MACROSCELIDES INTTJFI.
strongly recumbent. For the form of the skull and the characters of the
teeth, vide Plate XV. 3 a, 3 b, and 3 c.
DIMENSIONS.
Inches. Lines. Inches. Lire».
from the tip of the proboscis Length of the tarsus ........... . . . . . . 1 0
to the point of the tail 9 0 of the toes .................... ....... 0 H
of the head ........................ 2 0 Distance between the base of the
of the proboscis ................... 0 5 proboscis and the eye ....... 0 9
of the ears ....................... 0 9 ® between the eye and the ear.. 0 <4
r n r , j ...... 2 4
of the hind legs ............. 3 0
Nothing is known of the male.
The comparatively slender figure of this species and the peculiar colour of the back
and sides, are characters by which it is readily to be distinguished from- any of the others
which have yet been discovered in South Africa. To M. Hupestris it makes the nearest
approach, but it differs from that species not only in regard to colour and figure; but also in
having that portion of th e . head situated behind the eyes much narrower, and its proboscis,
particularly towards the base, thicker. For further differences vide Plate XV. and explanations.
Of the habits of this species we know nothing. Only one specimen, which was obtained
upon the banks of a river near to the Tropic of Capricorn, has come under our observation.
The stomach contained comminuted insects.