236 Annals of the South African Museum. 



extend much further, as far as the posterior root of the zygoma. In 

 consequence of this the frontal bones in H. africae-australis are 

 much longer, being more than half the length of the nasals and 

 twice as long as their distance from the occipital crest ; in H. cristata, 

 on the other hand, they are less than half the length of the nasals 

 and just about as long as their distance from the occipital crests. 



Dimensions (from a stuffed specimen). Head and body 26-0 ; tail 

 about 5'0 ; hind foot 4-50 ; from ear-opening to nose-tip 6'50 ; skull 

 length 6-0, breadth 3'40 ; upper molars 1-5. 



Distribution. This porcupine is found all over South Africa, 

 extending northwards as far as French Congo on the west and 

 German East Africa on the east ; within our limits it appears to be 

 very widely spread, being recorded from nearly all the districts of 

 the Colony, from German South-West Africa, Khodesia, the Trans- 

 vaal, Orange Free State, and Natal. It is not uncommon on the 

 slopes of Table Mountain. 



FAMILY LEPORIDAE. 

 GEN. LEPUS. 



Lcpus, LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat., 12th ed., i., p. 77 (1766). 



Eodents with long ears and hind legs and short, bushy, recurved 

 tails ; limbs with five toes to the fore and four to the hind feet, soles 

 very thickly haired. 



Skull with the bony palate reduced to a mere bridge between the 

 molars, with no true alisphenoid canal, and with a very peculiarly 

 shaped postorbital process ; this where it springs from the frontals 

 is quite narrow but afterwards expands to form a flattened bar 

 margining the upper rim of the orbit. 



Dentition. -i. 2/1 (at birth 3/1); c. 0/0; p.m. 3/2; m. 3/3 == 28; 

 the outer upper incisors are soon lost, the next pair are very small 

 and placed directly behind the large middle pair which are longi- 

 tudinally grooved ; grinding teeth rootless with transverse enamel 

 folds dividing them into lobes. 



The genus contains the hares and rabbits, of which there are a 

 large number of species distributed all over the world, with the 

 exception of the Australian region and Madagascar. 



LEPUS CAPEXSIS, THE CAPE HAKE. 



Lepus capensis, LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat., 12th ed., i., p. 76 (1766) ; 

 SMUTS, Enum. Mam. Cap., p. 51 (1832) ; A. SMITH, S. Afr. Quart. 



