576 MESSRS. O. THOMAS AND H. SCHWANN ON [May 29, 



Its mammal fauna proves to be more like that of the high 

 veldt than one vi^ould have expected from the difference in 

 altitude, so that we are disappointed to find fewer of the coast 

 and tropical forms than we had hoped, and it is evident that to 

 get the true coast fauna a still lower level must be visited. 



Even here, however, several interesting northern forms have 

 been added to the South African list, the most notable being a 

 representative of the Nyasan RapMcerus sharpei, an Antelope so 

 strikingly different from any South African species that the 

 tardiness of its discovery is somewhat surprising. Other inter- 

 esting forms are a new Helogale and two new Genets. 



Mr. Grant's notes on the Klein Letaba district are as follows : — 

 " The low veldt, that is the country under the Berg, is mainly 

 undulating grass country with long stony rises and some few 

 kopjes and mountains. 



"It is thickly timbered, principally with Mopani (Shinatsi of 

 the Tchangaan) ; a large, fine-growing tree called Ntuma, which 

 bears a small green fruit ; the Marula, on the berries of which 

 Funisciurus cepapi feeds and from which the natives make beer ; 

 ' wait-a-bit ' thorns (" Ikaya ") ; and wild fig and cream-of-tartar 

 trees. 



" Water is scarce in the dry season and only to be found in the 

 main rivers that intersect the country, except for some few pools 

 left in the rocks in some of the spruits. The soil is sandy and 

 very fertile in good rainy seasons. The climate is not healthy, 

 and the weather generally very warm. The thermometer fre- 

 quently records 106° and seldom less than 90° in the shade. 



" The natives are a tribe called the Tchangaan, and are an 

 offshoot of the Zulu nation. They have a language of their own, 

 but all understand Zulu and speak it readily. Though very keen 

 on hunting big game, they gave but little assistance in securing 

 small mammals." 



1. MiNIOPTEECJS NATALENSIS Smith. 



?. 1275, 1299, 1300. 



As already noted in our Knysna paper, the Miniopterus of 

 South Africa generally, apart from the extreme southern coast 

 region, is a brown species, very uniformly coloured, its head quite 

 like its body. The forearms of these examples measure 44, 

 44"5, and 45 mm. 



To this species, of which the type is still in the British Museum, 

 we refer Svindevall's Vesperngo scotinus, kept separate by Dobson 

 because of its much smaller size. But in so distinguishing it he 

 only took account of the Madagascar specimens he referred to it, 

 with forearm 38-39 mm., and ignored the fact that Sundevall 

 himself gave the forearm measurement as 44 mm., a size quite 

 similar to that of other examples of M. natalensis. One of 

 Sundevall's typical specimens, collected by Wahlberg, is also in 

 the Museum collection. 



Of the Miniopteri previously sent home by Mr. Grant, those 



