PTEROPUS NAWAIEN8IS. 



283 



along middle of back, and an ochraceous wood-brown slightly 

 darkened with brownish on sides of back, where the dark hair- 

 bases are almost concealed. — Breast and belly rather similar to back, 

 the admixture of golden ochraceous wood-brown being strongest on 

 sides of breast and flanks, thinnest along middle of breast, belly, and 

 anal region. — Mantle rich tawny, approaching ochraceous-rufous, 

 lightening to ochraceous-buff posteriorly, and darkening to chestnut 

 on sides of neck. Foreneck dark cinnamon-rufous, varied with 

 dark brown and sprinkled with buffy hairs, thus not contrasting 

 with, but onlj'' somewhat richer in colour than, sides of neck. Base 

 of hairs of mantle and sides of neck seal-brown. — Tawny colour 

 of mantle extending forward on occiput, lightening on crown, 

 interocular space, and temporal region to golden buffy or ochraceous- 

 buffy ; concealed bases of hairs darker. Face, superciliary stripe, 

 chin, and throat blackish sprinkled with greyish and ochraceous. 



Palest extreme in the series ( $ imm. skin ; Viti Levu, June ; 

 79.4.8.2) : — Differs from the above in the excessive development of 

 the pale element of the coloration. — Back and rump almost cream- 

 buff, owing to the light tinge and unusual length of the pale hair- 

 tips, which completelj' or almost completely conceal the seal-brown 

 base of the fur. — Breast, belly, and flanks buffy, slightly mixed with 

 brown on belly; base of fur dark brown. — Mantle cream-biiff", 

 shading to buff on sides of neck ; base of hairs seal-brown. Fore- 

 neck similar to breast.— Occiput, crown, and interocular space buffy, 

 many of the hairs, particularly anteriorly, without dark bases. 

 Face, chin, and throat mixed blackish, buffy, and greyish. 



Of the three specimens described above the second represents the 

 darkest extreme in the series examined, the lirst an intermediate 

 colour variation, the third an extremely pale variety. The indi- 

 vidual colour variation in this species, however great it appears on 

 comparison of the extremes, depends solely on the greater or less 

 development of the pale element of the colour, and the paler (buffy, 

 cream-buffy) or richer (tawny) tinge of the mantle. The variations 

 are independent of the habitat of the individuals : the palest indi- 

 vidual (79.4.8.2) is from Viti Levu ; the same island is represented 

 by a specimen similar to the type of Pt. nawaiensis, from Nauai, 

 and to a specimen from Ovalau (.08. 12.27.4) ; the type of Ft. vitieiisis, 

 also from Ovalau, is, however, the darkest specimen in the series. — 

 Of the series examined, two individuals are females, both of them 

 with pale-coloured (buffy, ochraceous-buffy) mantle ; four are males, 

 in two the mantle is rich tawny, in the third it approaches, in 

 the fourth it is similar to, that of the females. It would seem, 

 therefore, that the richer or paler tinge of the mantle has little, if 

 anything, to do with the sex. 



Measurements. Ou pp. 291, 292. 



Specimens examined. The British Museum material. 



Range. Fiji Islands : Vanua Levu, Viti Levu, Ovalau, iSTauai. 



Type in collection. 



History in literature. — Two specimens in the collection are labelled 

 in Gray's handwriting Pt. nawaiensis; one, from Nauai (collected 



