286 



IITRACrBJ2. 



the crown ; but the notch left by the interparietal (for it is lost with 

 the hinder part of the skull) shows that that bone was of a half-oval 

 shape and rather longer than broad, being rather wider but not near 

 so long compared with its width as the interparietal figured as that 

 of H. si/riacus by De Blainville (Osteograph. t. 2). This skull differs 

 from those numbered 724 c and d in being higher behind when 

 placed on its upper grinders, and in the forehead being slightly more 

 convex in the middle below the orbit. 



3. Hyrax Welwitschii. 



Fur short, rather harsh, iron-grey-grizzled ; hairs of upper part 

 of the back black, with a large white subapical ring ; of the sides 

 dirty brown, with a white ring ; dorsal streak yellow, moderate. 



Hyrax arboreus, Peters, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 401 (not A. Smith). 

 Hyi-ax Welwitschii, Gray, Ann. 8f Mag. N. H. ser. 4. i. p. 43. 



Hah. Rocky places on the shores of the river Maiomba, in the 

 district of Mossamedes {Welwiisch, I. c). 



The adult skull of H. Wehvitschii, lent to me by Dr. Welwitsch, 

 differs from all the preceding in being considerably broader in pro- 

 portion to its length. The nose is compressed, the crown is flat to 

 the occipital ridge, wide in front, and gradually narrowing behind. 

 The interparietal bone (which is partly destroyed by a hole made to 

 extract the brain) is very small and nearly triangular ; the teeth are 

 large, and the palate rath«r narrow, compared with the other skulls. 

 The diastema is very short, not exceeding the length of the outer 

 side of the first two premolars. The shortness and width of this 

 skull at once separate it from the skulls of all the species of true 

 Hyrax that are in the Museum Collection. This species is only 

 known from a flat skin and a skuU collected by Dr. Welwitsch and 

 named by Dr. Peters as above. 



Dr. Peters, in a note to me, observes, " I probably made a mistake, 

 and the Hyrax (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, p. 401) with rather harsh 

 and short hair does not belong to H. arhoreus. Smith. It has, if I 

 am not mistaken, much shorter ears than H. arboreus ; and there- 

 fore I said the H. arboreus has much shorter ears than H. capensis, 

 which is not the case. Dr. Welwitsch's specimen resembles more 

 the H. habesshiicus of Ehrenberg in this respect, and may prove to 

 be identical with that species." 



I may add that it differs from H. abyssinicus in the skull, the 

 short diastema, and the colour and nature of its fur. It is more 

 allied to H. Burtonii, but differs in the colour of the fur. It is very 

 difficult to state the size of the ears of the different species from 

 stuffed or dried skins. 



Dr. Welwitsch says, " It always differs by its larger size from a 

 second species living in the interior of Angola." He probably refers 

 to the species received from the Lisbon Museum, which I have called 

 H. bocar/ei. 



