50 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Species o/Hyrax. 



milk-canines, South Africa, from Sir Andrew Smitli, Mos- 

 sambique, Tete (Peters, Kirk). 



There is no adult specimen of this species in the British 

 Museum ; there is a young specimen, with the milk-teeth, re- 

 ceived from Sir Andrew Smith, the original describer of the 

 species. It is so different from the young specimen of the 

 West African species received from M, Verreaux, which agrees 

 with the adult tropical species described by Mr. Fraser, in the 

 British Museum Collection, that there can be no doubt that 

 the South and West African species are distinct, though the 

 French zoologists and osteologists have confounded them. 



The young specimen is at once known from the young of 

 I), dorsalis by the paler colour of the fur, the want of the dark 

 dorsal streak, and the whiteness of the under surface. 



Dr. Peters, in his ' Mammalia of Mossambique,' says that 

 D. arboreus is the only species of Hyrax he found in Mozam- 

 bique. It occurs near the capital of Mozambique, on the 

 coast, and at Tete in the interior, where it is called Mlira. 



It would be interesting to know if this is the same as H. 

 dorsalis, as the latter occurs at Ashantee. 



Common on rocky hillsides, living in colonies. Caught by 

 spring-traps ; flesh good to eat (Kirk, P. Z. S. 1864). 



Dr. Peters, in a note to me respecting the Hi/races mentioned 

 in his ' Mammalia of Mossambique,' observes, " It may be that 

 there are two species of Hyrax in Mossambique — one on the 

 coast, and the other in the interior. From the coast I only 

 got a female specimen : the skull of this species shows small 

 grinders compared with those of II. syriacus, and seven in 

 number. ' ' See further observations on this skull under Euhyrax 

 abyssinicus. " The other sjoecimen from the interior, the Car- 

 nera Hills near Tete, agrees perfectly with the H. arhoreus 

 from the Cape." This species is easily to be distinguished 

 by its soft fur and want of rusty colour; the hairs of the under- 

 side are white, and brownish grey at the base. 



h. Orbit incomplete. Heterohyrax. 

 3. Dendrohyrax Blainvillii. 

 An adult skull in the British Museum (No, 124: e), without 

 its lower jaw, was received from the Zoological Society with- 

 out any habitat or history attached to it. It has small, more 

 equal-sized molars and premolars, in a nearly straight line, 

 and the great length of the diastema which is so characteristic 

 of this section of the genus. It may be the skull of the D. 

 arhoreus of South Africa. It differs from the skull of D. dor- 

 salis in being small, in the forehead being convex in the centre 

 between the orbits, and in the orbits being incomplete behind. 



