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Show 68 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE [Jan. 5, being just the same. Its differentiation has, however, proceeded so much further that I have had little hesitation in erecting it into a distinct species, even though P. abyssinica minor approaches it in some respects. The type is a fully adult female obtained on the 25th of December, 1884, by the well-known collector Herr J. Menges, on the Hekebo plateau, N. Somali-land. It is much to be hoped that further specimens of this little species will be soon obtained, so that we may gain an idea of its variation and geographical distribution. 7. PROCAVIA WELWITSCHII. Hyrax arboreus, Peters, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 401 (nee Smith). Hyrax welwitschii, Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) i. p. 43 (1868) Cat. p. 286 (1869); Bocage, J. Sci. Lisb. (2) iii. p. 186 (1889). Size medium. Mammae 1-2 = 6. Fur short, very coarse and hispid, quite unlike that of any other species. General colour of back coarsely grizzled sandy brown, the hairs dark blackish brown for five-sixths of their length, dull yellow terminally or subtermin-ally, the tips, however, more rufous on the face and along the centre of the back ; the brown bases of the hairs showing through and materially darkening the general colour. Dorsal spot, in the single specimen available, rather elongate, although not so much so as in P. brucei and its allies. Its hairs dull pale yellow throughout. Skull1 stout and strong ; muzzle short; frontal region unusually broad, the ledges overhanging the orbits, more developed than in other species; interparietal sutures persistent ; diastema short, about 8 m m . in each of the two specimens before me; temporal fossae extending backwards quite to the occipital ridges. Teeth rather small, breadth of m1 6*4 and 6'5 in two skulls ; height of crown of rn3 5>2; pi elongated, two-rooted, more as in the Heterohyrax and Dendrohyrax groups, its crown 4 1 m m . long horizontally. Hab. Angola, coast-region (Bocage). The only specimens of this rare species that I have been able to examine are the skull of Dr. Welwitsch's original type, most kindly lent me by Prof. B. du Bocage, and a skin with its skull received in 1888 by the British Museum from the Lisbon Museum. Both these specimens have been examined and the typical skull figured by Prof. Bocage, so that I have no material by which to supplement the excellent description he has there given to the species. The true position of P. welwitschii in the genus is somewhat doubtful, as its skull agrees best with those of P. syriaca, abyssinica, &c, its elongated dorsal spot and rather small teeth but long p"1 approach those of P. brucei and bocagei, while the peculiar quality of its fur separates it from any other species. Dealing only with the Angolan species, Prof. Bocage has taken it as a type of the Procavia group ; but I consider that if anything it is further from P. capensis and abyssinica than it is from P. brucei and 1 Good figure : Bocage, t. c. pi. i. fig. 1. |