| OCR Text |
Show 1899.] DB. C. I. FORSYTH MAJOR ON " PROSIMIA RUFIPES." 553 2. Genetta tigrina (Schreb.). 3. Herpestes sp. inc. A flat native skin without skull obtained by Mr. J. B. Yule at Karonga, 13.7.98. 4. Mellivora ratel (Sparrm.). 5. Sciurus cepapi A. Smith. Two specimens. Cf. Tunisciurus cepapi, Thomas, P. Z. 8. 1897, p. 933. 6. Procavia arborea (A. Smith). N e w to this locality, and only previously known from South Africa. 7. Cephalophus lugens Thomas, P. Z. S. 1898, p. 393. The type of this species is of a uniform soot-colour. In the present specimen (which is marked male) the legs and a stripe on each side of the face are slightly reddish. The type was a female; so the difference in colour may be sexual. Dr. C. I. Forsyth Major exhibited specimens of a Lemur from Madagascar, " Prosimia rufipes " of Gray, and made the following remarks:- It is well known that the male of Lemur macaco L. is black, and that the female, which was at one time regarded as a distinct species (L. leucomystax Bartl.), is red. In 1880 the Secretary of this Society pointed out that a black Lemur, received at the Society's Gardens on Nov. 25th, 1878, and which was at first determined as L. macaco, proved to be distinct, and accordingly the name L. nigerrimus was proposed for the former, with the reservation that " it may possibly turn out to be a black variety of some known species." Figures are given of the heads of both species. L. nigerrimus is said to be " a larger and more intensely black animal, with a raised crest of short upstanding hair on its head. Moreover, the ear-conch is naked, and not furnished with tufts of hair as in Lemur macaco " l. At the meeting of this Society on February 28th, 1893, an extract from a letter from Prof. A. Milne-Edwards to the Secretary was read, in which it is stated that the female of L. nigerrimus is rufous-browm (" brune"), and that it had been described by Gray in 1871 under the name of Prosimia rufipes. Prof. Milne-Edwards further states that the colour of the eyes of L. nigerrimus and its female is characteristic, the iris being greenish blue (" cVun bleu, tirant sur le vert") ; also that the species comes from Cape Ambra, in the far north of Madagascar 2. Gray's description of "Prosimia rufipes"' was based on a male and a female specimen, which are exhibited in the Gallery of the Natural History Museum. Both are rufous-browrn above, the 1 P.Z.S. 1880, p. 451. figs. 1, 2. 2 P.Z.S. 1893, pp. 177, 178. |
