the Genus Tatera. 487 



equal lcn{»th of tlie lio.-ui and body and the tail, winch latter 

 is not or only " slip;htly tufted " ; [b) those, from Africa 

 north of the Ecjuator (except the Nile N'alley), characterized 

 by loii^ slijjhtly tu'ted tails, the slij^ht tuft, however, being 

 often not very obvious ; and, finally, (c) those, from the 

 Kile Valley, remarkable for tluir tufted tails. 



Noack (Z<iol. Jahrb. vol. ii. p. 2J1) in 1888 described a 

 Tatera from tlie west shore of Tanganyika remarkable for 

 having two shallow grooves on the upper incisors in place of 

 the normal one. In 1897 the Museum received specimens 

 from the Tanganyika Plateau exactly corresponding with 

 Noack's description, and showing that his Boi'Inni was a 

 constant form, and Mr. Thomas (P. Z. S. p. 4'33, 1897) created 

 for it the genus Gcibillisnis. Later a Tatera was received also 

 from mid-Africa in which even these two shallow grooves 

 were wanting, and was provisionally placed in the >ame genus 

 under the name of fratercu/ns. 



The material at present is too meagre for any profitable 

 discussion as to the validity of the position given to these 

 two forms, and I have theicfore excluded them from my key. 

 1 would call attention, however, to the fact that Boehnii 

 has a markedly long tail, whereas that oi f rater cuius is al)out 

 equal to the head and body; so that while Boe/imi shows 

 aj)parent affinity to fuUax and the northern forms, though 

 living in mid-Afric;i,,//Y//tr6v////.y is in close agreement with 

 the forms of Tatera which surrcmnd it. 



(13) Tatera liodon. 

 Tatera liodon, Thos. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ix. p. 441 (1902). 



I quote dimensions from Mr. Thomas's description : — 



Head and body 177 mm. ; tail \^'l ; hind foot 35 ; ear 20. 



Sknll : (greatest length 15 ; basilar length 35 ;) zygomatic 

 breadth 22; length of upper molar scries 08; bullaj 11. 



The b(jdy-nieasuremcnts were not recorded by ti.e collector, 

 and 1 cannot think that in life the jiroportion of head and 

 body to tail, as recorded by Mr. Thomas from skin-specimens, 

 really exists ; lioduii is but little larger than valida [e.g. head 

 and body IGO mm.), but the tail, though undoul)te(lly 

 unusually short, is almost certainly more than W) mm., and 

 1 suspect is about the same hngth as the head and body. 



Noteworthy characters are large size, short tail, and 

 indistinct grooving of incisors. 



