1899.] MB. DE wnrroif ott the bed-elanked ditikeb. 771 



June 20, 1899. 



Dr. Albeet GiJNTHEB, F.E.S., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Mr. "W. E. de Winton, E.Z.S., laid before the meeting a list of 

 Mammals represented in a collection from British Central Africa 

 that had been recently transmitted to Mr. Sclater by Mr. Sharpe, 

 and made the follo^^"ing remarks : — 



The good work of making collections of the fauna of Xyasaland 

 for scientific purposes, started by the enterprise of Sir Harry 

 Johnston, is being carried forward by the present Administrator, 

 Mr. Alfred Sharpe, C.B., and the British Museum has just 

 received a consignment of the larger Mammals through the 

 Secretary of this Society. A list of the species, of which two 

 are additions to those already reported, is as follows : — Lycaon 

 pictus, Hystrix sp. inc., Rliinoccros bicoriiis, Equus crau'shayi, Conno- 

 choetes johnstoni, Cephaloplms lugens, Ourebia hctstata, Hippotragus 

 equinus, and Tragelaplias roualeyni. 



The Lycaon, a very fine male, and agreeing in every way with 

 South- African specimens, is the first adult animal of this kind 

 which has found its way to the National Collection from Nyasa- 

 land. 



Two skins of Porcupines are unfortunately not accompanied by 

 skulls, and in the absence of these it would be impossible to say to 

 what species they belong. As has been pointed out by Mr. Oldtield 

 Thomas (P. Z. S. 1896, p. 795), a Porcupine was sure to inhabit this 

 district, and it is to be hoped that the skulls of these two specimens 

 will be forthcoming later on. 



Of the large mammals the only one new to the district is a Soan 

 Antelope, and the very fine specimens of both sexes contained in 

 the present collection show that the Nyasaland animal agrees with 

 the typical form from Mash on aland. 



It will be well to point out an error in the description of the 

 Nyasaland Gnu and in the figui'e of that species in P. Z. S. 1896, 

 pi. sxviii. In the dried skin the white mark on the face is dis- 

 torted by the contraction of the thick skin of the suborbital glands, 

 and has led the artist into the mistake of depicting the animal with 

 a white V-shaped band instead of a chevron or A on the face. An 

 excellent photograph, taken by Mr. James Harrison, of a freshly 

 killed specimen shows thexorrect marking very plainly. 



Mr. de Winton exhibited the mounted heads of a male and female 

 Red-flanked Duiker ( Cephcdophus rufiJatus Gray) (see figure, p. 772), 

 obtained by Mr. J. F. Abadie in the Borgu Country of the Niger 

 district ; also the skull of a male of the same species obtained by 

 Capt. W. Giffard near Gambaga, in the back-country of the Gold 

 Coast. The horns of the latter specimen measured 3'3o inches (or 

 86 millim.) in length, the basal length of the skull measured 5*3 

 inches (or 134 millim.), the greatest breadth of the skull (which is 



