On the “Habitat” of Lophiomys

Abstract

ON reading the review of “Cassell's Natural History,” vol. iii., given in NATURE, vol. xxi. p. 136, I find that both the author and the reviewer do not appear to have been aware that the “habitat” of that most interesting rodent, Lophiomys imhausi, is well known. The rich and interesting Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, of Genoa, amongst its many rarities, contains a magnificent specimen of the Lophiomys, mounted skin and skeleton, which specimen was caught at Keren in the Bogos land, in June, 1870, and forms part of the fine collections made at that place by Dr. Beecari and Marquis Antinori. The native name of the Lophiomys, according to Antinori, is Tzechiza.