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Show 1892.] SPECIES OF THE HYRACOIDEA. 75 Hab. Eastern and South-Eastern Africa. Taita Mountains inland of Mombasa, 4500 ft. (Brit. Mus., J. Wray). Mozambique (Peters). Kingwilliamstown (Lieut. II. Trcvelyan) and Elands Post {T. C. Atmore), Eastern Cape Colony. 14. PROCAVIA DORSALIS. Hyrax dorsalis, Fraser, P. Z. S. 1852, p. 99, pi. xxxiii. (animal). Hyrax sylvestris, Terrira. Esq. Guin. p. 182 (1853). Dendrohyrax dorsalis, Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) i. p. 48 (1868) ; Bocage, t. c. p. 194. Hyrax stampflii, Jent. N. L. M . viii. p. 209 (1886). Size large, but, owing to the great proportionate length of the head, the general size is not nearly so large as measurements of the skull would imply ; bulk of the body apparently never equal to that found in fine specimens of P. shoana. Fur very long, coarse and shaggy. Muzzle in adult specimens nearly or quite naked in front of the eyes. Mammae 0-1 = 2. General colour dark purplish brown or black, the hairs black for about four-fifths of their length, with reddish or purplish-grey tips. Hairs of belly similar but paler. Dorsal spot elongate, very prominent, its hairs very long, their basal halves black and their terminal white or pale yellow; the dorsal glandular region quite naked in adults. Skull1 very large, much flattened ; muzzle elongate, distance from a point between the postorbital processes to the occiput much less than that to the tip of the nasals. Frontal region markedly concave. Temporal ridges thick, much developed, but not extending back nearly to the occipital edge, more closely approaching each other in the centre lines of the skull. Interparietal sutures quite obliterated in adults 2; clearly visible in a skull at stage III. Orbit completely closed behind in all the specimens examined, however young. Diastema very long, from 17 to 20 mm. in adults. Teeth.-Incisors becoming exceedingly large and strong in old males, further apart than in the true large-toothed species, such as P. abyssinica &c. Incisors of female more ridged than usual. Molars and premolars small, rounded, brachyodont, their series more parallel than in most species. Breadth of fj^_ 6*6 or 6'8 ; height of crown of m3^ about 4*1 to 4*3 mm. p1 very large, larger than in any other species, double-rooted, its horizontal length about 4'7 or 4*8 mm. Ribs 21. Hub. W. Africa from Liberia to the Cameroons and Fernando Po, probably extending further both north-west and south-east, but as yet no trustworthy record has been given beyond the above limits., 1 Good figures : Gray, Hand-1. Edent. &c. pi. xiii. fig. 1 (1873); Jentink, Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. pi. iv. (1887). 2 The suture at the anterior edge of the interparietal seems to close first in this species as in P. brucei, while in P. arborea the reverse appears to be the case. Gray's distinction of the skulls of the two species by the positions of the sutures is based on a misconception, the sutures compared by him with each other not being homologous ones. That shown in the figure of D. dorsalis is the posterior, while that in the figure of D. arboreus is the anterior suture. |
