1922] Allen, Congo Collection of I nsectivor a 21 



The collectors' measurements of the two adults are : total length, 515 

 mm. (Penge), and 501 (Avakubi); head and body, 268, 259; tail, 247, 

 242; hind foot, 84, 84; ear, 30, 30. Skulls: total length, 69.5 (Penge), 

 — (Avakubi); condyloincisive length, 62.3,65; zygomatic breadth, 36, 35. 

 They thus agree in measurements with average specimens of R. s. claudi 

 from localities farther west, as recorded below (Tables 1-4, pp. 23-26). 



This fact has, however, little significance since the range in size of 

 adults of R. s. claudi covers all forms of the genus Rhynchocyon of which 

 measurements have been published. In coloration they closely resemble 

 extremely dark examples of claudi, from which they are not satisfactorily 

 distinguishable. Placed at the end of the dark series of claudi, they 

 completely merge with it. It seems preferable, however, to recognize 

 them as a darker geographical race of the same specific group. 



Rhynchocyon stuhlmanni nudicaudata Lydekker, however, based on a 

 single specimen from the Mawambi district of the Ituri Forest, seems 

 scarcely entitled to serious consideration. The description indicates 

 that the type was not unlike the dark phase of the R. stuhlmanni group, 

 with which the author was at the time wholly unacquainted except 

 through the description of stuhlmanni. The "generally dark color and 

 wholly white tail" are not distinctive in view of the variations shown, and 

 described below, in the claudi series; nor are there any geographical 

 reasons that would seem to require its recognition, the type locality of 

 nudicaudata being less than fifty miles southeast from Penge, in the same 

 environment as the latter, and represented in the present collection by 

 specimens of stuhlmanni, while the type of stuhlmanni came from a 

 locality equally near that of nudicaudata. The characters of naked ears 

 and tail, dwelt upon as important distinctions, have no real significance, 

 as such conditions are not infrequent in the claudi series; while a white 

 tail, at least in dry skins, is a prevailing condition. The hairs of the tail 

 are also so minute that they are often apparent only on very close in- 

 spection, giving the impression of a naked tail, especially in comparison 

 with examples of the cirnei group, with which the author compared his 

 specimen. 



Rhynchocyon stuhlmanni claudi Thomas and Wroughton 

 Plate I; Text Figure 1 



Rhynchocyon claudi Thomas and Wroughton, 1908, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (7) 

 XIX, May, p. 370. "Beritio, Welle River." 



Rhynchocyon claudi Thomas, 1915, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (8) XVI, November, 

 p. 470. Medje, 1 specimen; Poko, 12 specimens. 



