202 Annals of the Soittli African Museum. 



MalacotJirix tupicus, WAGNEE, Schreb. Saugeth., Suppl. iii., p. 

 498 (1843) ; DE WINTON, Ann. Mag. N. H. (7), i., p. 8 (1898). 



Description. General colour pale brown above, the fur long, soft, 

 and with dark slaty bases, below white also with slaty bases ; head 

 somewhat pointed, ears very large for the size of the animal, 

 measuring about -7 in. by -55 in., dark coloured, sparsely covered 

 with fine black and white hairs intermixed ; limbs slender, covered 

 with dull white hairs ; on the fore foot four toes clawed, the third and 

 fourth only slightly exceeding the second and fifth in length ; hind 

 foot with four toes only, the first or inner one being absent, all 

 clawed, the fifth slightly shorter than the others ; whole under sur- 

 face of the carpus and tarsus right up to the toe pads covered with 

 short, white, coarse hairs ; tail short, dark, and scaly, covered with 

 short, white, bristly hairs, and so appearing a dirty white. 



Skull slender and much narrowed between the orbits, incisors 

 orange, and the upper ones deeply grooved. 



Dimensions (from a stuffed specimen). Head and body 3'5 ; 

 tail 1'40 ; hind foot '70 ; from ear-opening to tip of snout I'O: 

 skull length -90, breadth -55 ; length of cheek teeth -19. 



Distribution. Apparently confined to Cape Colony ; the species 

 was described by Sir A. Smith many years ago from specimens 

 obtained near Graaf Eeinet ; the above description is drawn up from 

 specimens in the South African Museum from Beaufort West and 

 Griqualand West. 



MALACOTHRIX PENTONYX, sp. nov., THE SMALL-EARED 

 MOUSE GERBILLE. 



Description. General colour above brown with a rufous tinge, 

 below including the upper lips and limbs pure white, the line of 

 demarcation being very marked; fur soft and thick, above with, 

 below without, slaty bases ; head acutely pointed, ears moderate, 

 markedly smaller than those of M. tijpicus, oval, about '45 by 

 30, covered internally with sparse whitish, externally with brown 

 hairs. 



Limbs slender, proportioned much as in M. tjjpicus, the fore- 

 limbs with four clawed toes ; hind limbs with five toes, all with 

 well-marked claws, of which the inner (i.e., the first) is the shortest, 

 and the fifth slightly shorter than the other three ; tarsus hairy as in 

 the other species. 



Tail short, a little darker above than below, covered with short, 

 stiff, bristle hairs. 



