EAST AFRICAN MAMMALS IN NATIONAL MUSEUM. 145 



CROCUTA CROCUTA FISI Heller. 



Plates 39, 40. 



1914. Crocuta erocutafisi Heller, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 61, No. 22, p. 5. 

 January 26. (Merelle Waterholes, Marsabit Road, British East Africa ; 

 type in U. S. Nat. Mus.) 



1914. Crocuta erocutafisi Roosevelt and Heller, Life-Hist. African Game Ani- 

 mals, vol. 1, p. 263. 



Specimens. — Seventeen, from localities as follows: 

 British East Africa: Arclier's Post, 1 skull (Heller); Koya 

 Water, Marsabit Eoad, 4 (Heller); Lakimidu River, 1 (Heller); Me- 

 relle Water, Marsabit Road, 9 (Heller); Northern Giiaso Nyiro River, 

 1 (K. Roosevelt); Quoy Water, Marsabit Road, 1 skull (Heller). 



The skins of this pale-colored, short-haired race of the spotted 

 hyena are much more uniform in color and markings than are skins 

 of the common East African C. c. germinans. The ground color of 

 the body is light buff and the spots are small,. This latter feature is 

 due somewhat to the shortness of the pelage, which makes the mark- 

 ings seem more clear cut and distinct than m the long-haired race. 

 The subspecific name is taken from the native name, Jisi, by which 

 the spotted hyena is kno\NTi to the Swahili and other coast tribes. 



CROCUTA CROCUTA LEONTIEWI (Satunin). 



1905. Hyaena (Crocuta) leontiewi Satunin, Zool. Anz., vol. 29, No. 17, p. 556. 

 November 28. (Abyssinia, exact locality not known; type in Petrograd 

 Museum.) 



Specimens. — ^Two, as follows: 



Eritrea: ''Habesch" (Schrader). 



These two skins are pale cinnamon on the back, dirty buff on the 

 flanks, and more reddish on the withers, neck, and head. On one the 

 spots are very dark, almost black, while on the other they are pale 

 brown. Both are in rather faded and worn pelage; the hair, except 

 on neck and withers, is quite short, though longer than the body 

 hair in Crocuta c.fisi of northern British East Africa. 



The hyena described by Cabrera from Odweina, 100 miles south 

 of Berbera, Somali, as Crocuta rujopicta ^ must be very close to, if 

 not identical with, this form. None of the characters given in the 

 origmal description, at any rate, are more than individual, as shown 

 by the series of hyenas in the United States National Museum, and 

 there is little reason to expect that more material would disclose 

 any important constant differences between hyenas from the two 

 localities. 



1 Proc. Zool. See. London, 1910, p. 97. March, 1911. 

 100468— 18— Bull. 99 10 



