1916.] Holllster, Shrews Collected by the Congo Expedition. 669 



Three specimens of this new species of Crocidura are in the collection — 

 two from Medje and one from Xgayu. The topotype skin from Medje, 

 a female, measures: Total length, 116; tail vertebrae, 53; hind foot, 12; 

 ear, 9. The tail of the Xgayu skin is 57 millimeters in length. All agree 

 almost precisely in coloration. The species apparently is close to C. 

 doliehura but may be distinguished by its brown coloration and shorter 

 tail. 



The Liberian shrew described by Miller in 1900 as Myosorex muricauda 1 

 proves to be a species of Crocidura. It was transferred by Thomas 2 in 

 1904 from Myosorex to the genus Sylvisorex. Consequently Dollman does 

 not include it in his recent revision of the African shrews of the genus Cro- 

 cidura. 3 The species is closely related to C. doliehura and should have been 

 placed between that species and maurisca in Dollman's synopsis. It is 

 hard to understand how Thomas could have been misled by the excellent 

 description and figures given by Miller. 



11. Crocidura polia sp. now 

 (Plate VII, Fig. 5; IX, Figs. 2, 2a.) 



Type, No. 48559, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., skin and skull of adult cf (basal suture 

 closed; teeth moderately worn) collected at Medje, Belgian Congo, July 1, 1914, by 

 Herbert Lang and James P. Chapin. Orig. No. 2442. 



A small, grayish brown, long-tailed shrew with the general proportions of C. 

 doliehura Peters, but with the tail heavily covered with short hairs which increase 

 in numbers and length at the tip to form a distinct white brush. A few scattered 

 longer bristle-hairs on basal third of tail. Skull and teeth much as in doliehura, 

 muricauda, and ludia. Pelage moderately full, the hairs at middle of back about 

 3.5 millimeters in length. 



Color. — Upperparts uniform grayish brown, or perhaps better described as pale 

 fuscous with a faint sprinkling of silvery gray; sides and underparts distinctly lighter, 

 more grayish, but not sharply marked from color of back; lateral glands drab. 

 Hands and feet thinly coated with whitish hairs. Tail well coated with short hairs 

 which increase in length and numbers on the terminal half and produce a distinct 

 white pencil at tip; blackish brown above, slightly lighter below, especially at 

 extremity, and tipped with white. 



Skull and teeth. — The skull is remarkably like that of Crocidura India, just 

 described above; is of about the same size and general shape, but has a slightly 

 natter braincase and less developed maxillary processes. It thus clearly shows the 

 relationship with doliehura and muricauda. The teeth are essentially as in ludia 



1 Proc. Washington Acad. Sciences, Vol. 2, p. 645, December, 1900. 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1904, p. 190. 



3 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 8, Vol. 15, pp. 508-527, May, 1915, et seq. 



