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Show 1906.] RATEL AND WATER-CHEVROTAIN. 113 The second animal is mainly of interest from a geographical standpoint. The African Water-Che vro tain (Dorcatherium aquaticum), of which only a single form has hitherto been recognised, is known to inhabit the West Coast from the Gambia to the Cameroons, but does not seem to have been previously recorded from the great Central African Forest, in which it is now demonstrated by Major Powell-Cotton's specimen to exist. As regards cranial characters, the Ituri Chevrotain presents no points of distinction from West Coast specimens. Of skins of the latter the Natural History Museum has a very poor series-or rather no series at all,-possessing two skins (one mounted) of the typical Gambian form presented in the " forties " by the then Earl of Derby, and one skin collected in the Cameroons by Mr. G. L. Bates. Unfortunately the tail of the Cameroon specimen is wanting. The Gambian, Cameroon, and Ituri skins appear to m e probably to represent three different races, which may be described and named as follows :- A. Markings on under surface of chin, throat, and chest white; face uniformly chestnut or nearly so. a. White markings on back and flanks fully developed; a very distinct white flank-band running from the shoulder along the flanks to join transverse loin-band; two other flank-bands below this; spots on back forming distinct and continuous transverse bands; tail with much brown above. Dorcatherium aquaticum typicum. Gambia. 6. Light markings on back and flanks less distinct and less numerous; flank-band yellow instead of white, almost disappearing midway between head and fore limbs; no flank-bands below it; spots on back less distinctly in the form of bands; tail with a very large amount of white, and apparently more bushy than in last. D. a. cottoni (subsp. nov.). It m i Forest. B. Markings on under surface of chin, throat, and chest yellow; face with a black chevron running from the muzzle to the eyes. c. Light markings on back in the form of yellowish-white spots anteriorly, but on the loins forming almost continuous yellow bands, arranged alternately on each side of the middle line, where they are interrupted; one distinct yellowish flank-band joining transverse rump-band; tail brown at base, rest unknown. I), a. batesi (subsp. nov.). Cameroons. If the yellow in Mr. Bates's specimen be due to staining, my conclusions will, at least to a certain extent, be wrong. EXPLANATION OF PLATE VII. Ituri Black Ratel (Mellivora cottoni). From Major Powell-Cotton's specimen. PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1906, VOL. I. No. VIII. 8 |