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A CONTEIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CAPE 

 GOLDEN MOLES. 



By E. Broom, M.D., D.Sc, C.M.Z.S. 



(Read July 31, 1907.) 



There are few South African mamnials of which our knowledge is 

 in a less satisfactory condition than the Golden Moles. Though they 

 have been known for 150 years, and though in some parts they are 

 fairly numerous they are difficult to obtain and are not often seen^ 

 and this is probably the reason why they are so rare in collections, 

 and why there are so many blanks in our knowledge concerning 

 them. 



In his splendid " Monograph of the Insectivora " Dobson has 

 given an excellent account of the anatomy of the genus, and of all 

 that was satisfactorily known of the different species up to 1883. 

 His work is so thorough that all that has been done since has been 

 the description of a few new forms and the addition of a number of 

 anatomical details, especially in connection with the brain and teeth. 



In 1904, Leche in a short paper, ''Ueber Zahnwechsel bei Sange- 

 tieren in Erwachsenen Zustand," announced the important dis- 

 covery he had made of tooth-change taking place in skulls of 

 Chrysochloris in which the sutures were obliterated, and which were 

 manifestly mature. 



In 1905 Thomas and Schwann described the following new forms,, 

 for the most part collected by Grant : Amhlysomus iris, Amhlysomus 

 corri(B, Amhlysomus chrysillus, and Amhlysomus hottentotus pondolice. 

 In A. iris and A. corricB they found that some skulls had narrow 

 premolars and some broad premolars, and they showed that the 

 narrow premolars are the permanent teeth and the others the 

 deciduous set. 



During the past year I have devoted some time to the study of 

 the different forms of the Golden Moles found in South Africa, and 

 have been fortunate in obtaining a good deal of new information. 

 In the "Annals and Magazine of Natural History" for February,. 



