60 



MR. O. THOMAS ON THE 



[Jan. 5, 



Table II. — Sizes of Teeth (in millim.). 



(a) Breadth of 



ml 



1. capensis 



2. shoana 



3. syriaca 



3a: „ jayakari.. 



4. ruficeps 



5. abyssinica 



5 a. „ minor 



6. pallida 



7. ■welwitscbii 



8. latastei 



9. bocagei 



10. brucei 



10a. „ somalica.. 



[grayi 



11. emini 



12. valida 



13. arborea 



14. dorsalis 



it. 

 7-4, 



7-0, 7-5, 80. 

 71, 7-3, 7 

 71, 7-2, 7-4. 

 6-2, 6-4. 

 7-0, 7-3, 

 6-7, 70, 



7-9. 

 6-3, 6-6. 

 6-9. 



6 n, 6-7. 

 6-0, 6-3, 6-5. 

 5-4, 5-6, 6-4. 

 5-4, 5-7, 60. 

 50, 5-2. 

 60, 61. 



6-0. 

 6-6, 6-8. 



8, 8a. 



7-8, 



(b) Height of; (e) Le£gth of 

 crown of m . ni. 



71, 7-5. 

 7-3. 

 70. 

 (c) 5-5. 

 6-9. 

 6-9, 7-0. 



5-4. 



5-2. 



4-5.' 



4-5. 



4-5. 



3-5. 

 4-1, 4-3. 



2-6, 2-8, 

 2-2. 



2-5, 2-6, 

 20, 2-2. 



4-1 

 30, 3-1 



3-7, 



2-8, 



3-9 

 30, 34. 



30, 31. 

 40.] 



3-5, 3-8. 

 4-7, 4-8. 



1. Procavia capensis. 



Cavia capensis, Pall. Misc. Zool. p. 30 (1766). 



(?) Ilyra.v semicircularis\ Gray, Cat. Cam. Pachyd. p. 285 (1869); 

 Hand-1. Edent. &c. p. 44, pi. xii. fig. 2 (1873) (skull). 



Fur of medium length, soft and fine ; neither so long nor so fine 

 &s in P. shoana . Ears short, rounded. General colour dark sepia- 

 brown, finely speckled ^ith white or pale yellow. Straight upper- 

 fur hairs dark brown, with a small pale yellow subterminal band ; 

 underfur along the centre of the back dark smoky grey throughout, 

 but along the sides, grey basallj', and shining silvery yellow distally. 

 Belly dirty yellow or brownish. 



Dorsal spots entirely black, irregularly oval in shape, not so large 

 as in P. sJioana. 



Skull - broad, stout and strong ; muzzle short ; interparietal 

 sutures always persistent. Diastema short, 8 to 10 mm. Teeth 

 large and hvpsodont, but very variable in size ; of the few specimens 

 with exact localities the eastern ones, from Natal &c., seem to have 

 sm.aller teeth than those from the Cape itself. Diameter of mi 8'0 

 in a Cape specimen, 7*0 in a Natal one, those being the extremes 

 observed. Height of crown of m^ 7*1 to 7"5. pi minute, single- 



1 The young skull on which this species was founded has not got completed 

 orbits as stated by Gray, the connections being only ligamentous. There 

 appears to be nothing to distinguish it from skulls of P. capensis of the same 

 age, but the skeleton shows only 21 pairs of ribs. It is also just possible that 

 Hyrax nigricans, Peters, SB. Ges. Fr. 1879, p. 10, belongs here, in which 

 case the species extends very much further north-west than has been supposed. 

 The type specimen, however, is too young for certain determination. 



^ Good figure : De Blainville, Atl. iii. Hyrax, pi. ii. 



