100 EINAR LONNBERG, MAMMALS COLLECTED BY THE SWEDISH ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITION ETC. 



\ 



Thomas has recently described^ a new subspecies, Arvicanthis pulchellus ardens, 

 from Kilimanjaro which is said to differ from A. p. massaicus in their » brown ground 

 colour, buffy stripes, and strongly buffy feet* (1. c. p. 314). I have therefore com- 

 pared specimens from Kilimanjaro with my own from British East Africa. The former 

 have decidedly more buffy hind feet, but with regard to the general colour of other 

 parts I cannot see any remarkable difference. My specimens from the locaUties 

 mentioned above are just as brown as those from Kilimanjaro. 



Arvicanthis pumilio diminutus Thomas. 



Thomas: Proc. Zool. Soc, London 1892, p. 551. 



The only locality where this pretty Mouse was trapped (in 3 specimens) was 

 at Escarpment station. 



In one of the specimens the fulvous suffusion of the lower side is stronger than 

 in the others. 



LophiomyidaB. 



Lophiomys ibeanus Thomas. 



Thomas: Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 1910, Ser. 8, Vol. VI, p. 223. 



When passing the place called Blue Post at Thika river the 2^ of April 1911, 

 I had the pleasure of seeing a living specimen of this rare and strange-looking rodent 

 in the possession of Mr. Henderson, then in charge of the hotel there. Some few 

 days later when Mr. Henderson was on his way home to England the Lophiomys 

 died in Nairobi, and he then kindly presented the animal to me because he had 

 heard me express my interest in it. This specimen had been caught at Mau Escarp- 

 ment, as I was informed. According to Thomas (1. c.) this place should be the type- 

 locality for L. ibeanus ibeanus. The present specimen appears, however, to be larger 

 than the typical race is said to be. The upper length of the skull from tip of nasals 

 to back of interparietal is 64,2 mm. (60 in L. ibeanus ibeanus and 62 in L. i. hindei 

 according to Thomas), and the greatest breadth of the skull is 42,3 mm. (38,5 in L. 

 i. ibeanus, and 42,5 in Ij. i. hindei). The upper molar series measures, however, only 

 13,5 mm. and the length of the palatine foramina is only about 11 mm. In conse- 

 quence of these dimensions, and because the premaxillse are heavily granulated, I 

 think, this specimen must be referred to L. ibeanus, and not to the somewhat larger 

 Abyssinian L. bozasi, although, the frontal region of the skull is somewhat concave 

 as it is said to be in the latter. The great size of the skull is, however striking, 

 the more so as the specimen, although adult, cannot be very old, because the sutures 

 on the top of the skulL are quite conspicuous, and it is a female just as the types 

 as well of L. i. ibeanus as of its subspecies hindei. The length of the alcoholic, skinned 

 specimen from occiput to root of tail is 25 cm. and the length of the tail is 19 cm. 



1 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 8, Vol. VI, p. 313. 



