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Show 190(5.] MAMMALS FROM NORTH-EAST TRANSVAAL. 5 8 3 14. S teatomys pratensis Peters. cf. 1217,1238,1254,1270. ? . 1221,1222,1230,1239,1248, 1252. Specimen 1270, a male, is immensely larger than any of the other individuals of the series, but it is very old, its teeth being quite worn down. Its skull is 26*5 mm. in total length, thus equalling the typical skull of S. boccigei, but the latter belonged to a much younger individual. The two equally old female skulls measure 25 mm. in length. " Tchangaan name 1 Ntenyane.' " Common and confined to the low country. They sleep throughout the winter, roughly from April to October, in a grass nest at the end of their burrow. All the specimens were dug out and were excessively fat and unable to move fast. The natives, who consider them a great delicacy, say they cannot find them in the summer, and firmly believe they turn into bats."-C. H. B. G. 15. Mus c iir y so ph ilu s de Wint. 6 . 1245, 1267, 1304. $ . 1256. " Tchangaan name ‘ Magundane.' " Common everywhere, especially so in the undergrowth in kloofs and in outbuildings. Nocturnal only."-C. H. B. G. 16. Mus coucha Smith. J . 1220, 1225, 1226,1237, 1250, 1306. g . 1234. " Tchangaan names ‘ Mkundlo ' or ‘ Magundane (a rat). Very common."-C. H. B. G. 17. L epus zu lu en s is Thos. & Scliw. cJ. 1266. ? . 1294, 1313. In our paper dealing with the mammals obtained by Mr. Grant in Zululand a Hare, belonging to the saxalilis-group, was described as a new subspecies under the name of Lepus saxatilis zuluensis *. On the receipt of the material with which the present paper deals a careful examination of the whole group was undertaken, and we are led to the conclusion that no intergrading takes place between the large-eared Hare, Lepus saxatilis, and its eastern representative. We therefore consider the small-eared one to be worthy of specific rank. " Tchangaan name ‘ Nfundla.' " This species is fairly common in stony places and on the sandy flats, especially round old mealie-patches. They move about only at night and spend the day under a bush or in the long grass."- C. H. B. G. 18. R a ph ic e r u s s i ia r p e i colonicus, subp. n. <$. 1278, 1279. Similar in all essential characters to the true shcirpei of Nyasa, * P. Z. S. 1905, i. p. 270. |
