there are generally eight alternate hands, with the terminal hand dart brown, and
it is clad with long hairs at its base, which gradually decrease in length and become
more adpressed towards its tip, which is unpendlled, as in II. persiem. Thé external
surface of the upper angle of the ear is clad with longish, annulated hairs, which
partially cover the anterior half of the organ, while the exposed, posterior portion is
clothed with very fine, unannulated hairs. The Bmhs are generally concolorous
with the body. The tarsus has the central nude area extending to the heel. The
claws are moderately strong.
Cantor’s example from Malacca in the India Museum agrees with the type of
B . mropunctatm, hut it is slightly more yellowish. The dart Calcutta specimen,
however, is more yellowish than either of these, while another specimen from the
latter locality is the exact facsimile of the first mentioned.
Inches.
Length from muzzle to vent . . . . • . • 12'70\
Length of tail (shrivelled) . . ., 8-50
„ „ with hair . . . ■ ■ v Y ¿ éM È
The skull of B . auropunctatns is generally distinguished by the narrow and
elongated character of its facial portion, but some skulls of this species have
shorter and broader muzzles, and it may he that these differences are sexual. The
nasal portion of the palate is generally broader than in B . persiem, in the skulls
I have examined, but this portion is subject to- considerable variation. The orbit
is perfect in the adult. The last molar has two anterior and one posterior ousp, with
the tendency to form a cusp between the external, anterior and posterior cusps.
There are 26 ribs, and the sternum has 7 mesostemal pieces. There are 27
caudal vertebræ.
This species ranges from Nepal and the north-west of India to the eastwards
through Bengal, Cachar and Assam into Northern Burma, and extends, southwards
to the Malayan peninsula.
The Mungoose figured by Edwards1 represents an Berpestes, which, it is stated,
was the size of a polecat or ferret, and came from the East Indies. Geofflroy drew up
his description of B . edwardsii from that figure, but it appears to me impossible to
say, with any attempt at accuracy, whether B . eduiardsü is identical with
B . pallidm or B . cmropmctatm, hut the size of the animal and the colour given
of it would seemingly indicate that it was the latter speciesi an. opinion which
Ogilby entertained.
H e r p e s t e s p b r s i o t j s , Gray. Plate IX,.fig s . 9 and 1 0 .
S a p o te , per,¡cm, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soe. Lend. 1864, p. 564,, ôt Cat.. Camiv. Mamm. Brit. Mas.
1869, p. 151; Blanford, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1874, p. 662..
Herpestes pallàpes, Blyth, Joum. As. Soe. Bengal, 1845,; vol. xiv. p. 346 (foot-note).
Herpestes gris eus,, Hutton, Joum. As. Soe. Bengal, 1845, vol. xiv. p. 346.
1 Nat.-Hist. vol. iv. (1751), pLcxcix.
The types of this species are in the British Museum, and are two in number, but
besides these I have had the opportunity to examine two other examples which
were kindly submitted to me for investigation by Dr. Day; and Mr. Moore of the
India Museum has shown me Blyth’s type of 3 . pallipes.
I t is so closely allied to 3 . auropu/nctatm that some of Hodgson’s examples of
that species are scarcely separable from it, the only appreciable external difference
being that the under-surface is not quite so white- in 3 . (mropimctatm, which has
always a slight yellowish tinge on these parts. Otherwise, the fur of the two so-
called species is identical, and their form similar. I observe also that a specimen of
3 . (mropunctatm shot by me in the neighbourhood of Calcutta in the month of
January, and which is very pale compared with other examples from the same locality,
so closely resembles 3 . persicus in its fur and general appearance that I would
have hesitated to indicate 3 . persicus as a sub-species had not the skulls of the two
types differed from the skulls of 3 . cmropunctatus in being less elongated, with
shorter and broader muzzles, wider palates and broader frontal areas between the
orbits. The circumstance that the pale-colOured specimen from Calcutta was shot
in the cold weather should not he lost sight of when we remember that these
Mungooses are the southern representatives of the ferrets. Such an isolated instance
does not prove that Herpestes auropunctatm is subjected to seasonal changes of fur,
but such a possibility should not he disregarded in studying these flnimnlo -where
there are any extremes of climate, such as are found in Bengal, and it is also noteworthy
that the examples of so-called 3 . persiem have all been obtained in winter.
In H. persiem, the fur is annulated in the same way as in if. (mropimctatm, i.e.,
there are five to six alternate, dark brown and yellow hands, the apical being of the
former, and the basal ring of the latter colour. In the tail, there are generally
eight alternate bands with the apical ring dark brown. The hair, as in the pale-yellow
examples of H. (mropunctatm, is much adpressed and rather harsh. On the fla.nVa
the hair is 0‘75 long, and on the base of the tail T05. The under parts are pale
greyish-white. The tarsus has the fur distributed as it is in 3 . (mropunctatm,
and the lower last molar is the same as in that species. The dimensions of 3 . persicus
and 3 . (mropunctatm are very similar, as the following measurements show
Bl.pt ritut. S . auropunolatut.
l- * 3 4
Length o f body and head . . . . .
„ of tail ................................................. .........
„ ,, with hair . . . . . . . . .
12-60
9-30
10-90
ii- o
8'75
10-25
' 12-70
8-501
10-25
12Ô
8-401 1010
No. 1 is one of Hodgson’s types of 3 . auropv/nctatm, and it agrees remarkably
with 3 . persiem in the character of its fu r; and No. 2 is an example slightly darker
than the preceding one, and approaching to a Nepal specimen.
This species is the western representative of 3 . (mropunctatm and extends
to Persia.
1 Caudal vertebras removed, and skin, therefore, somewhat shrivelled.