| OCR Text |
Show 128 ME. OLDFIELD THOMAS OX THE [Feb. 5, 3. On the Long-lost Putorius africanus, Desm., and its Occurrence in Malta. By O L D F I E L D T H O M A S. [Eeceived January 15, 1895.] In 1875 Mr. C. A. Wright, to whom ornithologists are indebted for several additions to the fauna of Europe, due to his study of the birds of Malta, read a paper before this Society l on the large Weasel or " Ballottra " of that island. This animal he compared with various species which had been described from the Mediterranean area, but owing to want of material he was unable definitely to determine it. His specimen he was good enough to present to the National Museum, where it has remained unique until recently, when the same gentleman contributed to the Collection a young male and an immature female, and the examination of these fresh examples has given rise to the present remarks. As stated by Mr. Wright in his paper, the adult male is as large as a large Stoat, with an equally long tail, whUe it has the uniform coloration of the latter organ characteristic of the Weasel. On looking up the British Museum material bearing on the subject, happily considerably increased since the time of Mr. Wright's paper, I find a couple of skins, male and female, from Egypt % presented and collected by Dr. John Anderson in 1892; and the same energetic collector has also placed at my disposal a fine alcoholic male obtained at Cairo during his last season's explorations. These Egyptian Weasels, so far as can be judged by external proportions and coloration, appear to me to be clearly conspecific with the Maltese form, and the question therefore arises as to what name should be applied to them. In the invaluable work:i on the Mammals of Barbary published in 1885 by M. Fernand Lataste, we find an important discussion on the Weasels of N. Africa, continued and revised by him in his ' Mammals of Tunis ' (1887), and supplemented in both places by some notes by Dr.. Trouessart, so that we have here the last opinions pronounced on the subject by the two ablest and most modern French students of the Mediterranean fauna. Briefly epitomized, their opinions are:-(1) that there is only a single form of Weasel in North Africa, closely allied to P. vulgaris and P. boccamela; (2) that if distinct from both of these, which is doubtful, it should bear the name of P. subpalmatus, Hernpr. & Ehr. (syn. P. numidicus, Puch.); and (3) that Putorius africanus, Desm., must have been based on a specimen not really from Africa at all, and perhaps belonging to a Japanese species. Not a word could be said against these conclusions as based on 1 P. Z. S. 1875, p. 312. 2 From the Pyramids of Ghizeh, and Abu-Eoash, W . of Cairo. 3 Act. Linn. Soc. Bord. xxxix. p. 129 et seqq. (1885). |
