68 MR. o. THOMAS ON THE [Jan. 5, 



beinw just, the same. Its differentiation has, liowever, proceeded so 

 much further that I have had httle hesitation in erecting it into a 

 distinct species, even though P. ahyssinica 7ninor approaches it in 

 some respects. The type is a fully adult female obtained on the 

 2.5th of December, 1884, b^' the well-known collector Herr J. 

 Menges, on the Hekebo plateau, N. Somali-land. 



It is much to be hoped that further specimens of this little species 

 will be soon obtained, so that we may gain an idea of its variation 

 and geographical distribution. 



7. Procavia wklwitschii. 



Hyrax arboreus, Peters, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 401 {nee Smith). 



Hyrax welwlfscldi, Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) i. p. 43 (1868) ; 

 Cat. p. 286 (1869); Bocage, J. Sci. Lisb. (2) iii. p. 186 (1889). 



Size medium. Mammae 1 — 2 = 6. Fur short, very coarse and 

 hispid, quite unlike that of any other species. General colour of 

 back coarsely grizzled sandy brown, the hairs dark blackish brown 

 for five-sixths of their length, dull yellow terminally or subtermin- 

 ally, the tips, however, more rufous on the face and along the centre 

 of the back ; the brown bases of the hairs showing through and 

 materially darkening the general colour. 



Dorsal spot, in the single specimen available, rather elongate, al- 

 though not so much so as in P. brucei and its allies. Its hairs dull 

 pale yellow throughout. 



Skull ^ stout and strong ; muzzle short ; frontal region unusually 

 broad, the ledges overhanging the orbits, more developed than in 

 other species ; interparietal sutures persistent ; diastema short, 

 about 8 mm. in each of tlie two specimens before me ; temporal 

 fossae extending backwards quite to the occipital ridges. Teeth 

 rather small, breadth of m^ 6*4 and 6'.5 in two skulls ; height of 

 crown of ra^ .5'2 ; p" elongated, two-rooted, more as in the lletero- 

 hyrax Rud Dendroliyrax groups, its crown 41 mm. long horizontally. 



Hab. Angola, coast-region {Bocaye^. 



The only specimens of this rare species that I have been able to 

 examine are the skull of Dr. Welwitsch's original type, most kindly 

 lent me by Prof. B. du Bocage, and a skin witii its skull received in 

 1888 by the British Museum from the Lisbon Museum. Both 

 these specimens have been examined and the typical skull figured 

 by Prof. Bocage, so that I have no material by which to supplement 

 the excellent description he has there given to the species. 



The true position of P. welwitscliii in the genus is somewhat 

 doubtful, as its skull agrees best with those of P. syriaca, abyssinica, 

 &c., its elongated dorsal spot and rather small teeth but long p" 

 approach those of P. brucei and bocagei, while the peculiar quality 

 of its fur separates it from any other species. 



Dealing only with the Angolan species, Prof. Bocage has taken it 

 as a type of the Procavia group ; but I consider that if anything it is 

 further from P. caj^ensis and abyssinica than it is from P. brucei &ad 



' Good figure : Bocage, t. c. pi. i. fig. 1. 



