SPECIES OBTAINED BY HELLER 491 
Hystrix galeata. (See body of book.) Heller found in stomach the remains 
of a root or tuber, and seeds like those of the nightshade. 
Lepus victoria. Generally distributed on plains ; much the habits and look 
of a small jack-rabbit. Does not burrow. 
Elephantulus pulcher (Elephant Shrew). Fairly common throughout B. E. A. 
in bush and on hills, not in deep forests or on bare plains. Often out 
at dusk, but generally nocturnal. A gravid female contained a single 
embryo. One in a trap had its mouth full of partly masticated brown 
ants. A gentle thing, without the fierceness of the true shrews. Trapped 
in the runways of Arvicanlhis . 
Erinaceus albiventris (Hedgehog). Fairly common in the Sotik. In certain 
places, under trees, Heller found accumulations of their spiny skins, as 
if some bird of prey had been feeding on them. 
Crocidura fisheri. The common shrew of the Athi Plains and the Sotik, in 
the Rift Valley. Largely diurnal. Males quite yellowish, females smoky 
brown. Generally trapped in runways of Arvicanthis. Pregnant females 
contained three to five embryos, usually four. Not found in heavy 
forest or swamp. 
Crocidura fumosa (Dusky Shrew). A darker form found in the rush swamps 
and sedgy places of the same region. Number of young usually three. 
Diurnal. Occasional in forests. 
Crocidura alchemillce Heller (n. s.). Aberdare shrew ; a diurnal form, occur¬ 
ring above timber line on the Aberdare ; perhaps identical with the 
foregoing. 1 
Crocidura allex. A pigmy shrew, taken at Naivasha. 
Crocidura nyansce. Very big for a shrew. Chiefly in the high country, near 
watercourses ; found round the edge of the forest at Kenia and Kijabe. 
A fierce, carnivorous creature, preying on small rodents as well as 
insects ; habitually ate mice, rats, or shrews which it found in the traps, 
and would then come back and itself be readily trapped. 
Surdisorex norce. A shrew in shape, not unlike our mole shrew. On the 
high, cold, wet Aberdare plateau. Diurnal. 
Scotophilus migrita colias. Common at Nairobi; flying among the tree-tops 
in the evenings. Greenish back, with metallic glint; belly sulphur. 
Has the same flight as our big brown bat— Vespertilio fuscus. 
Pipistrellus kuhlii fuscatus. Common at Naivasha and Nairobi. Very closely 
kin to our Myotis, or little brown bat, with same habits. Flies high in the 
air after dusk, and is easily shot. We never found its day roosts. 
Nyctinomus hindei (Free-tailed Bat). At Naivasha. Very swift flight, almost 
like a swallow's ; fairly high in the air. Live in colonies ; one such in a 
house at Naivasha. On the Athi Plains they were found in daytime 
hanging up behind the loose bark of the big yellow-trunked acacias. 
1 Crocidura alchemillce, new species (Heller). Type from the summit of the 
Aberdare Range; altitude, 10,500 feet; British East Africa; adult male, number 
163,087, U.S. Nat. Mus ; collected by Edmund Heller, October 17, 1909 ; original 
number, 1,177. 
Allied to fumosa of Mount Kenia, but coloration much darker, everywhere clove- 
brown, the under parts but slightly lighter in shade ; feet somewhat lighter sepia 
brown, but much darker than in fumosa ; hair at base slaty-black. Hair ]ong and 
heavy, on back 6 to 7 mm. long ; considerably longer than in fumosa. Musk-glands 
on sides of body, clothed with short brownish hairs, the glands producing an oily 
odour very similar to that of a petrel. Skull somewhat smaller than fumosa, with 
relatively smaller teeth. 
Measurements: Head and body, 90 ; tail, 55 ; hind foot, 15’3. Skull: Condylo- 
incisive length, 21 ; mastoid breadth, 9 ’7 ; upper tooth row (alveoli), 8‘3. 
This species is an inhabitant of the dense beds of Alchemilla which clothe the 
alpine moorland of the Aberdare range. 
