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Show 1894.] MR. O. THOMAS ON MAMMALS FROM OMAN. 449 of mammals, and he has now sent home a further consignment, of such value as to demand a proper account. So far as I am aware, no list of mammals from this very interesting region has ever been published, and Mr. Blanford's description of Erinaceus niger 1, the same author's passing reference to a Muscat specimen of Vulpes leucopus2, Sir V.Brooke's description of Gazella muscatensis3, and Sir 0. St. John's notes on Oryx beatrix 4 appear to be the only references to this locality that occur in mammalian literature. Dr. Jayakar having obtained examples of all these four species, his collection includes specimens of all the mammals known to occur in this part of Arabia. The geographical relationships shown by the mammals of Muscat are, as might be expected, about equally with Africa and India, three of the species being distinctly African in affinities, three Indian, and the remainder either peculiar or widely-spread and of no special significance. Of the 17 species included in the list, two are new, one of them, Hemitragus jayakari, the new Goat, forming a most striking and interesting discovery, on which Dr. Jayakar is much to be congratulated. The new Hare, Lepus omanensis, is also markedly distinct from any of its allies. 1. XANTHARPYIA AMPLEXICAUDATA, Geoff. a, b. 2 ad. al. Muscat. 23/12/935. c. Ad. al. $ • Muscat. 1885. d, e. 2 do. Muscat. 1889. 2. TAPHOZOUS NTJDIVENTRIS, Cr. a. Ad. al. Khode, 30 miles N.W. of Muscat. 6/11/92. 3. B-HINOPOMA MICROPHYLLUM, Geoff. a-c. 3 ad. al. Khode. 6/11/92. d-g. 4 do. Wadi Bani Euha. 20/11/91. h-k. 4 do. Muscat. 1885. 4. ERINACEUS NIGER, Blanf. a. Ad. al. $ . Muscat. 6/93. b, c. 2 do. S $ • Muscat. 1885. d. Ad. sk. S • Muscat. 1885. [«. Do. $. Muscat. 5/77. Col. Miles, 1877. Type of species.] 5. CROCIDTJRA MURINA, L. a-c. 3 ad. & imm. al. Muscat. 1 J. A. S. B. xlvii. pi. ii. p. 212 (1878). 2 M a m m . Brit. Ind. p. 152 (1888). 3 P. Z. S. 1874, p. 142. 1 P. Z. S. 1872, p. 95. 5 The specimens with exact dates are those of the recently received collection, which has been throughout most carefully labelled with the particulars by Dr. Jayakar. The other specimens belong to the earlier sets, received in the years noted. |