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Show 1882.] MR. O. THOMAS ON RODENTS FROM S.W. AFRICA. 265 The lower eyelid is transparent in this specimen, whilst in others it is very frequently rendered opaque by white veins. The specimen must evidently be referred to Cope's Phyllomedusa azurea, in spite of the almost total absence of white areolations on tbe lower eyelid; but I do not believe that species to be distinct from P. hypochondrialis. The characters which, according to Mr. Cope, distinguish P. hypochondrialis from P. azurea are the presence of vomerine teeth, the absence of a white lateral streak, and the transparence of the lower eyelid. Mr. Cope does not say if his knowledge of the former species rests upon the type specimen in the Paris Museum. This I had opportunity of examining four years ago. I do not recollect whether I paid attention to the vomerine teeth; but I came to the conclusion that P. hypochondrialis and P. azurea are not specifically distinct. The transparence or opaqueness of the lower eyelid I do not consider a specific character in this or any other species of the genus Phyllomedusa ; the presence or absence of a white streak from the mouth does not seem to m e of much importance. As to the vomerine teeth in the typical specimen, doubts maybe entertained of their presence; all the specimens in the British Museum lack these teeth. 3. On a small Collection of Rodents from South-Western Africa. B y O L D F I E L D T H O M A S , F.Z.S., British Museum. [Received February 7, 1882.] (Plate XIV.) The present collection was obtained by the late Mr. C. J. Andersson in Damaraland and the neighbouring countries, and has recently been acquired by the British Museum. The skins are unfortunately in a rather delapidated condition, but the dates and localities have in most cases been preserved. Altogether the Museum has received twenty-four of Mr. Andersson's specimens, belonging to ten species, of which the following list, owing to our ignorance of the Rodent fauna of this region, may be of some service. 1. SCIURUS CONGICUS, Kuhl, Beitr. z. Zool. p. 66 (1820). Three specimens. Cune'ne river, N. Damaraland, July 25, 1867. 2. GERBILLUS TENUIS, Smith, 111. Zool. S. Afr., Mamm. pl. xxxvi. fig. 2 (1849). Three specimens. Otjimbinque, February 7, 1865. 3. PACHYUROMYS AURICULARIS (Smith), S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 160 (1834). Five specimens. Otjimbinque, February 6 and 7and March 6,1865. This species is, as Mons. Huet has shown1, undoubtedly congeneric with the peculiar Pachyuromys duprasi, Lataste2. 1 Le Nat. vol. i. p. 339 (1881). a Le Nat. i. p. 314 (1880). |
