706 J^Ilt- A. LOVERIDGE : NOTES ON 



P E D E T I D ,E . 

 PeDETES SURDASTEIl Subsp. 



The Spriugliaas is called Kupa in Kiswahili.and KamaiKlegeri . 

 in Kinyamwezi, 



A pair were purchased at Tabora on 18. xi. 21. c? . 305. 320. 

 130. 71 mm. $ . 420. 420. 130, 71 mm. The immature male is 

 in perfect pelage ; the female has bare patches on her back, 

 possibly resulting from Bcratching sores. Burrows were common 

 at Mbonoa and Suna; at the latter place one Springhaas was 

 trapped, but a jackal carried it off. I followed the spoor, and 

 saw the jackal. 



H Y S T 11 1 c I w M. 



TIystrix galeata Thos. 



The Porcupine is known as JSTungu in Kiswahili, Kiliena, 

 Kikami, Kisagara, Chigogo, Kinyaturn, and Kinyiramba; Tiuna 

 in Kisukunm. 



Five specimens only collected, three others seen, and quills 

 fo\nid, at llumruli, Kipera, Kilosa, Pooma, Shanwa, f^agnyo. 



The largest male measured IIGO. 70. 75. 40 mm., and female 

 827. ()5. 75. 39 mm. Native measurements ; both animals from 



Bagayo. 



At Sagayo was a porcupine expeit who, I heard, had dug out 

 four of these animals the week prior to my arrival. I therefore 

 en^ao-ed him for a week, to study bis methods. He first sends 

 bis small boys (two at least were his own sons, and wore only the 

 clotbes they were born in) to find tracks and follow them to the 

 eartb where the porcupine is lying-up. They then fetch their 

 father who then sticks a horn in eacli entrance of the burrow. 

 These horns (Topi, Thomson's Gazelle, and Iloan, also a large 

 ■wart-hog tusk) are filled with a pitch-like substance, into wbich 

 beads have been stuck befoi-e it hardened. Tlie result of this is 

 medicine said to prevent any animal that is in the burrow bolting 

 from the entrances, and at the same time robs them of their 

 ferocity so that they will not attack anyone entering the burrow; 

 this is very necessary, as at times jackals or a hyaena are found in 

 the earths. 



Ilavin"- done this, one or more of the small naked youngsters 

 are sent down the hole and follow the (iourse of tiie burrow 

 underground, sometimes to a distance of thirty or forty feet. 

 I myself have seen a length of thirty feet. On locatinjr the 

 animiil at the terminus of the burrow ' they knock on the roof, 

 and the rest of the party, wlio are listening for this, re[)ly, and 

 mark the spot. A stiaft is then sunk, and so nicely judged in 

 the three instances where I was present, that it breaks into the 

 oallery within a foot of the porcupine who is at the terminus of 

 the burrow. While the shaft is being sunk, sometimes the boy 



