1882.] MR. O. THOMAS ON RODENTS FROM S.W. AFRICA. 265 



The lower eyelid is transparent in this specimen, whilst in others 

 it is very frequently rendered opaque by white veins. 



The specimen must evidently be referred to Cope's Phyllomedusa 

 azurea, in spite of the almost total absence of white areolations on 

 the lower eyelid ; but I do not believe that species to be distinct from 

 P. hypochondrialis. The characters which, according to Mr. Cope, 

 distinguish P. hypochondrialis from P. azurea are the presence of 

 vomerine teeth, the absence of a white lateral streak, and the trans- 

 parence of the lower eyelid. Mr. Cope does not say if his knowledge 

 of the former species rests upon the type specimen in the Paris 

 Museum. This 1 had opportunity of examining four years ago. I 

 do not recollect whether I paid attention to the vomerine teeth ; but 

 I came to the conclusion that P. hypochondrialis and P. azurea are 

 not specifically distinct. The transparence or opaqueness of the 

 lower eyelid I do not consider a specific character in this or any other 

 species of the genus Phyllomedusa ; the presence or absence of a white 

 streak from the mouth does not seem to me of much importance. 

 As to the vomerine teeth in the typical specimen, doubts may be enter- 

 tained of their presence ; all the specimens in the British Museum 

 lack these teeth. 



3. On a small Collection of Rodents from South-Western 

 Africa. By Oldfield Thomas, F.Z.S,, British Museum. 



[Eeceived February 7, 1882.] 



(Plate XIV.) 



The present collection was obtained by the late Mr. C. J. Andersson 

 in Damaraland and the neighbouring countries, and has recently 

 been acquired by the British Museum. The skins are unfor- 

 tunately in a rather delapidated condition, but the dates and localities 

 have in most cases been preserved. Altogether the Museum has 

 received twenty-four of Mr. Andersson's specimens, belonging to ten 

 species, of which the following list, owing to our ignorance of the 

 Rodent fauna of this region, may be of some service. 



1. SciuRus coNGicus, Kulil, Beitr. z. Zool. p. 66 (1820). 

 Three specimens. Cune'ne river, N. Damaraland, July 25, 1867. 



2. Gerbillus TENUIS, Smith, 111. Zool. S. Afr., Mamm. pi. xxxvi^ 

 fig. 2 (1849). 



Three specimens. Otjimbinque, February 7, 1865. 



3. Pachytjromys auricularis (Smith), S. Afr, Quart. Journ. ii. 

 p. 160(1834). 



Five specimens. Otjimbinque, February 6 and 7and March 6, 1865. 

 This species is, as Mons. Huet has shownS undoubtedly congeneric 

 with the peculiar Pachyuromys duprasi, Lataste". 



' Le Nat. vol. i. p. 339 (1881). » Le Nat. i. p. 314 (1880). 



