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Show 1892.] SPECIES OF THE HYRACOIDEA. 71 Skull1 as described in the so-called subgenus "Heterohyrax "2, of which this is the typical species. Interparietal early united to the parietals, and the latter to each other ; the coronal suture seldom visible in adult animals. Temporal fossae only extending backwards to within about 8 or 10 millimetres of the lambdoid crest. Diastema long, generally about 10 or 12 m m . in adult specimens. Molars very small and light; m* rarely or never exceeding 6 m m. in breadth ; generally from about 5'6 to 5*9 ; rather less in the Somali subspecies. Height of crown of m3 4*5 mm.; p~L small but double-rooted, its horizontal length 2*8 to 3'4 m m. Ribs 21 (in the type of var. somalica). Subspecific diagnoses :- A. P. brucei typica. Synonymy as above. Size comparatively large, basal length about 80 m m. Hab. Abyssinia [Senate and Adigrat, Tigre {Blanford); Shoa (AntinoriJ]. Central Africa [Latiko, near Wadelai (Baker); Usambiro, VictoriaNyanza3 (Emin)~] ; Taita (Wray). Mozambique (Peters). B. P. brucei somalica, subsp. n. Size markedly smaller than in the typical form, the skull of an old female having a basal length of only 74 mm.; colour rather paler. Hab. Somali-land. Two specimens, male and female, sent in spirit by E. Lort Phillips, Esq., from Berbera (the female the type of the subspecies); and a skin ( 5 ) from Gerbatir, N. Somali-land, by J. Menges. This species has been peculiarly unfortunate in the large number of names that have been applied to it, and still more in the frequency with which its proper name has been applied to other species. The chief cause of the confusion has been the fact that the skull of the type has never been extracted until now, and that on this account the common large-toothed N. Abyssinian species (P. abyssinica) was, without much close examination, dubbed with its name. On extracting, however, the skull of the specimen in the Museum collected by Dr. Ruppell, and specially mentioned as the type by Gray, it is found to belong without question to the small-toothed species, which must therefore bear the name of P. brucei. To this species also belongs the " aberrant specimen of H. brucei" (No. 786) referred to by Blanford (Zool. Abyss, p. 254, 1870), aberrant really only in so far as it differs from the large-toothed form, to which, naturally following the founder of the name, he wrongly applied the designation P. brucei. The fact of the skull of this 1 Figures: Gray, Hand-1. Edentata, &c. pi. xi. fig. 3 (1873). 2 See Gray and Lataste, 11. cc. 3 This specimen was marked by Dr. Emin: -"Iride fusco-umbrina.-Native name ' Pembe ' ". |
