312 Mr. G. Duliman on 



XXX. — Seven new African Dormice. 

 By Guy Doi.lmax. 



(PublisLed by permission of the Trustees of the British MiiseiircJ 



Graphiurus crass'icartdahis dorothece, subsp. n. 



A brownisb-red-coloured form allied to and ratlier larger 

 tlian Graphiurus crassicaudatus, Jenk. 



Size and general proportions greater tlian in crassicau- 

 datus. General colour of back a rick rusty brown (between 

 pnuff-brown no. 4 and raw umber no. 3, 'Repertoire de 

 Couleurs ') ; flanks a trifle ligbter tlian back, tbe rusty- 

 brown tint passing fairly abruptly into tbe grey colour of 

 tbe ventral surface. Forebead and sides of face paler and 

 greyer tban general colour of back. Hairs of face like tliose 

 of back, all with grey bases and rusty-brown tips. Dark 

 rings around eyes well marked. Backs of bands and feet 

 dirty wliite tinted witb buff. Under surface of body pale 

 slaty grey, washed with pale bufFy white. Tail rather 

 darker in colour than body. Unfortunately the tail of tlie 

 type specimen is broken, Avhile that of the other specimen 

 sent by j\Ir. Talbot and referable to this new form is of the 

 regenerated kind and therefore useless for comparative pur- 

 poses. The basal portion of the tail of the type specimen 

 appears to be rather more of the distichous than the bushy 

 kind, and therefore markedly diff"erent from the murinus cr\ow\^, 

 in which the tail is always bushy. There is not sufficient 

 evidence to show whether the tail is really as distichous as 

 that of G. hueii, but the arrangement of the hairs on the 

 basal portion of tbe tail seems to indicate a much more dis- 

 tichous condition than is found in any of the '^ 77iurinus^^ 

 group. The closely allied form, crassicatidatus, probably 

 has a similar semi- or wholly distichous tail, but here, again, 

 the type and only known specimen possesses a regenerated 

 club-shaped tail. 



Skull presenting the same unusual characters as exhibited 

 in crass'caudafus. Tiie skulls of these two forms are so 

 unlike all the other small and medium-sized Graphiurus 

 that a note as to their chief characters may not be out of 

 place here. Brain-case unusually broad, both in the squa- 

 mosal and occipital regions; interorbital breadth nuich 

 greater than in the '' 7?n/r /???/«" group. Nasals narrow and 

 parallel-sided, not expanded anteriorly, a very marked de- 

 j)arture trom the usual form of Graphiurus nasals, which are 



