SMITHSONIAN -MTSCELI.AiN'KOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 



/- 



LASIOPYGA PYGERYTHRA CONTIGUA subsp. nov. 



Type from Chan^amwe, six miles inland from Mombasa, British 

 East Africa. No. 163327, U. S. Nat. Mus. Male, adult, skin and 

 skull. (Basal suture closed but not obliterated.) Collected Novem- 

 ber 30. 1909, by Edgar A. Mearns ( Smithsonian xA.frican Expe- 

 dition) ; Grig-. No. 7321. 



Nearest to Lasiop\\s,a pyt^crythra tumbili Heller, but larger, with 

 larger skull and actually smaller teeth. Tail more grayish, less yellow, 

 than in tumbili. the longitudinal stripe above much less well-marked, 

 and the underside of tail gray, not tawny yellow. 



Color of type specimen.— Face, lips, and chin black ; brow band and 

 cheeks buff, more or less mixed with gray ; head, neck, and upper- 

 parts of body yellowish bufif, somewhat mixed with gray ; rump and 

 hips mo-re grayish, less buft'y ; underparts buffy. Arms and 

 legs outside speckled gray and buff, the inner sides clear buff ; 

 hands and feet blackish, the fingers and toes clear black. Tail above 

 speckled gray and buff, beneath gray, the median line above not 

 sharply marked as in related forms ; a bright chestnut bay spot 

 beneath at base, and the tip black. 



Skull and teeth. — Skull larger than that of Lasiopy^a py i^erythra 

 tumbili; palate longer, extending backward considerably beyond 

 plane of last molars ; mandible much longer and heavier. Teeth 

 actually smaller than in tumbili. 



Measurement of type specimen. — Head and body, 570; tail, 720; 

 hind foot, 150. Skull (with measurements of type oi L. p. tumbili in 

 parentheses) : Greatest length, no (104) ; condylobasal length, 



88.5 (81.2) ; zygomatic breadth, 72.6 (70.0) ; postorbital constriction, 

 46.8 (43.9) ; mastoid breadth, 59.8 (60.0) ; breadth of braincase, 



57.6 (53.2) ; palatal length, 44.2 (41.2) ; length of mandible. 77.0 

 (70.3) ; upper molar-premolar row, 24.8 (26.4) ; middle molar, 

 6.0x6.0 (6.8x6.8) ; lower molar-premolar row, 33.0 (32.5). 



Three specimens from the type locality. 



Compared with a series of eight examples of typical tumbili from 

 the Taita Hills, these three specimens from the coast region near 

 Mombasa are easily distinguished by the less sharply bicolored tails ; 

 gray, not yellowish, underside of tail ; and the distinctly larger skull 

 with smaller teeth. 



