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Show 88 MR. R. LYDEKKER ON A NEW [Feb. 1 9, forwarded to Prof. Ewart a piece of the skin of E. johnstoni, were read:- " I have compared the hair from the piece of skin you kindly sent with the hair of antelopes, oxen, deer, and other Ruminants, and with the hair of zebras and other Equidae. " The conclusion arrived at is that the pieces of skin sent home by Sir Harry Johnston belong to a Zebra. " In all the Equida? the hair has the same general structure, but yet it is possible to distinguish zebra-hair from that of the horse and the ass. In wild asses even the light hairs are longitudinally striped, in zebras only the coloured hairs are striped, while in horses neither the light nor the dark hairs show any stripings. In being striped the hairs from the Congo skin differ from the hairs of antelopes, and agree with those of the asses and zebras. As in the Congo skin the white hairs show no longitudinal striping, it may be assumed it belongs to a zebra rather than to one of the asses. To which of the known zebras does the Congo one most closely resemble ? "Judging by the hairs on the piece of skin sent it decidedly differs from the Quagga (Equus quagga), the Mountain Zebra (E. zebra), and the BurchelFs Zebras (E. burchelli) of East and South Africa." The following papers were read :- 1. Notice of an apparently new Estuarine Dolphin from Borneo. By R. LYDEKKER. [Eeceived January 17, 1901.] (Plate VIII.) (Text-figure 11.) The skin and skeleton of a female Dolphin from Borneo, recently purchased by the British Museum from Mr. E. Hose, do not accord with the description of any species with which I am acquainted, and therefore seem to indicate a new form. The specimen was obtained at Sipaug, on the mouth of the Sarawak River. The total length of the skin is approximately ok feet. The beak is comparatively long and narrow, and at the base the forehead rises very abruptly, showing a distinct prominence or boss some distance in advance of the blow-hole. The flippers are falcate, but the dorsal fin is obtuse, low, and continued both in front and behind as a low ridge extending for a length of about fourteen inches along the back. The general colour of the upper-parts is blackish ; but the underparts are much mottled with a light tint, which is yellow in the dried state, but during life was probably huffish white or whitish. Nearly the whole of the chin is of this light tint, and there are patches of it at the roots of the flippers; in the binder half of the body and tail it extends some way up the sides. |