new Species of Dendrohyrax. 133 



which, if I recollect right, was obtained attached to a spear 

 as & fetish. I figured this skull in the ' Hand-list of Edentate 

 and Thick-skinned Animals,' plate xi. fig. 3, as Dendrohyrax 

 Blainvillei ; but as it differs in the form of the intermaxillary 

 bone, in the dilatation of the lower side of the orbit, and in 

 several other particulars, and as we do not know the lower 

 jaw, it is very uncertain if it may not belong to a different 

 species ; and therefore 1 think it best to give the complete 

 animal a distinct name. The form of the intermaxillary 

 of D. Blainvillei is very like that of D. dorsalis, though it 

 differs from the latter in the orbit being incomplete ; but this 

 may be an accidental variation. 



The three species of Dendrohyrax in a perfect state in the 

 British Museum may be distinguished thus : — 



1. Dendrohyrax Bakeri. 



Fur soft, short, and close ; the hair is reddish, with a black 

 subterminal band and pale tips, giving the animal a grizzled 

 appearance, with a very narrow white dorsal streak, which 

 has a blacker edge ; the top of the head is darker, the lips, 

 throat, chest, and underside of body and inside of limbs 

 yellowish white. 



Hab. Eastern Tropical Africa, Latiko {Sir Samuel Baker. 

 K.C.B.). 



This animal has much the appearance of the true Hyraces 

 from Abyssinia and North-eastern Africa, but has quite a 

 different form of skull. 



Of this animal, or an allied species of ffyrax, Dr. Schwein- 

 furth, in the ' Heart of Africa,' p. 385, says " Abdoo, a native, 

 observed that the rock-rabbits at Mvolo clamber up and down 

 smooth rocks that arc almost perpendicular, and that, when 

 you shoot one of these creatures and catch hold of it, it sticks 

 to the rock with its feet in its death-struggles as though it had 

 grown there." Dr. Schweinfurth states : — " The under part 

 of the foot is dark and elastic as india-rubber, and has several 

 deeply indented cushions. This arrangement, which no other 

 Mammalia or warm-blooded animals seem to possess, enables 

 the creature, by opening and closing the centre cleft, to throAv 

 off part of its weight and to gain a firm hold upon the smooth 

 surface of the stone. The toes are nothing but pads of horny 

 skin without regular nails, the hind foot alone being furnished 

 on the inner toe with one claw, which is sharply compressed. 

 For some time I could not at all comprehend how, with such 

 a plump foot, the rock-rabbit could climb so safely over pre- 



