NOTES ON MESOPOTAMIAN MAMMALS. 477 
during the night. Iused to shoot them witha *22 bore whenthey came out 
of an evening. 
NEsox1a puxtont—Burton’s Mole Rat.—I have little to add to Buxton’s 
remarks, all of which apply to my own experience of these animals. My spcci- 
mens were secured out of a colony who had their burrows on the foreshore of* 
L, Akkalkuf-Baghdad. I frequently saw them excavating during the day in 
July and August, and used to shoot specimens with a*22 bore in the evening. 
when they came half out of their burrows inthe broad daylight, after I had 
removed the loose earth from the entranccs. 
Mus cENTILIs-—House Mouse.—Swarmed everywhere and in the vicinity of 
camps and supply dumps multiplied exceedingly and very swiftly. Undoubtedly- 
there were plenty present in the country originally, in the vicinity of towns and 
Arab villages, but I am certain that any quantity were introduced amongst the 
grain sacks and fodder, as well as tne wooden cases of provisions, which weie a 
part of the army’s supplies. It was quite extraordinary the way in which a 
camp or supply dump would be formed in the barren desert, and within a week 
the place would be swarming with mice, as well as with large flocks of Passer 
domesticus. Ishot many in my dug-out tent in various camps, but never kept. 
any of the skins orskulls. 
ACANTHION -(Sp.)—Porcupine.—I found this animal quite common in 
the broken country on either side of the Shatt-el-Adhaim during September- 
October and November 1917, but being entirely nocturnal I could never secure 
a specimen, as the earths were.a long way in front of our night picquet line, and 
also were driven into the sides of rocky mounds and the base of cliffs, and in 
consequence were quite impossible to dig out. In November and December of 
that year and in January and February 1918, I came across numerous earths in 
the ancient ruins and steep banks of old canals all along the Tigris from the 
Adhaim to Daur (15 miles North of Samarra) and there were at least half-a-dozen- 
earths in the vicinity of our camp at Bait-al-Khalifa. All but one of these 
were quite impossible to dig into and sitting up and waiting for the inhabitants 
to emerge on the bitterly cold nights of the Samarra winter did not attract me, 
especially as one could not have been certain of getting a shot as the animals did” 
not come out every night. 
However, I did try and dig out an earth which went deep into the ground 
amongst hard stony ruins and lumps of gypsum and after two days hard work 
captured the owners who were rather badly mauled in the process. I have al- 
ready described, in a recent number of B. N. H. 8. Journal, the method by which 
one of these captured, and no doubt terrified, beasts gave me an extraordinarily 
powerful blow on ths leg. The 9 which was the bigger of the pair weighed 25 Ibs. 
and the g 23 lbs., these weights being taken as they lay directly after they had 
been killed. We eat them both and they were excellent. In the Adhaim area . 
they used to come down and drink in the pools left in the otherwise dry bed of 
the river ; near Barr-aL-Kuarira there was no water at all available for them, 
except the nightly dew or when rain fell. From my observations it appeared 
that these animals partially hibernate during the winter and most certainly do . 
not leave their burrows every night. There are usually sevoral entrances to one 
burrow, but as they are all quite close to each other, they can hardly be regarded 
as bolt holes such as are usually utilized by Foxes. 
_ LEPUS DAYANUS CONNORI—Connor’s Hare—I found this species very common _ 
wherever there was dry cover all along the Tigris as far North as Daur and on 
the Euphrates from Feluja to Hit, th» only azea in which I served on the latter 
river. They provided excellent sport if one had a gun and many were brought 
to bag during January 1916 when my Regiment was marching up tho Tigris to . 
the Kut relief operations, 
A close. season was eventually instituted and I think these animals were pro- - 
