GRAPHIURUS CAPENSIS.
bristles about midway between the muzzle and the eye, and a few others of the
same description towards the tip of the nose and also above the eyes. Mouth
rather small, the upper lip divided, the furrow extending upwards to the summit
of muzzle; eyes small and prominent; ears short, semicircular, and thinly
sprinkled with short, rather rigid hairs. Tail bushy, the hair about an inch
in length and rather rigid, generally recumbent, but towards the point divergent
to the sides, Tarsi and toes short, the latter four in number on the forefeet
and five on the hinder ones; they are all directed forwards, the two
middle ones nearly of equal length and longest, the outer one slightly shorter,
the innermost considerably the shortest; soles of the feet furnished with four
warty callous tubercles, and each toe near its point also with a prominent
conical callosity; nails short, weak, slightly curved, and covered by procumbent,
rigid hair. Teeth incisors of upper jaw short, plain anteriorly and
obliquely truncated at the point, the outer edge of each most prominent; incisors
of lower jaw long, slightly curved, and flattened, the point of each with
a sharp cutting edge.
DIMENSIONS.
Inches. Lines.
' Length from the front of the muzzle
to the tip of t a i l .............. 8 6
of the ta i l . , . ..................... 4 6
Distance between the muzzle and the
eye ........................ 0 6
between the eye and- the ear 0 6
Length of the fore legs.................... 1 1
Inches.
Length of the hinder leg s ................ 1
of the tarsus of fore legs and
toes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
of the tarsus of hind legs and
to es............................. .. . 0
Height at the shoulder .................... 1
The individual described is the only adult specimen I met with in South Africa, and the
Hottentot who killed it, stated that it was running to and fro upon the branches of a tree when
he first saw it, but that the moment it discovered him it remained motionless. Nothing
is known concerning its habits. A young individual I once saw in the possession of a dealer,
and from it I drew the characters given in my description of Myoxus Ocularis*
* Zoological Journal, vol.iv.-p. 439.