OCR Text |
Show 176 MR. OLDFIELD THOMAS O N [Feb. 20, in all the skull was broken ; but they now contribute most valuable confirmatory evidence as to the external proportions and the lamina formula? of the molars, agreeing in these respects entirely with the perfect skin and skull brought home by Mr. Mackinder. 11. DENDROMYS MESOMELAS Brants. a. 2 • Foot of Mt. Kenya, 7000 ft., 15/8/99. There is in this specimen a very faint trace of the dark frontal baud which induced Mr. True to give to the Kilima-njaro Tree-mouse the name of D. nigrifrons. 12. PROCAVIA 1 MACKINDERI, sp. n. a-g. 4 d 3 $ . Teleki Valley, 13,000 ft., Sept. 1-3, 1899. Size large. Fur very long and thick, hairs of back over 40 mm. in length; underfur long and abundant. General colour pale grizzled olivaceous grey, the longer hairs dark, with a pale yellowish subterminal band and a black tip; underfur except on the posterior back blackish basally, whitish or buffy terminally, this colour showing on the surface and lightening the general colour of the animal; on the posterior back the underfur is dark from base to tip. Dorsal patch dull yellowish white throughout, very inconspicuous, not visible without parting the long hairs of the back. Head darker, the muzzle coarsely grizzled black and white; 1 An allied species, of which we have lately obtained specimens, may be described as follows:- PROCAVIA JACKSONI, sp. n. Size medium. Fur short, coarse and harsh, the hairs of the ordinary fur of the back barely attaining 30 m m . in length ; underfur comparatively scanty. General colour coarsely grizzled yellowish brown, the long hairs brown with a yellow subterminal band or black tip; underfur on the anterior back brown basally, yellowish terminally, on the posterior blackish brown throughout. Clieeks grizzled yellowish ; forehead rufous brown. Back of ears partly yellow, partly brown; sides of neck yellowish, a few of the longer hairs black-tipped. Dorsal spot conspicuous, dull straw-yellow, the hairs yellow to their bases. Under surface buffy yellow, not sharply defined laterally. Inner sides of limbs yellowish, outer sides like body. Upper surface of hands and feet grizzled brown and whitish. Skull with the essential characters of that of the P. abyssinica group, but, at least in the female, unusually long and narrow, the nasal and frontal regions particularly narrow. Temporal fossae ending about 4-5 m m . from the back of the skull. Interparietal sutures open. Diastema about 11 m m . in length. Teeth large and h^psodont. Dimensions of the type, a female, measured in skin :-Head and body 490 ruin.; hind foot 67. Skull (stage vii.): basal length 83; greatest breadth 49 "5; nasals 26 X 19; intertemporal breadth 25 ; length of upper tooth-series (p.1 to m.3) 38 ; greatest breadth of m.1 6 9 ; height of crown of m.3 7"2; length of anterior lower premolar 2'9. Hab. Eavine Station, British East Africa. Type. Female. B. M . No. 99.8.4.100. Collected and presented by F. J. Jackson, Esq. This species differs, in its harsher fur, different gener.il colour, and more prominent, dorsal spot and narrow skull, from the only previously described species with which it could be confounded, the Abyssinian P. abyssinica H . & E. |