444 Notes on Georychus and tts Allies. 
bone of the male. The latter, however, is of more normal 
shape, round in section, thick at base, tapering terminally. 
One of the causes of the wide distribution of similar forms 
is no doubt the habit of these animals of frequenting in the 
dry-season the empty beds of the rivers, and then when the 
water comes down in flood such as survive are carried along 
to make further colonies lower down, by which process the 
Cryptomys of rivers hundreds of miles in length are preserved 
from local isolation, 
These facts about this difficult group have been gradually 
impressing themselves on mammalogists for some time, and 
it was hoped that by the increase of collections and literature 
a proper understanding of the true state of things would be. 
reached. But unfortunately for South-African mammalogy 
a worker in the Transvaal Museum has recently written a 
number of papers * in which he has given names to nearly a 
score of “species”? of Cryptomys without reference to any 
of the older collections or any adequate quotation of the 
literature of the subject. He appears not to have learnt tle 
underlying basis of scientific mammalogy, which is the non- 
occurrence of closely allied species on the same ground, for 
we find such surprises as the description of four species of 
small Cryptomys from Pretoria alone and many others from its 
near neighbourhood. His species are ostensibly based on the 
characters of the skull—now known, as above explained, to 
be of little importance,—but these are so described and with 
such insufficient comparison one with another that it is quite 
impossible to identify them. Even an albino is described 
as a new species, Georychus albus! 
The character of the work is of the same quality in other 
groups of mammals. 
These papers are published in the official journal of the 
Transvaal Museum, and I would respectfully urge on the 
authorities of that institution to consider what a fatal effect 
the issue of such work is likely to have on the reputation of 
their Museum and its standing in scientific estimation. I 
feel perfectly certain that they will not wish their finely got 
up journal to be the vehicle for what is little short of a catas- 
trophe to one of the sciences they deal with. 
Mr. Roberts’s obvious enthusiasm for mammalogy might 
have been made of the greatest service to science had he 
consulted any of the older workers, and had he learnt from 
them a little caution before rushing into print on so difficult 
a subject. 
* Austin Roberts, ‘The Collection of Mammals in the Transvaal 
Museum,” Annals of the Transvaal Museum, 1913, and Supplements, 
1914-1917. 
