AQ? MR. OLDFIELD THOMAS ON [ Dee. 12, 
the tails of Lizards. Any form of regeneration of osseous parts 
had been hitherto quite unknown among Mammals*. 
The external tail of this Dormouse was about 5 em. in length, 
and was thickened, fat, and club-shaped terminally, where its 
hairs, 9 or 10 mm. long on its basal portion, lengthened to 25— 
28mm. It formed therefore a sort of bushy club, quite different 
to the simple distichous tail of a normal specimen. A similar 
tail had been described in a Liberian Dormouse (Claviglis crassi- 
caudatus Jent.t), but the bones had not been examined. 
On extracting the bones of the tail, they proved to be of an 
appearance so closely similar to that found in cases of regeneration 
in Lizards, that Mr. Thomas had no doubt whatever that they 
were of the same nature, and search for further examples fully 
confirmed this opinion. 
For, firstly, among the collections of the British Museum there 
was found an example of a small Graphiwrus from Fernando Po 
with a similar club-shaped, bushy tail, always hitherto looked 
upon as accidentally broken, and this on being opened proved also 
to contain a long regenerated terminal ‘“‘style,” as shown in fig. 71. 
But this specimen, like that from Central Asia, was open to the 
objection. that being a single individual from an out of the way 
locality, it might conceivably represent a normal specific variation, 
and not a case of regeneration. 
Happily, however, further search had resulted in the discovery 
of four specimens of a species of Graphiurus from the Cameroons, 
sent by Mr. G. L. Bates, one of which had a club-shaped tail, 
with a styliform bony appendix, while the other three had normal 
Dormouse tails. This series thus put beyond cavil the inference 
already arrived at as to the abnormal character of the specimen 
exhibited. 
Text-fig. 70 shows the tail-vertebre and regenerated appendix 
of the Central-Asian Eliomys, now exhibited. The caudal column 
consisted of 11 normal vertebrae, while the proximal end of the 
12th was also normal. But distally this vertebra thinned out 
into a long slender style, its total length being 15 mm. and its 
diameter (after the basal 2 mm.) rather less than 1 mm. At its 
tip there was a constriction succeeded by a small thickened knob. 
The preceding vertebra measured 6°2 x 1°8. 
Text-fig. 71 shows the tail of the Fernando Po Graphiurus. 
Here, owing to the original breaking having occurred nearer. the 
body, there appeared to be only about six normal vertebre pre- 
ceding the elongated terminal one. This latter was 11 mm. in 
length, and instead of the knob at the end it had a slightly 
crooked point. The drawing would show the position of the point 
relative to the general body of the tail. 
On breaking the terminal spike across, its section proved to be 
* “Tn the Mammals neither the legs nor the tail nor the jaws regenerate, although 
several of the internal organs .... have extensive powers of regeneration,’ —Morgan, 
T. H., ‘ Regeneration,’ p. 97 (1903). 
+ Notes Leyd. Mus. x. p. 41 (1887). 
