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Show 1 9 0 5 . ] ON MAMMALS AND BIRDS OF LIBERIA, 197 c. The result of this incomplete separation of the sheaths is the formation of a composite sheath which would presumably go on increasing in length so long as new sheaths were formed from the horn-core. d. With the exception of the first, each newly-formed sheath is like its predecessor in shape and length, and differs from the fully and normally formed sheath of an adult animal in being subconical, with the point straight, and the prong either unrepresented or represented by a small wart-like tubercle. e. The composite sheath at first grows forwards, then downwards, then backwards, and is affected by a slight spiral twist, causing the posterior surface of its distal extremity to face the middle line. 2. Notes on the Mammals and Birds of Liberia. By Sir H a r r y H . J o hn sto n , G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.Z.S. [Received March 21, 1905.] Liberia, as seen on the map, is little more than the southernmost prolongation of the region which might be styled Northern Guinea. The southernmost point of Liberia, at the mouth of the Cavally River, is the most southerly extension of the true West Coast of Africa. At this point the West Coast reaches to within little more than 4 degrees of the Equator. Although this country is not marked off clearly by any natural features either from Sierra Leone on the one hand or the Ivory Coast on the other, it possesses a certain distinctness and a slight degree of peculiarity as regards its flora and fauna. The botanical collections that have been made by those who have been working with me recently in Liberia have brought to light several genera and a large number of new species of plants which appear to be restricted in their distribution more or less to the political limits of this Negro republic. I do not think that quite the same degree of peculiarity can be ascribed to the fauna even amongst vertebrates, which offer the greatest amount of specialisation or exclusive distribution. As regards mammals and birds, Liberia is to a great extent a meeting-place for the forms of Northern Guinea (Sierra Leone to the Gambia) and those of the Gold Coast, the Niger Delta, and the Cameroons. Some types find Liberia their northernmost or westernmost limit of range from the Congo Basin, the Victoria Nyanza, and the Bahr-el-Ghazal. Of such may be noted, besides various birds, the Bongo Antelope, which is found abundantly in Liberia, but which does not, I believe, extend its range much to the west of that country. Also the Red Congo Buffalo. I fancy I am correct in saying that this type, the horns of which I have seen in the interior of Liberia, does not differ from the Red Buftalo of the Congo, but that it scarcely |