500 MB,. O. THOMAS ON MAMMALS FBOM NYASAIAND. [May 16, 



often obtained in Pisa from the mouth and gullet of the Snake 

 referred to. The colour of this small Distome is quite characteristic, 

 being white in the anterior and black in the posterior half. But 

 the most interesting point in connection with this Distome is that 

 I often found in Zamems viridiflavus an imperfectly developed 

 Distome encysted in the submucosa of the mouth, in the peri- 

 cardium, and in the mesenteriam ; and as I obtained the cysts 

 sometimes empty, sometimes full, and as the full cysts when placed 

 in water rupture quickly and allow the young Distome to escape, 

 and there is some resemblance between this young Distome and 

 D. baraldii, I suspect that the encysted and the matui'e Distomes 

 belong to the same specie?, and that, contrary to the usual course 

 in the evolution of the Distomes, the same animal plays the part 

 both of intermediary and final host to this parasite. 



5. On a Second Collection of Mammals sent by Mr. H. H. 

 Johnston, C.B., from Nyasaland. By Oldfield Thomas. 



[Eeceived May 16, 1893.] 



in the ' Proceedings ' of this Society for last year ' 1 had the 

 honour of giA^ug an account of a fine collection of Mammals pre- 

 sented to the jNational Museum by Mr. H. H. Johnston, Consul- 

 General for Mozambique, and ll.M. Commissioner for Nyasa- 

 land. That distinguished explorer has now sent home a second 

 series, collected, like the first, by Mr. Alexander Whyte, at Zomba 

 and Milanji. Of these, by the kindness of our Secretary, I am 

 now permitted to give a list, supplementary to the former one, 

 and carrying on a little further our kuoA^ ledge of the Nyasaland 

 fauna, to the study of which Mr. Johnston and Mr. Whyte have 

 rendered such material aid. 



The present collection contains between 70 and 80 specimens, 

 belonging to 30 species, of which a large number are additional to 

 those previously sent. As with the previous set, the great interest 

 of the collection lies in its having been made so near to the localities 

 where Dr. Peters obtained the material on which his classical 

 work on the Mammals of Mozambique was founded. Such a 

 collection as this, therefore, although containing no novelties, is, 

 and Avill always continue to be, of the greatest service to English 

 naturalists, as giving them the means of accurately comparing 

 specimens from other parts of Africa with examples certainly 

 corresponding with those described by Peters. 



With regard to the interesting questions as to the seasonal 

 changes of fur, ^-hich so sorely need investigation, it unfortunately 

 happens that the present collection was almost entirely formed in 

 the months of October and November, the very same months when 

 the previous series were obtained. It would therefore be very 

 desirable for Mr. Whyte to try and collect specimens of all the 



' P. Z. S. 1892, p. 546. 



