ALLEN: MAMMALS FROM THE BLUE NILE VALLEY. 343 
de Winton the locality “Senaar” is very doubtful, and it is probable 
that the name is a synonym of E. aethiopicus of lower Egypt. 
CROCIDURA SERICEA (Sundevall). 
Silky Shrew. 
Sorex sericeus Sundevall, ex Hedenborg MS., Kongl. Svenska vet.-acad. Handl. 
for 1842, 1843, p. 173. 
In his essay on the genus Sorex above cited, Sundevall in 1843 de- 
scribed three new Crociduras from Sennar and the White Nile on the 
basis of specimens sent by Hedenborg, the Swedish traveller. The 
first of these, Sorex (= Crocidura) hedenborgianus, is characterized as a 
rather large species, head and body 140 mm., tail 52, skull 31 mm. 
long, of a uniform chocolate-brown above and below. We found 
nothing of this animal. The second species S. (= C.) fulvaster is 
said to be pale grayish brown above, ashy white below, the tail about 
half the length of head and body. The single specimen came from 
the White Nile, and measured :— head and body 90 mm., tail 44, skull 
21 mm. long and 5 mm. between the orbits. The third species S. 
(= C.) sericeus is reddish brown above, beneath ashy, with a tail 
slightly more than half the length of head and body. The skull is 22 
mm.long. For this animal the name sericeus is proposed, with Heden- 
borg as authority, but the latter merely suggested the name in a manu- 
script catalogue of the collection. 
Two specimens taken on the Blue Nile some ten miles above Karkoj 
and a third from Kuka, a camp site on the Dinder River, agree very 
closely with Sundevall’s description of sericeus and undoubtedly 
represent that animal. The measurements of the three are:— 
No. Head and body. Tail. Hind Foot. Ear. 
14,447 87 58 12 aaa 
14,448 90 60 13 8 
14,449 95 58 14 9.5 
Type 90 49 14 
The skull of the type was 22 mm. long, interorbital breadth 4.5, 
breadth of rostrum 2.5. These measurements are practically the 
Same in our specimens. C. fulvastra is said to have a trifle shorter 
but actually broader skull. 
All three specimens were caught among dry grass and weeds, two 
