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Show 960 MR. W. E. DE WINTON O N [Dec. 14, 16. ARVICANTHIS BARBARUS, L. 2 • Enzel on the Great Atlas range east of Morocco city, 31st May, 1897. " Caught in trap under thorn-bushes." Head and body 113 millim ; tail 127 ; bind foot 25 ; ear 16. This animal, so well known in menageries, is very rarely obtained " wild killed ; " it is much to be regretted that a full series was not procured. 17. HYSTRIX CRISTATA, L. 2 . Ecru, 18th June, 1897. Head and body 540 millim.; tail 80 ; hind foot 90; ear 30. 18. LEPUS ATLANTICUS, sp. n. (Skull, figs. 3 & 5, p. 961.) Size very small; ears very long, considerably longer than the head. Colour light sandy over cinnamon, the fur almost entirely wanting the conspicuous black median band which gives the characteristic mottling to most species ; the underparts are white, but there is no sharp line between the colours of the upper and under sides; tail long, jet-black in a broad line above, pure white beneath. The fur is slate-grey for a considerable distance from the base, the underf ur broadly tipped with cinnamon; on the back tbe grey is of less extent though well marked even there, the greater part of the fur being cinnamon-coloured, but much brighter at the ends; the coarser hairs have only a very narrow dusky median band, the tips tawny, though the extreme tips of some of the hairs are blackish. On the rump the general colour is greyer, the cinnamon colour being less conspicuous. The band on the chest is pale cinnamon, the hairs being dark slate-coloured for nearly their entire length and only tipped with the brighter colour. The nape is bright cinnamon. The fore and hind legs are red-fawn. The long ears have a well-defined black patch on the back of the tips, the inner margin is white, the outer margin golden fawn; whiskers black at the bases, white at the ends. This Hare is unquestionably nearly allied to L. Icabylicus, mihi1, from Algiers, but is very much smaller, with longer ears in proportion to its size. Skull.-Greatest length 76'millim.; greatest breadth (squamosals) 36, across front of zygomata 32 ; length of nasals in middle line 23, greatest length 28, greatest breadth 14*5, across narrowest part 105; intertemporal constriction 12; breadth across maxillae below lachrymals 26 ; basal length 62 ; length of upper molar series 13 ; depth from nasals to palate immediately in front of molars 17, above front of palatal foramina 14 ; length of mandible (bone only) from back of condylar process to inner side of back of incisors 54*5; greatest height standing on table, perpendicularly to condyle, 31*5. Type, cS . Bas el Ain, Haha, 23rd June, 1897. Killed in Arab hunt. 1 Ann. & Mag. N. H. 7) i. p. 155. |
