On Five new African Shrews. 51 
Fig. 5, A spermatheca from segment viii., X 7. Letters as before. 
Fig. 6. Prostate, x 7. 
Pericheta sexta, sp. n. 
Fg. 7. Male pores. Unfortunately the lithographer has indicated ten 
cheetee, instead of eight, between the male pores. 
g. 8. Prostate, x 7. a, pemal duct; b, bulbus. 
Fig. 9. Spermatheca, x 7. Letters as before. 
Pericheta caducicheta, sp. n. 
Fig. 10. Segments ix., x., xi., xii., X 7, to exhibit annulation of seg- 
ments and the absence of chaetz on segment x. 
Fig. 11. Prostate, x 7. 
Fig. 12. Spermatheca, x 7. 
VILI.—Deseriptions of Five new African Shrews. 
By OLpFieLtD THOMAS. 
InN examining a shrew obtained by Dr. Donaldson Smith’s 
expedition in Somaliland an attempt has been made to deter- 
mine the other African shrews in the British Museum collec- 
tion, with the result that the following species prove to need 
description :— 
Crocidura (Croc.*) Smithii, sp. n. 
Coloration that characteristic of the C. albicauda and 
Fischeri group, but size smaller than in any known species of 
it. Face, crown, and back pale slaty grey; lips, cheeks, 
chin, chest, sides, and belly white, as are also the whole of the 
limbs. Ears short, almost naked, their few fine hairs brown. 
Lateral glands distinct (in male), the hairs above and below 
them stained rufous in the type. ‘Tail barely half the length 
of the head and body, thick, tapering, rather thinly haired, 
pure white throughout. 
* In using the terms “ Crocidura” and “ Pachyura,” I do so only be- 
cause they serve as convenient formule by which the number of the 
teeth may be most readily shown. In agreement with Dobson, Lataste, 
Trouessart, and others, I have little doubt that they do not represent 
natural genetic groups, and that, for example, the large Pachyure are 
more Closely allied to the large Crocidwre than they are to the pygmy 
species having the same dental formula. In fact, some four or five cases 
are known in which a specimen is a Pachywra on one side of the mouth 
and a Crocidura on the other, although it must be admitted that, on the 
whole, there is a great constancy as to the presence or absence of the 
fourth unicuspid within any given species, and that we ought not to 
allow ourselves to be too much influenced by such exceptional cases as 
these. Pending further knowledge on this most difficult subject, I prefer 
to use the large genus Crocidura, taking advantage of the subgeneric 
terms simply to indicate the dental formule of the species described. 
4* 
