192 Annals of the South African Museum. 



5%50 ; from ear-opening to tip of snout 1-45; hind foot 1*50, with 

 middle claw 1-63. An example from Mashonaland measured in the 

 flesh by Mr. Darling is given by de Winton as follows : Head and 

 body 5-93 ; tail 6'30 ; hind foot 1-25 ; skull length 1-45, breadth 

 about -86 ; length of upper molars -27. 



Varieties and Synonym//. The above description is drawn up from 

 examples both stuffed and preserved in alcohol from the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Cape Town. 



Another Gerbille from Mazoe, presented by Mr. Darling, ap- 

 parently identical with specimens from the same place and donor, 

 described by Mr. de Winton (v.s.) differs from these in several parti- 

 culars, of which the following are the most important : 



The hind foot is shorter, being 1-15 in. in length as against 1 - 50 in 

 the Cape Colony specimens, the difference is not so much in the 

 tarsus itself as in the length of the three middle toes. 



The tail of the Mashonaland example has the scales faintly spotted 

 with brown, there are no traces of these spots in the Colony speci- 

 mens ; further, the tail is much darker above and ends in a slight 

 black tuft, whereas the tail of the Colony species is not darker at 

 the tip. 



In the Mazoe animal the claws of both fore and hind limbs are 

 shorter and very dark, almost black in colour, and finally the general 

 colour of the animal is very much darker than in the Cape 

 examples. 



Another skin in the South African Museum, in a very bad state of 

 preservation, from Kimberley, is, although of the same size as the 

 typical G. afer, of a very different colour it is of a bright reddish 

 orange and accords very well, as far as the colour is concerned, with 

 G. paeba but it is much larger than that species as described by Smith. 



Distribution. The Cape Gerbille is not uncommon in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Cape Town and is recorded by Smuts from Port Eliza- 

 beth ; it is probably found all over the Colony, and, if Mr. de Winton's 

 identification is correct, extends northwards to Mashonaland. 



GERBILLUS BKANTSII, BRANTS' GERBILLE. 



GerbiHiis brantsii, A. SMITH, Eeport Exped. Explor. S. Afr., p. 48 

 (1836) ; DE WINTON, Ann. Mag. N. H., (7), i, p. 4 (1898). 



Gerbillus montaniis, A. SMITH, Illustr. Zool. S. Afr. Mamm., pi. 

 xxxvi., fig. 1 (1849). 



Mcrioncs (Rhombomys) maccalinus, SUNDEVALL, Oefvers. Akad. 

 Forh. Stockholm (1846), p. 120 (1847). 



