British. Museum, and fell into the error that it had the foregoing number of teeth,
hut an inspection of the skull conclusively proves that the supposed additional tooth
is only one of the exposed fangs of the penultimate molar, the crown of the tooth
having been worn away. This is evident, as on the left side of the lower jaw one-
half of the crown remains attached to the anterior fang and still shows the fracture
where the crown has been broken across about its middle, the posterior fang being
quite distinct. After I had examined the specimen, I observed a nearly similar condition
in H. jerdomi, in which the penultimate molar of the lower jaw had lost its
crown on one side, the fangs remaining in their sockets and being worn and smooth,
while on the opposite side the tooth was intact. The Urva cancrivora, Hodgson,
which has the skull and dentition of Herpestes, appears to me in no way separable
from this genus. Its fur is long and loose, but in this it resembles H. vitticollis, and
its neck-streak, although white, does not in other respects differ from the neck-band
of the latter species; whereas in H. semitorquatus there is a similar mark, but less
pronounced than in these species: but all are nearly related.
The skeletons of Calictis smithii and Onychogale maccarthice are structurally
identical with each other and with Herpestes, as is evident from the notice I have
given of them under the respective species.
Measurements o f skulls o f Eastern Asiatic Herpestes.
Anterior border of foramen magnum to tip
of premaxillaries . . . . .
Lambdoidal ridge to tip of premaxillaries .
Anterior border of orbit to tip of premaxillaries
Breadth across frontal contraction .
„• at posterior root o f zygoma .
„ between orbits . . . .
)i greatest, across zygoma
Length of palate, inner border o f incisors .
» » ,, behind last molar .
Breadth o f „ . . . . . .
Length o f alveolar border of upper jaw
,, of lower jaw from symphysis to external
angle of condyle
1
hi
JIT
hi
1
is
hi
|
•2,
hi
1
I? hi 5
I
hi hi
•|k
hi hi
330 312 3-25 2-96 300 2-60 2-58 2-32 2-34
3-63 3*41 363 360 2-80 3 20 2-92 2-47 2-42 2-50
1-17 103 1-10 1-10 •96 •96 •90 •86 •80 •65
‘76 •71 •76 •63 •60 •56 •60 •55 •62 •38
1-48 1-45 1-33 1-30 1-29 1-30 1-15 1-08 1-09 •89
•7b ■71 •66 •71 •70 •63 •65 •60 ■57 •48 201 1-96 1-83 1-87 1-77 1*70 1-67 1-53 1-38 1-30
1-78 1-68 1-87 1-80 1-80 J-73 1-65 1-44 1-40 1'25
•29 •30 •40 •46 •63 •44 ■41 •25 •30 •30
•49 •33 •40 •33 •35 •33 •32 •30 •33 •29
1-67 1-49 1-62 1-49 1-39 1-40 1-35 1-23 1-23 2-05 2-01
2-50 2.23 2-35 2-36 2-20 210 2-10 1-85 1-80 1-60 P0i
• H e e p e s t e s a u e o p u e c t a t u s , Hodgson, Hate XI, figs. 11 & 12.
Herfestes mropmdatw, Hodgson, Joum. As. Soc. Bengal, No. 52, April 1886, vol. p. p. 285;
Wagner, Schrei. Sa'ugeth. Snppl. vol. 'ii. 1811, p. 846; Schinz, Syn. Mamm. vol. i, 184t’
p. 872; Cantor, Joum. As. Soc. Bengal, 1846, vol. xv. p. 242.
Herfestes nipaltmis, Gray, Mag. Nat. Hist. New Series, vol. i. 1887, p. 578; List of Mamm.
B. M. 1848, p. 62; Cat. Hodgs, Coll. Mamm. See. Nepal, 1846, p. 9; Voy. Samarang, Zool.
E8 TudPC 1 M B S B i Proc. Zool -Soc. Bond. 1889, p., 150; Horsfield, Cat. Mamm.
E Ind. Co.Mus. 1851 p 91; Blyth, Joum. As. Soo. Bengal, 1862, p. 849; Cat. Mamm.
As. Soc. Mus. Bengal, 1863, p. 51; Jordon, Mamm. Ind. 1867, p. 186, et Append, p. iii
Herpestes jm m tm s , Blyth, Joum. As. Soo. Bengal, 1852, p. 348. .
I shot a specimen of this Mungoose on tie banks of the Irawady at Bhamd,
which is the first recorded instance of this species having been procured in Upper
Burma, and I am not aware that it has ever heen as yet detected in British or Lower
Burma. Cantor, however, has stated that it inhabits the Malayan peninsula, so
that it will also probably be found to inhabit Burma generally.
This' and 3 . persiem are the smallest of the Mungooses. The types of 3 .
mropmctatm and 3 . nipalemis are in the British Museum, and I have examined
both and compared them with a series of similar Mungooses shot at Calcutta hy
myself at different seasons of the year, and also with others procured in Caohar and
with the specimen shot in Upper Burma. All of these examples lead from one to the
other, but, as I shall have occasion to indicate under B . persicm, the changes of fur
which these animals exhibit are not at all understood, although at the same time the
series under consideration does not reveal a single character by which the Nepal
Calcutta, Cachar, and Burman animals can be specifically separated from each other!
In the typical example of B . tmrcrpmwtatm, and the exact equivalents of which
have been killed by me in the cold weather on the banks of ,the Hughli at Calcutta
along with examples at other seasons identical in all respects with the type of
B. nipalemis, Gray, the general colour is olive-brown, with a golden hue due to the
fine yellow annulation of the fur. The sides of the body are slightly paler than the
back and not so yellow. The under parts are dirty yellowish-white, faintly annulated
on the posterior half of the under surface of the neok and on the belly The
limbs are concolorous with the body. The short hair or pile is purplish brown in its
ower fwo-thirds and pale yellow in its terminal third. I t is more profuse than in the
type of B . mpalemu, which is represented in the British Museum by a single specimen,
and m which it is shorter, but, at the same time, the coloration is identical with
B . auropunctatus. The yellow annulation of the fur of the former is not so distinctly
marked as au the latter, and its under parts are less bright, but these differences are
so slight that they may be ascribed either to age, sex, or to seasonal changes.
onS ™r “ totl1 >6 smooth, fine, short, and adpressed, while in a light-
coloured yellowish-white example of the species from Agra the fur is much
harsher and the annulation is almost wholly faded. The tips of the hairs ..are
dark brown, also their bases, the central brown band being separated from its
erminal fellows by two yellow bands, but occasionally a yeUow band is added
to the base. In the Agra specimen, the brown tip is alone preserved, the rest
of the hair bemg pure yellowish-white, but occasionally the1 central brown band can
be detected. In the example of the species from Upper Burma, the fur is nearly
the same as m the dark Calcutta and Nepal examples, only the yellow bands are
rather narrower and more orange, and this is the ease also with the Caohar specimens;
but these differences are so very slight as to be scarcely perceptible. In the tail