouse in B. 

 E. A. on the plains. Outnumbers any other species. Found everywhere in 

 grass and brush, but not in deep forest. Often lives in shallow burrows round 

 the bases of thorn-trees, from which its well-marked runways radiate into the 

 grass. Strictly diurnal. Often seen running about in bright sunlight. Never 

 found in traps at night. A striped mouse that has lost its stripes, vestiges of 

 which are occasionally found in the young. 



Arvicanthis pulchellus masaicus (Nairobi Striped Mouse). Diurnal. Common on 

 the Athi Plains and on the Sotik and in Rift Valley. Around Neri we often saw 

 them running about through the shambas. Live in brush and cultivated fields. 

 In pattern of coloration much like our thirteen-striped gopher. 



Arvicanthis pumilio diminutus (Naivasha Striped Rat). Common in Rift Valley, 

 and on the Aberdares and around Kenia. Sometimes occurs in company wiiV, 

 Nairobi mouse, but less widely distributed; much more abundant where found, 

 and ascends to much higher altitudes. 



Pelomys roosevelti Heller (n. s.) About the size of our cotton rat, and with much 

 the same build. Coarse, bristly hair; the dorsal coloration is golden yellow 

 overlaid by long hairs with an olive iridescence; the under parts are silky white. 

 It is a meadow mouse found at high altitudes, seven to nine thousand feet high; 

 usually lives close to streams in heavy grass, through which it makes runways. 

 Not common. 



Saccostomus umbriventer (Sotik Pouched Rat). Heller trapped several on the 

 Sotik at the base of the southernmost range of mountains we reached. Found 

 in the longish grass along a dry creek bed. Trapped in their rather indistinct 

 runways. The pockets or pouches are internal; not external as in our pocket 

 mice. 



Tachyroyctes splendens ibeanus (Nairobi Mole Rat). A mole rat of B. E. A. with gen- 

 eral habits of above, but avoiding rocky places, and not generally found many 

 miles out on the plains away from the forest. Rarely found in the bamboos 

 in spite of its name. 



Myoscalops kapiti Heller (n. s.) (Kapiti Blesmole). On the Kapiti and Athi Plains 

 and in the Sotik. Smaller than German East African form and no white oc- 

 cipital spot. A cinnamon wash on its silvery fur. Burrows like our pocket go- 

 phers, and has same squat look and general habits. Lives in rocky ground, where 

 bamboo rat does not penetrate. It does not run just below the surface of the soil, 

 as the pocket gopher does in winter. The blesmole's burrows are about a foot 

 below the surface. Eats roots. 



Pedetes surdaster (Springhaas). (See body of book.) One young at birth. A 

 colony of four to eight open burrows, all inhabited by a single animal. 



Hyslrix galeala. (See body of book.) Heller found in stomach the remains of a root 

 or tuber and seeds like those of the nightshade. 



Lepus victoria. Generally distributed on plains; much the habits and look oi a 

 small jack-rabbit. Does not burrow. 



Elephantulus pulcher (Elephant Shrew). Fairly common throughout B. E. A. in 

 bush and on hills, not in deep forests or on bare plains. Often out at dusk, 

 but generally nocturnal. A gravid female contained a single embryo. One 

 in a trap had its mouth full of partly masticated brown ants. A gentle thing, 

 without the fierceness of the true shrews. Trapped in the runways of arvi- 

 canthis. 



Erinaceus albiventris (Hedgehog). Fairly common in the Sotik. In certain places 

 under trees Heller found accumulations of their spiny skins, as if some bird 

 of prey had been feeding on them. 



