Dr. J. E. Gray on the Species ofHyrax. 37 



streak comparatively slightly marked and of a pale colour, and 

 the fur is short and close. There is a single young specimen, 

 received from a French collector as from Senegal, very like 

 those from Egypt, showing that this species has a very wide 

 distribution in Africa. 



The second, of an iron-grey colour, was brought from 

 Angola by Dr. Welwitsch. Dr. Peters names it H. arhoreus ; 

 but it is quite distinct from that species. I have called it H. 

 Welwitschii. 



The other three species have very soft close fur ; and they 

 differ from one another in the colour of the fur and of the se- 

 parate hairs. The first, which I believe is the Ashkoko of 

 Bruce, is very like a wild rabbit in general colour, and is white 

 below ; the hairs have a black subterminal band and a yellow 

 tip, which gives the fur a minutely and closely punctulated 

 appearance. The second is somewhat like the former, and 

 also said to come from Abyssinia ; but the fur is pale yellow 

 grey, minutely and slightly varied with black hairs, but not 

 punctulated, and the hairs have no subterminal band ; and the 

 underside is yellowish. The third, which is the species found 

 in Palestine and Arabia, is of a nearly uniform reddish-yellow 

 colour, and has longer and softer hairs of a nearly uniform 

 colour. 



Sir Andrew Smith, in the Trans. Linn. Soc, described 

 a South African species under the name of H. arhoreus ; and 

 Mr. Eraser described a West African species under that of 

 H. dorsalis. Both these species are distinguished by having 

 a white dorsal spot. The type specimen described by Mr. 

 Eraser, and a young specimen received from Sir Andrew Smith 

 of his H. arhoreus^ are in the British Museum. 



M. Blainville and other Erench zoologists have confounded 

 the H. dorsalis of West Africa with the H. arhoreus of the 

 Cape, which are most distinct species, as proved by the types 

 in the British Museum. Dr. Peters described the H. arhoreus 

 as found on the coast of Mozambique and also in the interior 

 at Tete. 



The animals with the white dorsal spot have a very different 

 skull and teeth from the other species which have a black or 

 yellow dorsal spot. Sir A. Smith observed the peculiarity of 

 the teeth when he described H. arhoreus. 



The colour-spots on the back consist of the hair that covers 

 the situation of a dorsal gland on the vertebral line, about 

 halfway between the shoulders and the pelvis. 



In the species which have the hair yellow or white the 

 streak is generally narrow and linear ; in the species in which 

 the spot is black, it is generally broad and diffused. In some 



