KTJNGL. SV. VET. AKADfiMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 48. N:0 5. 183 



places, making big holes which we had to avoid with our mules. Similar things 

 were observed at other opportunities as well, but I could not obtain any specimens. 

 Mr. Klein sent me, however, later a broken and somewhat weather worn skull 

 which enables me to give some morphological notes about this animal. 



Distance from anterior margin of foramen magnum to tip of nasal (premaxillary missing) .... 177 mm. 



Distance from anterior margin of foramen magnum to posterior margin of palatina 64 » 



• Greatest zygomatic breadth 75 » 



Least width behind postorbital processes 43 > 



. ' Width across tip's of postorbital processes ..." 61 » 



Least interorbital breadth 67,5 » 



. Length of frontal suture 61 » 



Greatest length of nasals 77 » 



The general shape of this skull differs in several respects from the same of 

 Orycteropus ceihiopicus Sundevall. The skull from British East Africa has the anterior 

 two thirds of the frontals and the posterior portion of the nasals strongly inflated so 

 that their lateral parts bulge up rather high above their median portion. A deep con- 

 Qavity is thus formed, mesially on the forehead, while the forehead of 0. cethiopicus is 

 almost flat, evenly rounded off at the sides. In 0. afer there is a slight tendency to 

 inflation on the sides, and a median concavity, but by far not so pronounced as in the 

 present specimen. The frontal region is, probably in connection with this, somewhat 

 longer in the present specimen than in the two other species mentioned The length of 

 sutura frontalis is in this specimen 61, but in subequal skulls of 0. cethiopicus and afer 

 resp. about 54 and 52 mm.; on the other hand it will appear that the nasals of the 

 two latter were correspondingly somewhat larger. The bulging of the frontals as 

 mentioned above stands, of course, in connection with an increase of the nasal cavity. 

 In consequence of this the vertical height of the skull from the palatal surface between 

 the last two teeth, and to a place in the middle of the frontal bone measures 52,3 

 mm. in the present specimen, but only 49 mm. in 0. cethiopicus. 0. afer again is 

 nearly equal to the present race. Another result of' the same thing is that the fore- 

 head of the present specimen becomes much broader than in the two other species 

 the interorbital breadth measuring 67,5 mm., while the same dimension in 0. afer 

 is 53,5 and in 0. cethiopicus only about 50 mm. 



The tear-duct is in the present species as well as in both the others pierced 

 near the zygomatic suture, but the jugale overlaps the lacrymale so that the foramen 

 is not so near the lower border of the tear-bone as it appears to be at a superficial 

 examination. 



The postorbital processes are well developed and curved downwards. 



The width of the snout at the maxUlary-premaxillary suture is about 30 mm. 

 in the present specimen as well as in 0. afer, but only 27 mm. in 0. cethiopicus. 

 The latter has thus a much slendeter snout which is also more suddenly narrowed 

 than in the two others. 



In 0. afer and 0. cethiopicus the parietale is almost flat, and its profile-contour 

 is only very little, if at all, curved, but in the present specimen the contour line of 



