304 Mr. 0. Thomas on the 



heavier throughout, and the posterior basal cusp of the 

 incisors aud canines is reduced or absent. The anterior 

 incisors are always longer than the canines. 



A specimen in spirit of N. dobsoni, obtained by Dr. Major, 

 has got an incrassated tail, but whether this is normal or 

 seasonal I am not able to state. 



2. Microgale, Thos. 



Genotype. M. longicaudata, Thos. 

 Other described forms : — 



cowani, Thos. 

 cowani nigrescens, Ell.* 

 crassipes, M . - E d w . 

 longirostris, Mai. 

 major?, sp. n. (infra). 

 pusilla, Maj. 

 taiva, Maj. 

 thomasi, Maj. 



The characters of the teeth and the smoothly rounded 

 profile of the skull, uninterrupted by any ridges or sinuosity, 

 are sufficiently indicated in the figures in the original 

 description f. 



As noted below, the longer-tailed species, longicaudata and 

 majori, have the tail modified for prehension terminally, and 

 the shorter-tailed forms, cowani and thomasi, not. But the 

 intermediate-tailed taiva and pusilla are as intermediate in 

 the structure as in the length of the tail, and show that no 

 superspecific value can be attached to the modification. 



The animal called M. c. nigrescens by Elliot is undoubtedly 

 a mere melanism of a species which Dr. Major got in some 

 numbers and which he referred to M. cowani. Several 

 intermediate examples between the wholly brown and wholly 

 black forms occur in our series, with a greater or less extent 

 of the median dorsal area black. 



But what its proper determination is still remains rather 

 doubtful, as no less than three different points bearing on 

 the question need, further material for their elucidation. 

 Firstly, what variation is found in typical M. cowani. for the 

 type of that species differs in certain details of dentition 



* P. Biol. Soc. Wash, xviii. p. 237 (1905). 

 t J. Linn. Soc, Zool. xvi. p. 319 (1882). 



