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



specimen being crushed, as mentioned by him, sufficiently accounts 

 for his not realizing that the animal belonged to quite a different 

 species from the rest of his specimens. 



P. brucei is the most widely distributed of all the Hyraces, 

 extending from Senate, N. Tigre, its most northern recorded locality in 

 Abyssinia, straight southwards as far as Mozambique, while its 

 subspecies extends eastwards into Somali-land. 



The typical race of P. brucei seems to be a highland form, as Mr. 

 Blanford's specimens were taken at 7500 feet and 8000 feet in 

 Abyssinia ; the inland examples come from the great lake plateau, 

 and Mr. Wray'sTaita one was taken in the mountains at an altitude 

 of 4500 feet. On the other hand, Mr. Lort PhiUips tells me that 

 var. somalica occurs at an altitude of three or four hundred feet 

 only, about 20 or .30 miles inland of Berbera. 



In Abyssinia P. Irucei seems to be far rarer than the two large- 

 toothed species occurring with it, P. abyssinica in the north and 

 P. shonna in South Abyssinia and Shoa ; as both Mr. Blanford 

 from the former and the Italian collectors from the latter each 

 obtained only two or three specimens of this species as compared with 

 some twenty or more of its rivals. This is of course only what one 

 might expect, judging from the lesser specialization of its teeth, 

 which presumably put it at a disadvantage compared with its hypso- 

 dont competitors. 



[Procavia grayi. 



Dendrohyrax grayi, Bocage, J. Sci. Lisb. (2) iii. p. 190 (1889). 



External characters as in P, bocagei. Mammary formula unknown. 

 Skull and teeth also as in that species, except that the orbits are 

 completed behind by bone. 



Type in the Lisbon Museum, 



Hab. Angola ; Quissange, Capangombe (Anchieta). 



Basing his allocation on the presumably important character of 

 the completed orbits, Prof, du Bocage assigned the only specimen 

 of this form of which he had seen the skull to Dendrohyrax, and 

 then naturally distinguished it from " D." arborea and dorsalis ; but 

 I am much more disposed to consider it as an abnormal variation of 

 P. bocagei for the reasons set forth below. In fact I give it a 

 separate heading chiefly to stimulate inquiry, so that the point may 

 be later settled with certainty. Its position, if a good species, 

 would be here between the brucei group and the more typical 

 Dendrohyraces. 



To begin with, I am a disbeliever in species only distinguishable 

 by a single character of nearly or quite generic rank, and believe that 

 if P. grayi really were a distinct species of a different group there 

 would be some other characters besides the completed orbits that 

 would betray the fact to an eye so trained as that of the describer 

 himself. As a matter of fact, however, the British Museum received 

 from Prof, du Bocage in 1888, under the name of " jff. bocagei" 

 a skin (88. 12. 6. 1) which, when its skull was extracted, proved to 

 have completed orbits, and therefore to be a " P. grayi" No 



