104 MR. HAROLD SCHWANN ON [Feb. 6, 



but they are now very scarce and hardly ever leave the tall 

 reeds by the river's bank to go on to the veldt. They are said to 

 make a nest of reeds, gi'ass, and sticks, which floats in the middle 

 of the thickest reed-bed. On this they rear their young. Their 

 food consists chiefly of fish, frogs, and crabs." — B. B. W. 



9. Cynictis penicillata leptura Smith. 



d.W. 53. $.D. 128. Kuruman. 



In view of the close resemblance of the teeth of these specimens 

 to those of the type of Smith's lepUtra* , and the proximity of 

 Kuruman to the type locality, it seems best to refer them pi'o- 

 visionally to that race, although, owing to their immatiirity, their 

 identity is rather uncertain. They are, however, smaller and 

 moi'e slenderly built than specimens of the same age from other 

 localities, and it seems probable that a further series from this 

 region would show the existence of a small desert I'ace extending 

 from Kuruman to the northern limit of Bechuanaland. On laying 

 out geographically the British Museum series of Cynictis skins 

 for purposes of comparison, the specimens fell natuially into 

 well-marked local races, as was the case with the Suricates 

 described by Mr. Thomas and myself in the second paper f 

 dealing with the Rudd exploration of South Africa. The 

 Namaqualand or western race has already been described as 

 G. penicillata 2^(t'llidior %, a, pale veldt form not found in the 

 low-lying country near the coast. The Great Karroo possesses, 

 as might be expected, a race, peculiar to itself, of a light lemon- 

 yellow colour, described by Smith as Cynictis ogilhyi. 



The type specimen is still the only example in the British 

 Museum of this subspecies, desciibed by Smith in 1849. The 

 type of C. steedmanni Ogilby, obtained at Uitenhage, is indistin- 

 guishable from the series collected by Major G. E. H. Barrett- 

 Hamilton at Yredefoit Road in the north of the Oiange River 

 Colony. It is possible that Steedman, who travelled through the 

 Orange Colony, made a mistake as to the locality of his specimen, 

 or that the race represented by Major Barrett- Hamilton's speci- 

 mens extends as far south as Uitenhage. The local race in- 

 habiting central Cape Colony, and represented by Mr. Grant's 

 specimens from Deelfontein, appears to need description. It may 

 be called 



Cy^iictis peoiicillata intensa, subsp. n., 



and is distinguished by the strong tawnj^ ochraceous suffusion on 

 the back, upper surface of hind limbs, aiid tail. Individual long 

 hairs of back about 25 mm. in length, basal half light buff'y yellow, 

 subterminal ring black, tip tawny ochraceous on the middle line, 

 lighter on the flanks. Under-fur dark smoky-brown basally, 

 terminal half ochraceous. General colour of the whole under 

 surface, including fore and hind limbs and tail, between clay- 



* Smith, 111. Zool. S. Afr. pi. 17 (1849). 



t R Z. S. 1905, vol. i. p. 132. ^ F. Z. S. 1904, vol. i. p. 175. 



