LÖNNBERG, ON A NEW ORYCTEROPUS FROM NORTHERN CONGO. 23 



The type specimen of O. erikssoni is from the northern 

 part of the Congo Free State and has been killed in the 

 valley of the river Bomu or Mbomu not very far from the 

 government station Guffnri. The natives call this animal 

 »Garrava» in the Azandi-language. It is said to be rather 

 scarce. It is at least seldom observed and seldom killed. 

 It feeds on termites and burrows itself down in the base of 

 the very large termite-hills and is said to remain for a long 

 time in each of those before it leaves it and breaks into an- 

 other. The natives declared to Lieutenant Eriksson that 

 it could stay for three months in the interiör of one and 

 the same termite-hilP. They had ascertained that by putting 

 snares in the openings to all the burrows, and surrounding 

 the whole place with nets. It had then happened that the 

 nets rotted down before the animal carae out. Such a hunt- 

 ing method is therefore mostly of very little use. The ne- 

 groes ha ve, however, a more aggressive and, as a rule, also 

 more effective manner of securing these animals. If the 

 burrow is wide enongh a man crawls into the same and when 

 he has found, where the »Garrava» is, he knocks with his 

 fist or with a piece of wood on the roof of the burrow so 

 that his fellows may hear it and locate the place. A per- 

 pendicular shaft is then sunk there and the animal is killed 

 with a spear. The meat is much appreciated. When the 

 animal walks on the grcund it leaves tracks which look like 

 impressions of three fingers; the other toes leave marks only 

 on very soft soil, Lieutenant Eriksson says. When it bur- 

 rows comparatively little earth is thrown out. 



When studying the above described Orycteropus I was per- 

 mitted by my friend Professor Erik Muller to borrow from the 

 anatomical museum of the R. Carolinian Medical Institute a 

 skeleton of a young O. afer for comparison. The skull of this 



^ How long it can stay in a t^^rmite-liill befoi-e leaving it for aiiother 

 depends of course upon the number of insects inhabiting the hill and 

 how iong they offer sufficient food for the <> Garrava». 



