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Show 1904.] MAMMALS FROM NAMAQUALAND. 177 " Vexy common, frequenting tlxe more open country and sleeping during the day in the dry river-beds and the stony kopjes on the flats. They are very wary, and when disturbed usually get up out of range. " Trapped at night in their sleeping-places or near meerkats' burrows, where possibly they were on the look-out for a late straggler. " Their food consists of beetles, &c."-C. H. B. G. 13. ICTONYX CAPENSIS Kaup. 6 • 490, 530. 2 • 497, 503. Klipfontein. o* . 537, 538. Anenous. " ' Vit-r6q (white-backed) muishond ' of the Dutch. " Frequenting both the kloof and the open flats. This animal is very destructive to poultry, killing them for the sake of their blood only. Usually found in pairs and often caught one after the other in tlxe same trap."-C. H. B. G. 14. MELLIVORA RATEL Sparrm. 2 . 464, 465. Klipfontein. Indistinguishable from Cape specimens. " ' Ratel' of the Dutch, " Not uncommon. The two specimens were secured in an old ant-bear hole on the sandy flats close to Anenous."-C. H. B. G. 15. GRAPHIURUS OCULARIS Smith. 2. 417,486. Klipfontein. These specimens represent the Graphiurus elegans of Ogilby*, of which the type was collected by Capt. Alexander in Damaraland. The tail is rather whiter than that of the Cape form, and the animals may perhaps hereafter prove subspecifically separable, in which case they would bear the name of G. ocularis elegans. "' Gemsbok-muis ' of the Dutch. " Rare, possibly frequenting all rocky places, as in the Karoo. Exclusively nocturnal. Where these two specimens were caught, traps were kept set for some weeks, but yielded no further results."-C. H. B. G. 16. DESMODILLUS AURICULARIS Smith. Gerbillus auricularis Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p 160 (1834). Desmodillus (g. n.) auricularis Thomas & Schwann, Abstr. P. Z. S. 1904, no. 2, p. 6 (Feb. 9th). 2. 458. Anenous. A topotype of the species, which was described by Smith from a specimen captured by him in " the mountains of Little Namaqualand." This Gerbille has been variously regarded as a true Gerbillus * P. Z. S. 1838, p. 5. PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1904, VOL. I. No. XII. 12 |
