8 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History [Vol. XL VII 



While Potamogale is a rather common animal in its native haunts, it is 

 one of the rarest in collections and, when present, is doubtless not safely 

 comparable with freshly killed specimens. 



Potamogale allmani was proposed on the basis of two (in part hypo- 

 thetical) distinctions: (1) the presence of 36 teeth (owing to the im- 

 maturity of the specimen) instead of 40; (2) the " brownish yellow" 

 instead of white underparts, due to discoloration by the preservative. 

 P. velox argens was described from two apparently normal specimens in 

 which the white of the underparts reached " higher up on the sides" of 

 the body and on to the under surface of the basal portion of the tail than 

 in P. velox, which features a large amount of topotype material shows to 

 be inconstant and merely individual. Consequently allmani 1 and argens 

 cannot be considered as entitled to recognition. 2 



It is hardly necessary t© add that many forms, species as well as 

 subspecies, have a similarly unsatisfactory basis, as they rest on slight 

 differences shown by single specimens, or on characters of trivial import- 

 ance. Their confirmation, it is obvious, rests on a comparison of ade- 

 quate series of topotype material with similar series of their near allies; 

 and the author who would discard them without such resources would 

 take great risks, notwithstanding his strong conviction that the forms in 

 question are merely names. 



Erinacexdje 



Status of Erinaceus albiventris and E. pruneri Wagner 

 The Erinaceiolde are represented in the Lang-Chapin Congo Col- 

 lection by nine specimens (skins with skulls), all from Faradje except a 

 third-grown female from Garamba, a nearby locality. They comprise 

 three adult females and six young, from one-third to one-half grown, and 

 unquestionably represent two distinct species, differing in important 

 cranial characters and in external features. Both belong to the section of 

 the family in which the hind feet are four-toed. Owing, however, to the 

 unsatisfactory original descriptions of the first-named members of this 

 group, and to lack of proper material for direct comparison with the 

 Lang-Chapin specimens, their determination has been difficult. Thanks 

 to the authorities of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard 

 University and of the United States National Museum at Washington, 

 I have in hand 14 additional specimens of the group with 4-toed hind 



*In respect to the status of P. allmani, cf. Leche, who in 1907 (Zoologica, XX, Heft 49, pp. G and 

 129, footnote 1) regarded it as only "ein jugendliches Individuum" of*P. velox. 



2 See above (p. 5) the citation of Grandidier's paper on the Paris Museum series of Potamogah 



