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Show 1896.] FROM BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA. 807 Mr. Darling's collection where no two are exactly alike in these are all absolutely identical, soft grizzled fawn-yellow. 2. Mus RATTUS, L. 2 skins and skulls, d 2 • " Trapped in house ; very common."-F. C. S. These two agree with those received from Mr. Darling. 3. Mus CHRYSOPHILUS x, mihi. 8 skins, 9 skulls : 4 d 3 3 $ , 1 not sexecl. Aug.-Oct. " Trapped in rocky kopje, common : but one taken near house; carrot for bait; very common."-F. C. S. These specimens agree in every particular with those described above from Mashunaland, and we may hope that Essex Farm will turn out a gold-mine, as all the specimens yet received have come from gold-bearing districts. 4. Mus AURICOMIS 2, mihi. 3 skins with skulls: 2 $ , 1 d . Sept. and Oct. " Trapped in Rocky kopje."- F. C. S. Agreeing perfectly with the Mazoe animals described above. 5. Mus, sp. 6 skins with skulls. Sept. and Oct. " Trapped near house ; carrot for bait; common."-F. C. S. These Mice are very uniform in colour, of a more yellow-tinted colour than one of about the same size in Mr. Darling's Mazoe collection, and differing in the shape of the skull, but topotypes of the earlier described species are necessary before we can properly unravel this difficult group. They are of the multimammate group. 6. Mus NATALENSIS (?). 6 skins and skulls : 2 $ , 4 d . Aug.-Oct. " Trapped in Kaffir garden by a stream ; common."-F. C. S. Unfortunately the mammae are not traceable in either of the females. 7. ACOMYS SELOUSI, sp. nov. (Plate XL. fig. 2.) 4 skins, 5 skulls : 2 $ , 1 d » 1 not sexed. " No. 33, Mouse, d , Matabeleland; 8 Oct. 1895. Trapped in rocky kopje."-F. C. S. Collector's measurements taken in the flesh : - H . & b. 83 mm.; tl. 92-5 ; h. f. 16-5 ; ear 14. Upper parts smoky rufous-brown or coffee-colour, more smoky on the face and darker on tbe dorsal region ; clear chestnut-brown on the cheeks, sides, and a patch behind each ear. Whole of the 1 Above, p. 801. 2 Above, p. 802. |
