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Show 548 MR. O. THOMAS ON MAMMALS FROM NYASSALAND. [NOV. 1, of muscles of jaw is exceptionally prominent, I think-much more so than is usually the case. This animal killed a donkey (full-grown) by attacking it in the flank and disembowelling it. The head and neck did not have a single claw-mark on them. This is a most exceptional case, and I do not think I ever heard before of a Leopard killing its prey otherwise than by springing on the head and neck. " Another most unusual occurrence in this case was that the Leopard returned to the carcass and was shot dead on the third night, after having been wounded on the chest the second night with a charge of small shot, which was afterwards found under its skin."- A. Whyte. The basal length of the skull of the old male is 207 mm., and its breadth 148 m m . The length of the cub's skull is 87, and of its long mp3 19 m m. 2. H Y A E N A C R O C U T A , Erxl. a. Ad. skull. ?. Milanji. 5/11/91. b. Imm. sk. and skull. Milanji. 5/11/91. a. " 2 ft. 10 in. in height at shoulder and 150 lbs. in weight. Mangy and sparsely covered with short hair; colours dull. Shot over carcass of donkey killed by Leopard two days previously." b. " Three parts grown Spotted Hysena, shot near same carcass. Same species as a, but with fine long hair, and colours well defined, looked quite a different species but proved only to differ in being younger and in finer felt."-A. TV. Skull a is 241 m m . in basal length, and 179 in breadth. 3. PETRODROMUS TETRADACTYLUS, Peters. a. Zomba. 1/9/91. b. Zomba. c. Ad. al. 3 • 4. VESPERUS MEGALURUS, Temm. a. Ad. sk. Milanji Plain, 4000 ft. 18/12/91. b, c. Ad. sks. Zomba. 10/12/91 and 1/2/92. d-o. 3 ad. 2 and 9 young in al. Forearms of adults 47"3, 47*5, and 48-5 m m. This rare species was unrepresented in the Museum collection when the Catalogue of Bats was published, but a single specimen of it procured by Dr. Dobson in the Drakenberg Range, Natal, was obtained from that gentleman in 1881. 5. V E S P E R U G O N A N U S , Peters. a. Ad. al. 3 • 6. S C I U R U S METABILIS, Peters. a, b. Milanji Plateau, 6000 ft. 27/10 and 25/11/91. These two specimens are of considerable interest and value as helping to clear up the confusion which surrounds the relationship of S. shirensis, Gray 1, to S. mutabilis. 1 Ann. Mag. N. H. (3) xx. p. 327 (1867). |