| OCR Text |
Show 1888.] EQUATORIAL AFRICA. 13 deeply rufous on their flanks and rumps,J and have less strongly marked, in fact almost indistinguishable, dorsal stripes, but are obviously not specifically separable. 33. Mus, sp.1 a-e. 5 specimens. Tingasi. f, g. Stat. Gadda. h. Wadelai. " Monbuttu name ' Babili.' " - E . These specimens all belong to a group of Rats varying considerably in size, length of fur, and size of ears, but all agreeing in their general proportions, and in the possession of a very large number of mammae placed in a continuous series down the sides of the abdomen, and varying in actual number from 16 to 24. To this group, whether containing several valid species or, as I am inclined to suspect, only a single variable and widely spread one, thp following appear to belong : -Mus coucha, Sm., M. silaceus, Wagn., M. micro-don, Peters, M. macrolepis, Sund., and probably several of the other earlier described species. In the existing state of confusion in regard to these species, I prefer to leave the present series of specimens without a definite name. 34. Mus (LEGGADA) MINUTOIDES, Sm. a-e. 5 specimens. Wadelai. /. Tingasi. " Found in pairs in the gardens and plantations."-E. I have seen specimens referable to this species from almost every part of the Ethiopian region, and among others the types of Mus musculoides, Temm., and M. minimus, Peters, both of which names must therefore give way to that of Smith. Specimen f, from Tingasi, is considerably larger than usual, but is not apparently specifically separable from the rest. 35. LOPHUROMYS SIKAPUSI, Temm. a. 3 • Stat. Gadda, 25/1/84. b. Skeleton. This rare species is a purely West-African one, but the genus is 1 I take this opportunity of clearing up the history of another species of Mus, which will, no doubt, be found to occur in Monbuttu, as Herr Bohndorff obtained it at N'dorurna, in the Niam-niam country, namely Mus alleni, Waterh. (P. Z. S. 1837, p. 77), of which the type is a vei-y young individual with its teeth still uncut. This type is, however, unquestionably specifically identical with the Niam-niam specimen, as also with two in spirit from Old Calabar (Dr. J. A. Smith), and one skin from Angola (Mr. Monteiro), in the Natural History Museum. There are also in the Berlin Museum several specimens of it obtained on the Gold Coast by Drs. Buchholzand Reiehenow, and the characters of these specimens, and therefore of the adult M. alleni, have been pointed out by Dr. Peters (MB. Ak. Berl. 1876, p. 479) under the erroneous name of M. ery-throleucus, Temm. |
