On a new Dassie from North Nyasaland. 387 



the Cauca. Perhaps this again will prove to be a synonym 

 of 8. Pucherani, Fitz. Neither species is referred to by 

 Mr. Nelson. 



XLVIII. — A new Dassie from North Nyasaland. 

 By Oldfield Thomas. 



Procavia mima 1 sp. n. 



General appearance, colour, and length of hair almost 

 exactly as in P. (Dendrohyrax) arborea, from which the 

 number of the mammas (1 — 2 = 6) widely separates it, and 

 allies it to the more typical members of the genus. Fur very 

 long, soft, and sleek, the hairs without the crinkling present 

 in arborea. General colour above pale sandy fawn, heavily 

 grizzled and lined with black, especially along the middle 

 line ; each hair dark brown for its basal 25-27 millim., then 

 sandy for about 5 millim., and its terminal 5 millim. shining- 

 black. Crown and rump particularly black, owing to the very 

 numerous shining black ends to the longer hairs. Upper lip 

 and an inconspicuous spot over eye whitish. Ears rounded, 

 well-haired, greyish white. Dorsal spot pale buffy white, 

 the hairs this colour to their bases ; peripheral hairs of spot 

 not deeper buffy, as is often the case in arborea. Under 

 surface white, with a faint buffy tinge, the bases of the hairs 

 blackish. Upper surface of hands and feet grizzled black 

 and pale buffy. 



Dimensions of body apparently about the same as in P. ar- 

 borea. Hind foot 57 millim. 



Bab. Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau, Northern Nyasaland. 



Type. Female. Skin without skull. B.M. no. 99. 6. 28. 16. 

 Presented in 1898 by Col. Manning, then Acting Com- 

 missioner, British Central Africa. 



This Dassie is so strikingly like P. arborea that it has 

 hitherto been regarded as belonging, or at least allied, to that 

 species. But now that I find that it has 1 — 2 = 6 maramse, 

 the formula of Procavia (s. s.) and Heterohyrax, as against 

 the — 1 = 2 of Dendrohyrax, there can no longer be any 

 doubt that it represents a distinct species. In colour and 

 length of hair it is widely different from any known species 

 with the same mammary formula. 



