1885,] MR. O. THOMAS ON HETEROCEPHALUS GLABER. 61 I 



their keep, and arranged everytliing for their despatch &c. These 

 kittens within a very few days became quite tame." 



Mr. Oldfield Thomas exhibited a specimen of a burrowing Rodent 

 apparently allied to the rare Heterocephalus glaher, Riippell, which 

 had been recently presented to the Natural History Museum, and 

 read the following letter from the donor : — 



Junior Carlton Club, 



Pall Mall, S.W., 



Jime 15, 1885. 

 Dear Sir, — 



In looking at my journal I find the following notes under 

 the date January 29, 1885: — 



Gerlogobie, Ogardaiu, Central Somali-laud. — "To-day the natives 

 brought into camp a curious little creature, a sort of Mole, length 

 4 J inches, skin bare, with a few stiff hairs. Tail Hke that of a 

 Hippo. Its toes armed with bristles, and its teeth like those of a 

 "Walrus. On being placed on the ground it commenced to dig 

 furiously, using its teeth to loosen the earth with ; its eyes were tiny, 

 and its ears simply holes in the sides of its head." 



This little creature, called " Farumfer" by the Somali, throws up 

 in places groups of miniature craters, which exactly represent vol- 

 canoes in active eruption ; when the little beasts were at work I used 

 frequently to watch them, and found that the loose earth from their 

 excavations was brought to the bottom of the crater, and sent with 

 great force into the air in a succession of rapid jerks, but they them- 

 selves never ventured forth from the shelter of their burrows. I 

 caught several by suddenly plunging a sharp-pointed instrument into 

 the volcano, but never succeeded in making good skins of them. 



Yours very truly, 

 E. LoRT Phillips, F.Z.S. 



Mr. Thomas remarked that no specimen of H. glaber had 

 apparently been recorded since Riippell's original example described 

 just 40 years ago ^ ; and that it was therefore a matter of great 

 interest to determine whether that author's description of its charac- 

 ters and habits held good on the examination of further specimens, 

 since it had been sometimes supposed that the original type was 

 either immature or diseased, and on that account more or less 

 hairless. This second specimen now proved that Riippell was 

 quite correct in his description, and that the normal state of the 

 animal was as figured by him. It appeared, however, that the 

 nearest affinities of Heterocephalus are not with Spalax and 

 Rhizomys, as had been supposed by Mr. Alston", who had only 

 Riippell's figures to go upon, but with Bathyergus and Georychus, 

 to the latter of which it was very closely allied, differing chiefly 

 in its want of hair, much longer tail, and in its not possessing 

 any premolar teeth. 



^ Mu8. Senok. iii. p. 99, pi. vii. (animal), x. (skull), 1845. 

 » P.Z.S. 1876, p. 86. 



