68 MR. o. THOMAS ON THE [Jan. 5, 



being just the same. Its differentiation has, however, proceeded so 

 much further that I have had httle hesitation in erecting it into a 

 distinct species, even though P. abyssinica minor approaches it in 

 some respects. The type is a fully adult female obtained on the 

 25th of December, 1884, by the well-known collector Herr J. 

 Menges, on the Hekebo plateau, N. Somali-land. 



It is much to be hoped that further specimens of this little species 

 will be soon obtained, so that we may gain an idea of its variation 

 and geographical distribution. 



7. Procavia welwitschii. 



Hyrax arboreus, Peters, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 401 {nee Smith). 



Hyrax welwitsclui. Gray, Ann. Mag. N. H. (4) i. p. 43 (1868) ; 

 Cat. p. 286 (1869); Bocage, J. Sci. Lisb. (2) iii. p. 186 (1889). 



Size medium. Mammse 1 — 2 = 6. Fur short, very coarse and 

 hispid, quite unlike that of any other species. General colour of 

 back coarsely grizzled sandy brown, the hairs dark blackish brown 

 for five-sixths of their length, dull yellow terminally or subtermin- 

 ally, the tips, however, more rufous on the face and along the centre 

 of the back ; the brown bases of the hairs showing through and 

 materially darkening the general colour. 



Dorsal spot, in the single specimen available, rather elongate, al- 

 though not so much so as in P. brucei and its allies. Its hairs dull 

 pale yellow throughout. 



Skull ^ stout and strong ; muzzle short ; frontal region unusually 

 broad, the ledges overhanging the orbits, more developed than in 

 other species ; interparietal sutures persistent ; diastema short, 

 about 8 mm. in each of the two specimens before me; temporal 

 fossse extending backwards quite to the occipital ridges. Teeth 

 rather small, breadth of m^ 6*4 and 6*5 in two skulls ; height of 

 crown of i^ 5*2; p^ elongated, two-rooted, more as in the Uetero- 

 Tiyrax and Dendrohyrax groups, its crown 4' 1 mm. long horizontally. 



Hab. Angola, coast-region {Bocage). 



The only specimens of this rare species that I have been able to 

 examine are the skull of Dr. Welwitsch's original type, most kindly 

 lent me by Prof. B. du Bocage, and a skin with its skull received in 

 1888 by the British Museum from the Lisbon Museum. Both 

 these specimens have been examined and the typical skull figured 

 by Prof. Bocage, so that I have no material by which to supplement 

 the excellent description he has there given to the species. 



Tlie true position of P. welwitscliii in the genus is somewhat 

 doubtful, as its skull agrees best with those of P. syriaca, abyssinica, 

 &c., its elongated dorsal spot and rather small teeth but long pi 

 approach those of P. brucei and bocagei, while the peculiar quality 

 of its fur separates it from any other species. 



Dealing only with the Angolan species. Prof. Bocage has taken it 

 as a ty])'d of the Procavia group ; but I consider that if anything it is 

 further from P. capensis and abyssinica than it is from P. brucei Aad. 



^ Good figure : Bocage, t. c. pi. i. fig. 1. 



