ALLEN: MAMMALS FROM TUE BLUE NILE VALLEY. 341 



is uniformly pale buff; the two dorsal rows of spots on each side are 

 much larger in one than in the other and prevailingly rusty in color. 

 The median stripe is likewise more rusty than black. In the other 

 two skins, the ground color is clearer gray, the dorsal rows of spots in 

 one case rusty in the other more black than rusty, and the dorsal 

 stripe black. In all, the two terminal light rings on the tail are in- 

 complete dorsally owing to the median black portion connecting the 

 three last dark rings. The stripes and rows of spots vary even on 

 opposite sides of the body. The spots in the row nearest the midline 

 on each side show a marked tendency to run together into a stripe 

 over the hips. The outer stripe from the nape to the shoulder, in 

 one individual is broken into a series of elongated spots. The pale 

 annulations of the tail in all are white ventrally shading rather 

 abruptly into buff on the dorsal side. At the ankle, posteriorly the 

 dark spot is rather ill defined and restricted. All the three males in the 

 series are more buff than the single female, but the latter is practically 

 identical w^th one of the males. Both are from Magangani, some ten 

 miles below Roseires on the Blue Nile, whereas the two buffer speci- 

 mens, with rusty spots and median stripe are from the Dinder River 

 at Kuka and Ereif el Dik respectively. 



Hyaena hienomelas Matschie. 

 Nubian Striped Hyaena. 

 Hyaena hienomelas Matschie, Sitzb. Ges. naturf. freunde Berlin, 1900, p. 53. 



The Striped Hyaena of the Atbara and neighboring region is con- 

 sidered distinct by Matschie in his revision of the species. He calls 

 it H. hienomelas, and quotes Latreille (Sonnini's Suites de Buffon, 27, 

 p. 25) as the- authority. Latreille, however, did not give a Latin 

 designation to this species, but refers to a specimen in the Paris 

 Museum as having been called by Lacepede ckieti hienomelas. He 

 further quotes Bruce's account of its habits in the Sudan. The 

 Latin name must then apparently be credited to Matschie. We 

 trapped a specimen at Magangani and several times heard them about 

 our camps along the Blue Nile. What I took to be their cry is differ- 

 ent from that of the Spotted Hyaena, having a more musical quality 

 with a rising then a falling inflection. 



