OCR Text |
Show 726 MR. P. L. SCLATER ON MAMMALS [Nov. 21, 4. GENETTA TIGRINA (Schreb.). Sixteen flat skins of a Genet which may probably be referred to this species. They vary much in the amount of spotting on the back, some being thickly spotted with rusty red here, whilst others are quite without these markings. But there are intermediate specimens. 5. VIVERRA CIVETTA, Schreb. Three flat skins of this widely-spread species. 6. HERPESTES GALERA (Erxl.); Thomas, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 72. One flat skin. 7. COBUS CRAWSHAYI, sp. nov. Similis C. ellipsiprymno, sed colore, prcecipue in dorso, saturatiore, et disco ancdi cdbo : fascia uropygiali alba nulla, et paulo minore diversus. Mr. Sharpe sends a single flat skin of the Mweru Waterbuck, and Mr. Crawshay's collection contains 2 heads and 3 flat skins of the same animal. I think there can be no question of its being distinct from C. ellipsiprymnus, and I propose to attach to it the name of Mr. Crawshay, who has done such good work on the Antelopes of Nyasaland1. The fur of Crawshay's Waterbuck, as wUl be seen from the skin which I now exhibit, generally resembles that of G. ellipsiprymnus, the animal being covered with the same harsh, lengthened, thinly spread hairs. But the colour is considerably darker, being of a dark iron-grey on the dorsal surface, which passes into blackish on the back of the neck, upper portion of the limbs, and tad. This colour gets gradually lighter and more greyish on the flanks, and passes on each side into whitish on the belly. There is no sign of the distinct rump-band which is so clearly marked on G. ellipsiprymnus, where it is bordered on each side by dark grey ; but in the present species the whole anal disk is white, separated on the dorsal line by the dark medial streak which passes into the short black bushy tail. The whole length of the flat skin in the present example is about 56 inches, the length of the tail about 15 inches. The horns of Crawshay's Waterbuck, of which I exhibit a fine pair obtained by Mr. Crawshay near Rhodesia, the British Central African Station on Lake Mweru, can hardly be distinguished from those of C. ellipsiprymnus. The present pair measure about 24 inches in length along tbe curve. They are strongly ringed to near their extremities. The points are about 11*5 inches apart. Assuming the validity of the species just described, I am acquainted with four species of the peculiar group of tbe genus Cobus, commonly called Waterbucks, and distinguished by their rough and elongated hairs, which are longer and divergent on the neck, the tufted tail, and the large, heavy, strongly-ringed horns, 1 See his article, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 648. |