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Show 82 MR. O. THOMAS ON T H E [Jan. 3, darker, nearly black. Head greyish. Tail bushy, uniformly blackish brown. Dimensions. Head and body. Tail. Hind foot. c. Type, Mozambique (very old) .. 208 9*1 3*25 b. Zanzibar (Kirk) 15*0 7*0 3*0 Skull. Palate- Length. Breadth, length. a. Type (from Peters) 3*4 2*1 2*1 This species, of which Dr. Kirk has sent us a rather small specimen from Zanzibar, is found further north than its ally B. crassicauda. Our specimen being in spirit, I have been able to examine carefully the state of the feet with regard to the absence of the first toes ; aud I find, as mentioned above, no trace whatever of these digits; while in species which normally possess five toes, and the first one is in any case accidentally lost, there are generally some remains left of the missing digit, in the shape of a broken metacarpal or metatarsal2. The species of this group would seem to be very rare, as I have seen no other specimens of either B. crassicauda or puisa besides the types of the two species in the Berlin Museum, and Dr. Kirk's one already referred to. 3. ? BDEOGALE NIGRIPES. B. nigripes, Pucheran, Rev. et Mag. Zool. vii. p. Ill (1855). Hab. W . Africa (Gaboon). "Major; corpore albescente; cauda candidissima; artubus nigris." No dimensions of any sort are given. Dimensions of Teeth of Bdeogale. B. crassicauda. P.M4. M2. Percentage. a. Type (from Dr. Peters's figure). ... 7'5 5*5 73 B. puisa. * Zanzibar (Kirk) 6*9 4*5 66 IV. CYNICTIS. Type. Cynictis, Ogilby, P. Z. S. 1833, p. 48 C. penicillata. Range. That of the only species. Toes5-4'. Teeth, 1.1, C. T, P.M. J,M.|x2=40. Muzzle with a distinct naked line from nose to upper lip. Hind soles quite hairy. Frontal portion of skull strongly convex, brain-case high. A well-marked vacuity in the floor of the auditory meatus, consisting of a more or less rounded hole, which, as the animal gets older, 1 See above, p.61. 8 Our only skeleton of this genus has not the smallest rudiment, even of the metatarsal, of the hallux. |