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Show 1894.] MAMMALS OP NYASALAND. 141 almost straw-coloured fur; the other two are not quite so far advanced. Laying them beside the skins previously received it appears, although this must be for the present a merely tentative explanation, that the grey fur characteristic of October skins gradually bleaches under the influence of the summer sun, until its black rings become first brown and then rufous, this change being quite independent of the shedding and replacement of the fur itself. At the same time there is a change in the paler rings between white and yellow, but in which direction and at what particular season the series before m e does not conclusively show, chiefly because, although marked with the month of capture, the exact days have not been noted, so that there is often a little uncertainty as to their exact succession. Coincidentally with this bleaching of the dark rings the true change of fur occurs, the fur first falling off on the head, then on the shoulders and tail, and remaining on the rump until in January it is, as already noted, nearly straw-coloured, with rufous subterminal and yellowdsh terminal rings. The bleaching of the fur from black to rufous during life may seem almost impossible, but that it really occurs is shown by the darker rings of the tail-hairs, which in October are all deep glossy black, but in November those near the bases of the hairs, where they are not exposed to the sun, are still nearly or quite black, while the terminal ones are brownish red. The young specimens, all apparently of about the same age, introduce a further element of complexity into the question, for while four of them (Dec. and Jan.) are in a rufous stage, the fifth (December) is grizzled grey, exactly like the grizzled grey parents killed in October. I can make no suggestion for the elucidation of the mystery, but I would suggest, to any one having the opportunity, the collection of a mother and her whole litter of young, the skins to be marked with their exact date, and with the fact of their belonging to one another. I may venture to hope that further collections will contain more specimens of this very remarkable species, so that I may later have the pleasure of giving a complete account of its changes all the year round. The fourth collection, made from M a y to August 1893, contains, unfortunately, no specimens of S. mutabilis. 19. Mus DOLICHURUS, Smuts. a. Ad. al. 2 • Zomba. 12/92. 6. Imm. al. Zomba. 12/92. The following are the measurements of the well-preserved adult specimen :-Head and body 97 mm.; tail 155; hind foot, without claws, 22; ear from notch 15-5. Mammse 1-2 = 6. 20. Mus MODESTUS, Wagn. a. Ad. al. Zomba. 1/93. |
