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Show 1869.] MR. BLANFORD ON ABYSSINIAN SPECIES OF HYRAX. 639 of seventeen of all ages at Adigrat, also at about 8000 feet (these were procured by a collector whom I left with especial instructions to shoot and preserve as many as he could); one at Agula, 7000 feet; one near Antalo, 7000 feet; two on the Wadela plateau, at above 1000 feet; and one in the Anseba valley near Bogos, at about 4000 feet above the sea. The specimen shot at Annesley Bay differs from all the others in its short rather harsh fur and apparently small size. It is immature, but seems smaller than specimens of similar age from the highlands ; and other individuals seen about the same burrow were equally small. Except in size, this specimen agrees very fairly with the type oi Hyrax abyssinicus* oi Hemprich and Ehrenberg; for it has a rudimentary black dorsal spot, a character which appears usually more developed in adult or aged specimens than in the young. It, however, has not the smallest resemblance to the skins from Shoa in the British Museum identified by Dr. Gray with that species, but which certainly belong to a different species, much larger in size, and with very long soft hair instead of the short harsh fur of H. abyssinicus. Whether my specimen be correctly referred to H. abyssinicus of Hemprich and Ehrenberg or not, there can be but little doubt that this species is a well-marked form inhabiting the shores of the Red Sea, and that Dr. Gray is right in separating from it the common Hyrax of the Abyssinian highlands with a yellow dorsal spot. Itison thespecies inhabiting the highlands that myspecimens throw most light. The characters mainly relied upon for the discrimination of the species of Hyrax are the colour of the dorsal spot, the colour and texture of the fur, and the form of the skull. In all these characters there is so much variation that I am not in the least surprised that Dr. Gray should have considered that there were several species indicated by the few skins to which he had access. I cannot, however, quite coincide in this opinion. For some time I thought that I could distinguish two species amongst m y collections-one with a well-marked yellow dorsal spot, the other with the same rudimentary or wanting (H. irroratus, Gray). But further examination showed that those specimens in which the dorsal streak is entirely absent are immature, and that in the adult it is always slightly indicated ; and there is a perfect transition from the merest indication to a distinct well-marked yellow spot. The colour of the fur varies in the most singular manner, the principal distinction being in the greater or less amount of rufous; but that this is simply an individual character is shown by the circumstance that on several occasions I saw one or more rufous individuals (H. ferrugineus, Gray) amongst the ordinary dusky grey animals belonging to the same burrow, and also by the variation in the extent and shade of rufous, some skins having * Hemprich and Ehrenberg write habessinicus; but the other spelling is that adopted by the older writers, such as Gmelin. The name Abyssinia being generally adopted from mediaeval if not from classical Latin, it seems unnecessary to change it, although the true name of the country is Habesh. |
