296 MESSRS. O. THOMAS AND R. C. WROUGHTON ON [Mar. 19, 



body-colour above miicli as in viator. The sharp line of demarca- 

 tion between the colour of the back and the white of the belly, 

 which is strongly pronounced in typical gamhianus, and plainly 

 though less markedly so in viator, completely absent ; the cheeks 

 and flanks lighter than in viator, the lower part of the former white 

 like the belly. Otherwise the colour-pattern quite as in viator. 



Skull in size and other essential characters as in viator ; but the 

 upper molar series rather stronger, the anteorbital foramina 

 slightly broader, and the rudimentary postorbital processes more 

 distinct. 



Dimensions of the type : — 



Head and body 358 mm.; tail 438 ; hind foot 71 ; ear 40. 



Skull — greatest length 75 mm. ; basilar length 65 ; zygomatic 

 breadth 36; nasals 32x11; interorbital breadth 11'8 ; palatal 

 foramina 8"6 ; length of upper molar series 11. 



l\jpe. Adult male. B.M. no. 6.11.8.125. Original number 

 1632. Collected 14 Aug. 1906. 



These specimens are from the S.E. limit of the range of the 

 species, and it is consequently not surprising to find such small 

 differences as those recorded above between this and the Nyasa 

 form, from which it is separated by nearly two degrees of latitude. 



" Native name, ' Sigwinye.' 



" Fairly common and generally found in thickets and densely 

 wooded places, where it forms burrows of 2-6 holes, almost 

 indistinguishable from those of Pedetes cafer. It is exclusively 

 nocturnal in habits, and usually is only to be obtained during 

 the dark phase of the moon ; on moonlight nights it seldom comes 

 out, owing, according to the natives, to its great fear of the larger 

 owls. During the dark nights it lays in a store of food to tide it 

 over the moonlight nights, until it can again venture out. I have 

 observed that it also loosely fills the entrance of the bui'row with 

 dead leaves during the time the moon is visible. It is a vegetarian, 

 and in search of food often climbs shrubs and small trees. A great 

 article of food with the natives." — C. H. B. G. 



32. Pedetes cafer Pall. 



(S . 1569 (immature). 



" Native name, ' Masengwi.' 



" Not very common, and apparently somewhat locally distii- 

 buted. Habits similar to its congeners in other parts of S. Afiica, 

 forming the usual burrows in the more open forests, never in 

 the thickets where Cricetoinys gamhianus is usually observed. 

 They were extremely wary and difiicult to trap and bad luck was 

 experienced with them, inasmuch as in several instances only the 

 toes were left in the trap and in one case the black end of the 

 tail. ' Majengwi '" was the name given to this species by the natives 

 at the Klein Letaba, hence this is an added proof of the existence 

 of the Spi-inghaas in that locality."' — C. H. B. G. 



