188 Annals of the South African Museum. 



Graphiurus murinus, ALSTON, Proc. Zool. Soc., p. 317 (1875) 

 [rufous var.] . 



Eliomys murinus, KEUVENS, Myoxidae, p. 40, pi. i., figs. 4, 6, 7, 

 pi. ii., fig. 9, pi. iii., figs. 5, 6, 7 (1890). 



Eliomys microtis, NOAK, Zool. Jahrb., ii., p. 248 (1887). 



Description. General colour above mouse-grey, the hair very soft 

 and thick, dark slaty at the base with ashy brown tips ; below, includ- 

 ing the cheeks, chin, and insides of the limbs, dull white, these hairs 

 too being slaty at the base ; in some adult specimens the chin, cheeks, 

 and breast have a distinct rusty red tinge ; feet very slender, covered 

 with sparse pale hairs and furnished below with the usual pads, five 

 to the fore and six to the hind limbs ; from the root of the whiskers 

 to the eyes, and round these, a dark ring, not always well marked, 

 extends ; the ears fairly large, rounded, and nearly naked ; tail almost 

 as long as the head and body, bushy, covered with long hairs which 

 become much longer towards the apex, but the hairs are fairly 

 evenly distributed, so that the tail can hardly be called distichous, its 

 colour is the same as that of the back, the hairs being unicolorous 

 throughout ; four pairs of mammae, one pair axillary, one pectoral, 

 two inguinal. 



Varieties having a general rufous tinge sometimes occur. 



Dimensions (from a skin). Head and body 4-1 ; tail without 

 terminal hairs 2'77, with 3'55 ; hind foot '65 ; from ear-opening 

 to nose '95; skull length 1-10, breadth '63 ; upper cheek teeth '15. 



Distribution. Western and Central Africa from Senegal and 

 Kilimanjaro southwards to Cape Colony ; in South Africa the 

 Dormouse is found in the more wooded districts, especially in the 

 east. The South African Museum possesses examples from the 

 Beaufort West, George, Port Elizabeth, and Kimberley districts, 

 from Pondoland, Natal, and Zululand. 



The type obtained by Delalande in Cape Colony and described by 

 Desmarest is now in the Paris Museum. 



GEAPHIUEUS PLATYOPS, DARLING'S DORMOUSE. 



Grapliiurus platyorjs, THOMAS, Ann. Mag. N. H. (6), xix., p. 388 

 (1897). 



Description. In external appearance closely resembling G. 

 murinus, but a little larger, and with the tail distinctly white 

 tipped. 



Skull very different from G. murimts, being broad and flat, with 

 long nasals, narrow interorbital region, and broad and depressed 



