OCR Text |
Show 1897.] FROM NYASALAND. 931 head and body, short-haired, brown above, rather paler below ; no longer hairs seem to be intermixed with the short ones, but owing to the partial loss of the hair it cannot be stated with absolute certainty that this is the case. Skull fairly broadly built. Anterior incisors rather short, their posterior basal cusp very sharply pointed, reaching to scarcely one-third the height of the succeeding tooth so far as the latter's anterior edge is concerned. First unicuspid long and slender, third about half its length ; second and fourth quite small, subequal, about half the height of the third. Last upper molar of the squarish form found in Myosorex varius. Anterior lower incisors slender, their upper edges indistinctly notched. Measurements of the type, an adult male in spirit:- Head and body 60 mm.; tail 85 ; hind foot 14*5. Skull: basal length 15 ; greatest length, including incisors, 18*1 ; greatest breadth anteriorly 5*8, posteriorly 8 ; interorbital breadth 4*1; palate length from gnathion 7*2. Hub. Masuku Plateau. On the basis of Dobson's work, I have provisionally placed this distinct little Shrew in the genus Myosorex, as it seems allied by characters boih of teeth and tail to the species he termed M. mono and M. johnstonii; but I am by no means convinced that these species are really congeneric with M. varius, the type of the genus, and that they ought not to be considered simply as Pachyurce. The length of the tail of M. sorellu will distinguish it at once from any South- African Shrew hitherto described. 20. NANDINIA GERRARDI, Thos. a. Native skin, Masuku Plateau. It is unfortunate that this skin, like the two original ones, is native made and without a skull. The cranial characters of this striking species are therefore still unknown. 21. HERPESTES GRACILIS, Biipp. ff. Karonga, Lake Nyasa, July 1896. b. Lakangala, Zomba, 22 Feb., 1897. j 22. CROSSARCHUS FASCIATUS, Desm. ff. Tg. $ . Mt. Malosa, 8000 ft., 20 Nov., 1896. 23. LYCAON PICTUS, Temm. ff, 6. 2 $ (young). Mt. Zomba, 5/12/96. Shot by Mr. Alfred Sharpe, high up on Mount Zomba. Both specimens retain their milk-dentition, although they have nearly reached their full size. 24. BCECILOGALE ALBINUCHA, Gray. ff. Kombe, Masuku Bange, 7000 ft., July 1896. b. Separate skull. |