1894.] HABITS OF ANOMAIiTTETJ?. 246 



going down to 44° on the ground. Of course in the dry season it 

 is much hotter, but the natives say these animals are much more 

 plentiful in the rains and that the rainier the season the more 

 they see. They htter twice a year, once about September, the 

 young remaining in the nest for about nine weeks, during which 

 they are fed by the old ones on shoots, kernels, &c., and do 

 not attempt to jump before the end of that period, extending the 

 length of their jumps with their growth. I do not know the other 

 time of breeding or whether they have a regular season. The 

 hunters told me that 2 or 3 were usually born at one birth, never 

 more than 4, and that there are several varieties, ditf erent in colour 

 and size — some being black, some brown, some red, &c. ; the spe- 

 cimens I obtained, some of which are now in the Natural History 

 Museum, being the most plentiful. A native's description is 

 always very vague, and the interpretation is another great difficulty ; 

 but I feel sure, both from what I saw and what I heard, that there 

 must be several different sorts. 



I managed before I left Aburi to get some dozen skins — all of the 

 same kind — and instructed two native hunters to collect as many 

 skins as they could for me, as I was much pleased with the fine fur 

 and thought they would make a very good coat. I gave the men 

 each a " book " or note promising to buy as many skins as they 

 could collect at Is. each. 



I left Aburi in June and returned across the plain to Accra. 

 About a month afterwards one of my hunters arrived from Aburi 

 with 60 skins and his " book." I was rather surprised, but bought 

 them. A few days after the other man arrived with 140 skins 

 and his book, which he sternly insisted on my redeeming. I had 

 not quite expected this, but chose 50 of the best, and at last got 

 rid of the man, though not without much murmuring. However, 

 having got an extra " dash," he was quite satisfied at last. He 

 must have done very well, as from the look of the skins he must 

 have collected them from all quarters, some being very old. This 

 man had several different ones, i. e. apparently so ; but I regret to 

 say, with the exception of one small brown one, which is here 

 to-night, and which was thrown in as a " dash," and one reddish- 

 orange one which I bought by mistake, and which is now at South 

 Kensington, I did not secure them. Some had a broad orange 

 stripe down the back, some a large spot of orange on the back, 

 and the brown skin was, T distinctly remember, similar to a small 

 brown skin shown me by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, and which I beheve 

 was brought from Gaboon \ These curious ones I did not buy, as 

 my fur coat was prominent in my mind. 



The shower, however, was not yel over, as in a few days one of 



my bailiffs turned up with 25 skins, and an old chief named Addo, 



from whom I used to buy curios, having once got it into his head 



that flying-foxes were the thing, turned up at almost daily intervals 



with half a dozen or so fresh skins, till I got sick of the very name 



of a flying-fox. 



* A.fraseri. 



Pboc. Zool. Soc— 1894, No. XVII. 17 



