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Show 996 ON MAMMALS FROM THE ITURI FOREST. [Dec. 11, Provisionally, I propose to regard this Elepliant-Shrew merely as a race of Dr. Matschie's species, with the title of lilt, stuhl-manni nudicaudata ; leaving it open whether it may not really claim specific rank. In its completely naked tail, and apparently also ears, this Elepliant-Shrew is distinct from all other Rhynchoeyons, unless it he the typical stuhlmanni; the one which comes nearest to it in the former respect being Rh. chrysopyyus. [ P o s t s c r ip t .] [Since the foregoing paper was read Major Powell-Cotton has sent home two skins and skulls of the Buffalo of the Semliki Valley, in regard to which I communicated the following note to the i Field' newspaper of January 5th, 1907 (vol. cix. p. 87*). These specimens indicate an animal to a large extent intermediate between the great black buffalo of South Africa and the dwarf red buffalo of the west coast, and thus serve to strengthen the view that these (and all other African) buffaloes are merely races of one and the same species. The general colour of the Semliki buffalo (which is well haired) is tawny, with the tip of the tail black, but the tint gradually darkens towards the shoulders, till it becomes blackish-brown on the neck and head. The tips of the ears are, however, fringed with pencils of tawny hair. In size the animal approaches the Cape buffalo, but the horns, which are thin and much flattened, are, as in all the more northern races, widely separated at their bases. The black tail-tip at once separates the Semliki buffalo from Bos cajfer mathewsi of the Albert Nyanza district, in which that appendage is white (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1904, ii. p. 163). With regard to the buffalo from Ankole, South Uganda, described by Mr. O. Thomas (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1904, i. p. 464) as B. caffe^ radcliffei, it appears from specimens in the Natural History Museum that the hair of that race is wholly black. Among the numerous buffaloes recently described by Professor P. Matschie (S.B. Ges. Naturforsch. Berlin, July 1906) none came from the Sem'iki district. The Semliki buffalo is therefore apparently a new race, and it is appropriate that it should be named, after its discoverer, Bos [Bubalus | caffer cottom. Old individuals, I have recently found, become black.] E XPLANATION OP PLATE LXX. Pig. 1. The Dusky African Tiger-Cat, Felis chrysothrix cottoni, p. 992. Fig. 2. The lied African Tiger-Cat, Felis chrysothrix rutila, p. 993. Major Cotton's specimen was obtained from the Ituri Forest, Central Equatorial Africa, in the Mawambi district Both are drawn about \ nat. size. * In the original note the specimen was stated to be from the Ituri Forest; but this, I am informed by Major Cotton, is incorrect. |