210 A revised Classification of the Otomyiii?e. 



Otomys mashona, sp. n. 



]\rost nearly allied to 0. angoniensis, but greyer and with 

 differently shaped nasals. 



Size about as in amjoniensis or a little smaller. Fur 

 decidedly finer and softer than in that species. General 

 colour very much as in 0. irroratus auratus or a shade 

 darker, greyer and less brownish than in angoniensis ; sides 

 and hips distinctly greyer. 



Skull with the nasals shorter and proportionately broader 

 than in angoniensis, the broad anterior part shorter and the 

 posterior part more rapidly narrowing backwards ; lateral 

 sutures without a marked angle, this character distinguish- 

 ing the species from irroratus. 



Third upper molar normally with seven laminae. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in the flesh) : — 



Head and body 171 mm. ; tail 108 ; hind feet 30. 



Skull : greatest length 41 ; coudylo-incisive length 39 ; 

 zygomatic breadth 20"3 ; nasals 17x89 ; interorbital 

 breadth 4*3 ; height from supraorbital edge to alveolus of 

 nr 13*7; palatilar length 19; upper molar series 9"2. 



Hab. Mazoe, Mashonaland, Southern Rhodesia. Alt. 

 4000'. 



Type. Adult male. B.M. no. 95. 11. 3. 13. Original 

 number 44 B. Collected 5th August, 1895, and presented 

 by J. ffolliott Darling. 



This Otomys was identified by Mr. Wroughton with 

 0. irroratus auratus of Vredefort Road, Orange River Colony, 

 a locality very much farther south, but I venture to think 

 it is more related to angoniensis and rowleyi, with which it 

 agrees in the number of its molar laminaj and its non- 

 angular nasal sutures. 



Otomys burtoni, sp. n. 



A small species, isolated in the Caraeroons. 



(Size comparatively small. Fur very long and soft, woolly 

 hairs of back about 20 mm. in length. General colour dull 

 grizzled brown with a slight coppery tint, very much as in 

 O. irroratus cupreus. Hands and feet dark brown. 



Skull not strongly bowed, with rather short muzzle. 

 Nasals of medium broadening anteriorly, the lateral sutures 

 not strongly angular. Interorbital region not heavily 

 ridged. 



Upper incisors more pointed backwai'ds than is usual even 

 in this opisthodont genus, the angle (50°) lower than in any 



