280 HYKACID^E. 



is a distinct species, if there were not such a difference in the skull. 

 Hemprich and Ehrenberg regard it as distinct, and call it H. habes- 

 sinlcus. 



Hemprich and Ehrenberg, in the ' Symbolaj Physicse,' described 

 and characterized by their colours and osteological characters four 

 species of Hijrax, viz. : — 1. H. capensis, 2. H. syriaciis vel sinaiticus, 

 3. H. Jiabessinicus, 4. H.rujiceps vel dotufoUcus. They figure three; 

 for the dark animal figured with H, syriacus represents a young 

 Hyrax hahessinkus. 



There is no specimen in the British Museum that has a red head, 

 although Prof. Ehrenberg called one of his species If. rujiceps ; but 

 I think that probably he gave that name to the species which we 

 received from Dr. Riippell as A. abyssinicus, and which I beUeve to 

 be the Ashkoko of Bruce. 



There are specimens of four distinct species in the British Museum 

 that have a more or less distinct yellow dorsal streak ; and there is 

 another, discovered by Dr. Welwitsch. Pour came from Africa, and 

 one from Arabia in Asia. They differ fi-om each other in the tex- 

 ture and the general colour of the fur and of the hairs of which it 

 is composed. Most probably two of these are the species with yeUow 

 dorsal spots, characterized by Hemprich and Ehrenberg, viz. Hyrax 

 syriacus or sinaiticus of Asia, and H. rujiceps vel dongolicus of 

 Africa. 



Two of these species have rather harsh rigid hairs. 



Three specimens of the first were sent from upper Egypt by Mr. 

 James Burton. They are larger in size and much paler in colour 

 than the other species of the group, and very slightly punctulated 

 with black. They have the dorsal streak comparatively slightly 

 marked and of a pale colour, and the fur is short and close. There 

 is a single young specimen, received from a French collector as from 

 Senegal, very like those from Egypt, showing that this species has a 

 very wide distribution in Africa. 



The second, of an iron-grey colour, was brought from Angola by 

 Dr. Welwitsch. Dr. Peters names it H. arboreus ; but it is quite 

 distinct from that species. I have called it H. WelwitscMi. 



The other three species have very soft close fur ; and they differ 

 from one another in the colour of the fur and of the separate hairs. 

 The first, which I believe is the Ashkoko of Bruce, is very like a wild 

 rabbit in general colour, and is white below ; the hairs have a black • 

 sub terminal band and a yellow tip, which gives the fur a minutely 

 and closely punctulated appearance. The second is somewhat like 

 the former, and also said to come from Abyssinia ; but the fur is 

 jjale yeUow-grey, minutely and slightly varied with black hairs, biit 

 not punctulated, and the hairs have no subterminal band ; and the 

 underside is yellowish. The third, which is the species found in 

 Palestine and Arabia, is of a nearly uniform reddish-yellow colour, 

 and has longer and softer hairs of a nearly uniform colour. 



Sir Andrew Smith, in the Trans. Linn. Soc, described a South- 

 African species under the name of H. arboreus ; and Mr. Eraser de- 

 scribed a West- African species under that of i/. dorsalis. Both these 



