1898.] MAMMALS FROM SOMALILAND. 765 



15. HyjENa stbiata Zimm. 



" Not so common as the last species." (JB. M. H.) 



16. Canis mbsomelas Schreb. 



" Jackals were everywhere very common." (B. M. U.) 

 More than a dozen skins were brought home, all belonging to 

 this species. 



17. Mellitora katel Sparrm. 



" Only one or two seen." {R. M. H.) 



18. Xbrtts rutilus Cretzsehm. 



a. 2 . Mandeira, 3500 ft., 9 Nov., 1897. 



/3. 6 . Harragagora, 3500 ft., 16 Nov., 1897. 



" This Squirrel is very common all along the watercourses. 

 They live in holes in the ground among the roots of a bush. 

 They seem very susceptible to cold, as they never come out of 

 the holes till the sun is well up. I kept several alive ; their 

 favourite food was the seeds of the aloe. They all got very 

 tame, but eventually succumbed to the cold weather at night." 

 {B. M. //.) 



In a list of mamuials collected in iSomaliland by Mr. C. V. A. Peel 

 (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 7, vol. i. 1898, p. 249), this animal was 

 referred to under the name of X dabagala Heugl., but there cau 

 be uo doubt that Heuglin simply renamed the species described by 

 Cretzschmar, as the localities from which the specimens were 

 obtained are almost identical, and all doubt is set aside by com- 

 parison of the figures given by these two \Ariters. 



This Squirrel has had the distinction of being once more given 

 a coloured plate under a new name, X. flaviis M.-Edw., by Huet 

 (Nouv. Arch, du Mus. 2*= ser. iii. pi. 6. fig. 2). As pointed out 

 by M. de Pousargues (Ann. Sc. Nat., Zool. 1896, p. 337), the subject 

 of this figure did not come from Gaboon as originally stated, but 

 from Soiualiland, so that it is unquestionably identical with 

 X. rutilus Cretzsehm. 



There is in Abyssinia another closely allied but very distinct 

 species of Ground-Squirrel, which has been confused with this 

 species, viz. X. brachyotus Hempr. & Ehr. Symb. PHys. t. ix. 



The British Museum possesses several specimens obtained by 

 Dr. W. T. Blanford, and referred to in his Geol. & Zool. Abyss. 

 p. 278 (1870) under the heading of X. rutilus, with the remark 

 that the colour does not agree with Cretzschmar's figure : more- 

 over the original labels on the specimens further show that the 

 identification was made with great doubt. 



Hemprich and Ehrenberg give a very good coloured figure 

 of this Squirrel, but it should not have been placed in a tree, 

 M. Huet (t. c. p. 139, pi. 6. fig. 1) has also given a coloui-ed figure 

 of this Squirrel under the name X. fuscus ; there can be no ques- 

 tion of this being identical with X. hrachyotus, as a comparison 

 of the figures will show. 



