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Show ^ 0 ON SPECIMENS OF NAKED RODENTS FROM E. AFRICA. [Dec. 1, Mr F. E Beddard, F.R.S, exhibited and made remarks upon a portion of the large intestine and the caecum of a Boa {Boa constrictor) which had recently died in the Society's Gardens. Ihe walls of the intestine in the neighbourhood of the csecum, and of the caecum itself, were thickened and inflamed. The caecum was filled with a hard mass consisting of small stones and a number of the snake's own teeth, the presence of which it was thought had given rise to the inflammation. Mr. Beddard also exhibited, on behalf of Mr. G. A. Doubleday, a hairless specimen of the Common Rat {Mus decumanus) which had been caught in a trap at Leyton, Essex, and which agreed in its characters with a so-called variety {Mus nudo-plicatus) of the Common Mouse figured in the Society's ' Proceedings' (1856, p. 38, Mamm. pi. xii.). Dr. Walter Kidd, F.Z.S, exhibited a drawing of a Beisa Antelope {Oryx beisa) showing a reversed area of hair along the median line of the back, a character which was found in Ruminants only, but not in all of them. Mr. Oldfield Thomas, F.R.S, exhibited an example, the second known, of the peculiar little naked rodent described by him in 1885 * as Heterocephalus phillipm. This specimen had been presented to the National Museum by Dr. A. G. W . Bowen, R.N, to whom it was given, at Mogadishu, Italian Somaliland, by Dr. Dulio, Governor of the Italian Protectorate. Dr. Dulio stated that these animals lived in colonies of from 50 to 100 in the sandy districts near the coast, that they burrowed very rapidly in the loose soil and were for that reason difficult to obtain. Mr. Thomas said that the chief interest of this specimen lay in the fact that, like the type, it had only two cheek-teeth in each jaw above and below, while the larger and better-known Heterocephalus glaber had three. As this important character was thus shown to be constant, which could not be assumed from the single specimen hitherto available, Mr. Thomas thought that a special genus would have to be formed for the two-toothed group, and suggested for it the name of Fornarinaf. The other differences between Fornarina phillipsi and Heterocephalus glaber had been more fully detailed in the papers referred to in the footnote +. A form of true Heterocephalus occurred also in British East Africa, which Mr. Thomas took this opportunity of describing: - HETEROCEPHALUS ANSORGEI, sp. n. General characters as in H. glaber, but size smaller (see skull- * P. Z. S. 1885, p. 612. t A famous inure bv Titian. j, P. Z. S. 1885, p. 845,- ArmrMus.Genov. (2) xv. p. 3 (1895). |
