

1894.] ME. O. THOMAS ON MAMMALS PKOM OMAN. 449 



of mammals, and he has now sent home a further consignment, of 

 such value as to demand a proper account. 



So far as I am aware, no list of mammals from tins very 

 interesting region has ever been publis- ed, and Mr. Blanford's 

 description of Erinaceus nic/er \ the same author's passing reference ^^ 

 to a Muscat specimen of Vulpes leucojms', Hir V. Brooke's description ■ / \J£j 

 of Gazella muscatensisf^ aud Sir 0. iSt. John's notes on Oryx 

 beatrix\tipj)ear to be the only references to this locality that occur 

 in mammaUan literature. Dr. Jayakar having obtained examples of 

 all these four species, his collection includes specimens of all the 

 mammals known to occur in this part of Arabia. 



The geographical relationships shown by the mammals of Muscat 

 are, as might be expected, about equally with Africa and India, three 

 of the species being distinctly African in affinities, three Indian, and 

 the remainder either peculiar or widely-spread and of no special 

 significance. 



Of the 17 species included in the list, two are new, one 

 of them, Hemitracfus jayakari, the new Groat, forming a most 

 striking and interesting discovery, on which Dr. Jayakar is much 

 to be congratulated. The new Hare, Lepus omanensis, is also 

 markedly distinct from any of its allies. 



1. Xanthaeptia amplexicaudata, Geoff. 



«, b. 2 ad. al. Muscat. 23/12/93 \ 



c. Ad. al. 2 . Muscat. 1885. 



d, e. 2 do. Muscat. 1889. 



2. Taphozous nudiventeis, Cr. 

 a. Ad. al. Khode, 30 miles N.W. of Muscat. 6/11/92. 



3. EhINOPOMA MICEOPHYllUM, Greoff. 



a-c. 3 ad. al. Khode. 6/11/92. 



cl-g. 4 do. Wadi Bani Euha. 20/11/91. 



hr-k. 4 do. Muscat. 1885. 



4. EeESTACEUS NIGEE, Blauf. 



a. Ad. al. $ . Muscat. 6/93. 



b, c. 2 do. c? $ ■ Muscat. 1885. 

 d. Ad. sk. d . Muscat. 1885. 

 [e. Do. $ . Muscat. 5/77. Col. Miles, 1877. Ty2ie of species.] 



5. Ceociditra mtjeina, L. 

 a-c, 3 ad. & imm. al. Muscat. 



1 J. A. S. B. xlvii. pi. ii. p. 212 (1878). 



2 Mamm. Brit. Ind. p. 152 (1888). 



3 P. z. s. 1874, p. ae. i> JS . — 



* p. Z. S. 1872, p. fS: -.6 • Z**"^ . 



' The specimens with exact dates are those of the recently received collection, 

 which has been throughout most carefully labelled with the particulars by 

 Dr. Jayakar. The other specimens belong to the earlier sets, received in the 

 years noted. 



