PERODICTICUS 43 



Genl. Char. Variable in color, long hairs on occiput and neck. 



Color. Head, hind part and sides of neck ; upper back and shoul- 

 ders yellowish brown ; rest of upper parts, flanks, and limbs black, 

 tinged on limbs with brownish black ; forehead and nose yellowish 

 brown ; inner side of arms and under parts of body yellowish white ; 

 inner side of legs blackish brown ; hands and feet brownish black ; tail 

 rudimentary, black. Ex specimen in Paris Museum. 



Type of P. batesi in British Museum. Entire upper parts, limbs, 

 hands, feet and tail rich chestnut red; hairs tipped with black on the 

 shoulders and upper back ; numerous long hairs both black and white, 

 on occiput; nose brownish black; throat and inner side of arms pale 

 rufous ; chest and abdomen reddish gray ; lower portion of abdomen 

 and inner side of legs reddish. 



Measurements. Total length, 380 ; tail, 40 ; hind foot, 75 ; ear, 23. 

 Skull : occipito-nasal length, 63 ; Hensel, 54 ; zygomatic breadth, 21 ; 

 palatal length, 20 ; breadth of braincase, 30 ; median length of nasals, 

 15; length of upper molar series, 18; length of mandible, 29; length of 

 lower molar series, 16. Ex type P. batesi in British Museum. 



In color this is a very variable species, examples from the same 

 locality differing in this respect from each other. There are six speci- 

 mens of this Potto in the British Museum from the Benito and Ja 

 rivers in the French Congo, West Africa, differing very considerably 

 from each other in the hue and marking of their coats. The prevailing 

 color above is black and chestnut red, but the underparts vary from 

 dark gray mixed with red to ashy gray, and one mounted example from 

 the Benito River, which however may have faded somewhat, has no 

 black at all on the upper parts which are yellowish gray about the 

 shoulders, becoming red on lower back and thighs. The ends 'of the 

 tails in some specimens are black as described by Bouvier. It would 

 seem to be quite evident from an examination of the examples in the 

 Paris and British Museums that P. edwardsi and P. batesi represent 

 the same species of which Bouvier's animal is one of the dark style, 

 and the type of P. batesi one of the pale hue. 



Mr. Bates, who learned about this animal in Southern Cameroon, 

 although on account of the density of the forests, he was unable to meet 

 with one himself, states that "the two or three species of Perodic- 

 ticus of which the names have been sent to me I have not learned to 

 distinguish with certainty; in the little I have to say I must mention 



