342 EECENT EXPEDITION TO BRITISH CENTBAL APBICA. [May 7, 



I found amougst the smaller mammals an Aimcanfhis, allied to 

 A. ahi/ssiniciis, Kiipp., Georychus ochraceo-cinereus of Heuglin, a 

 Bendromi/s allied to D. mystacalis of Heuglin, a Mus allied to 

 J-/. lateralis, Heugliji. I have to thank Mr. Oldfield Thomas for 

 naming these Kodents and for other kind assistance. 



Leopards are very common and a terrible scourge in the eastern 

 valleys of Ruweuzori. In some cases the natives keep within 

 their bomas after 3 p.m. on account of them. One very dark 

 evening two of my men were very severely hurt by them. The 

 animal, after tasting the blood of one of them, leaped in amongst 

 the camp-fires and seized a second. 



Lions are also common in the lower ground about Kasagamas. 

 They hide in the neighbourhood of the plantations and cany off 

 the women or solitary men when they come to work. 



With regard to birds, I have only brought a few specimens. Of 

 these there are t\Ao species of Nectarinia. One of them {N. kili- 

 memis) is found amongst the bananas at from 5500 to 6600 feet in 

 the vallej's along the mountain. It seems to feed entirely on the 

 flowers of the banana, and has a very beautiful reddish-bronze tint. 

 The other, which is much smaller and more gaily coloured, occurs 

 up to 11,000 feet, and seems to feed chiefly on a large Acanthaceous 

 flower ^\ hich grows in enormous profusion at that height ; it also 

 feeds on other chai-acteristic shrubs of that region, chiefly of the 

 same order. The Cro\\Tied Crane is extremely common all round 

 Euwenzori, but particularly in the Semliki valley. 



With regard to Eeptiles and Amphibia, I understand from 

 Dr. Giinther that amongst my specimens there is a new Chameleon 

 repi-esented. 



Turning to the insects, a very curious Beetle {Heliocopus 

 colossus) of enormous size seems to be veiy common along the East 

 Euwenzori in places where Elephants exist. It is found only in 

 their dung, in which it lays its eggs. I also found examples 

 of another species, H. hamadryas. 



Perhaps I may be allowed to say that, taking the remarks 

 which I have obtained from those who have looked at my zoolo- 

 gical specimens, the general impression seems to be that there is 

 at Euwenzori a meeting-point of two very distinct faunas, one 

 western and the other Abyssinian and Cape. This coincides very 

 closely with my own impressions of the flora. From the moimtains 

 of Abyssinia along the east coast — keeping, i. e., at an altitude of 

 4000 feet — down to Mashonaland there is a flora which becomes 

 gradually more and more like that of the Transvaal. The iShire 

 Highlands' plants are much nearer those of Mashonaland than one 

 would suppose. The West-African and Congo flora seems to have 

 mingled with this northern flora at Euwenzori, where one of the 

 valleys, the Wimi, contains many western forms. 



I think there is some reason to suppose that the Uganda 

 plateau, or, one might say, the range of Jackson's Hartebeest, is a 

 minor oflshoot of this Abyssinian-Cape aflinity, of which Somali- 

 land (with Swayne's Hartebeest) represents another offshoot — 



