310 MR. OLDFIELD THOMAS ON [NoV. 4, 



postorbital, and mastoid breadths all greater than in the allied 

 skull, but the height of the skull scarcely greater, so that its 

 flattened shape is unusually marked even for this group. Nasal 

 opening broader than high, the converse being the case in the 

 other forms. Pterygoid processes larger than in the West- African 

 form, bullae lower and flatter, mastoid and paroccipital processes 

 larger, the last-named more distant from the condyles (10 instead 

 of 6 mm.). These comparisons are all made with a skull dis- 

 tinctly older than the typical skull of the new form. 



Dentition apparently quite as in true L. capensis. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in skin) : — 



Head and body 900 mm. ; tail 670 ; hind foot — ; ear 25. 



Skull — basal length 131; zygomatic bi-eadth 106; mastoid 

 breadth 102 ; interorbital breadth 35 ; tip to tip of interorbital 

 processes 51 ; intertemporal breadth 28*5 ; palate length exclusive 

 of median spine 66*5 ; breadth of posterior palate 16 "5. Greatest 

 diameter of m^ 19"5. 



Type. B.M. No. 2.9.9.13. 



This magnificent Otter, which I have named in honour of His 

 Majesty the Emperor Menelek, represents in Abyssinia the claw- 

 less sjjecies, L. capensis, of Southern and Western Africa, just as 

 Herr Oscar ISTevimann's L. concolor, from Addis Ababa, represents 

 the clawed one, L. maculicollis. Whether it is confined to Lake 

 Tsana, or ranges into the rivers surrounding the slopes of the 

 high grounds, remains to be proved. 



As a subspecies it is recognizable by its broad low skull, broad 

 nasal opening, dark colour, and silvery underfur. 



It is possibly to this large Otter that Heuglin's references ^ to 

 a Tsana Manatee are traceable, for the Otters which he mentions 

 as such ^ are quite small ones — " Kaum die Grbsse der Genet- 

 Katze," and native accounts of this large form might have led him 

 to believe that the "Aila" or "Auli" was " wohl ein Manatus ?" 



11. SCIURUS MULTICOLOR Riipp. 



S 6 2- ■Zegi, Lake Tsana, 4500 feet. 14-22 May. 

 The female has 1-2 = 6 mammfe. 



12. Xerus rutilus Cretzschm. 



$ . Gildessa, Somali. 



As Mr. de Winton has shown ^, the names X. dabagcdla Heugl. 

 and X. fiavus M.-Edw. are synonymous with X. rutilus, while the 

 darker, more northern form should stand as X. hrachyotus Hempr, 

 & Ehr. (syn. X.fuscus Huet). 



13. Tateka, sp. (probably inurina Sund.). 

 (5 . Lake Zuai. 10 March. 



1 Reise N.O.-Afr. ii. p. 137 (1877). ^ t c. p. 39. 



3 p. z. S. 1898, p. 765. 



