Kelaart states1 that the type of H . ru b igm o su s was forwarded to Blyth, who
had published the description of 3 . e llio ti subsequent to Kelaart’s account of the
species, but Blyth, after he was in possession of 3 . rubiginosus, regarded 3 . e llio ti
as identical with it.
This species is apparently confined to Ceylon, but the two specimens in
the Leyden Museum are doubtfully labelled as coming from Cape Coast and
from the Congo in Africa. These specimens, however, were purchased in
London from a dealer, and the localities assigned to them are unquestionably
erroneous.
Herpestes maccarthle, Gray. Plate IX, figs. 7 & 8.
Cynictis maccarthia, Gray, Proc, Zool. Soc. Lond. 1851, p. 181, Mamm. pi. s s i . ; Ann. and Mag.
Nat. Hist. 1858, vol. xii. p. 4 7 ; Kelaart, Prod. Faun. Zeylan. 1858, vol. ii. pt. i. Append, p. xvi.
Heipestes fulvescens, Kelaart (Blyth), Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 1851, vol. xx. pp. 162 & 184; vol.xxi.
1852, pp. 848 & 849; Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Mus. 1868, p. 52; Prod. Faun. Zeylan. vol. ii.
pt. i. 1853, Append, p. xvi.
Herpestes Jlavidens, Kelaart, Prod. Faun. Zeylan. 1852, p. 44; Blyth, Joum. As. Soe. Bengal,
1851, vol. xx. p: 162.
Onyckogale maccarthia, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soe. Lond. 1864, p. 570, efc Cat. Carmv. Mamm. 1869,
■ p. 168. . . . .. .
The type of this species which is in the British Museum liyed for some time
in the Zoological Society’s Garden, London. The chief characteristic of the genus
Onychogale, which Dr. Gray founded for its reception, was the long, compressed
and curved nature of the front daws, which, however, appears to have no other
explanation than that it was the result of disuse induced hy a life of confinement.
The other generic character stated hy Dr. Gray in his catalogue, is in the following
terms: “ The hinder end of the skull deeply and sharply notohed instead of
heing transversely truncated, as in the small H e rp e s te s . The notch in the living
s.Tiimfll filled up with a cartilaginous septum.” This refers to the form of the
posterior narial border of the palatines,a which is subject to considerable variation
in this, as in other groups of animals. These seeming characters being thus
explained away, it does not appear that this Ceylonese form differs in any respect
from H e rp e s te s .
In the British Museum there are two other Mungooses from Ceylon, both of
which differ from the type of I I . m accarthie e in the general character of their coloration,
hut agree with it in the texture, length, and density of their fur. One is a
larger individual than H . maccmthrue, and stands under the name of H . fu lv e s c e n s ,
Kelaart, whereas the other is smaller, darker and unnamed. The former is a pale-
yellow Mungoose, whereas the latter is a darkish olive-brown H e rp e s te s . My
1 Prod. Fauna, Zeylan. 1852, pp. 43 & 44.
■ sIn Dr. Gray’s original description in the Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 570, he is made to say that the hack of the
nape is deeply and sharply notched, the word I have italicised heing evidently a misprint for nose, or, perhaps
more accurately, palate.
impression is that they are examples of one and the same species, and that the
smaller size of the type, H. maccurtMte, as compared with the larger fulvescent
specimen (for the skull of the former proves it to be fully adult), is to be accounted
for by its having been kept in confinement, whereas, on the other hand, the darker
colour of the smaller specimen seems to be attributable to youth, or it may be that these
differences of coloration are explained by the wide diversities of physical conditions
which are met with in the little, compact island of which they are the inhabitants.
This seems probable, because I observe that Kelaart records that he obtained a
darker variety of his H. fulvescens from Newera Elia, which must be at an elevation
of from 6,000 to 7,000 feet above-the sea, and which he sent either to Calcutta, or
to the Zoological Society, London.
In these specimens, the fur is long, dense, soft and adpressed, as in H. <mro-
punetatm, but much more profuse and still more so than in the Mungooses which
are allied to H. palKdus. The underlying pile is also abundant, and about one inch
long in the type, and it is pale purplish-brown at its base and yellowish-orange in its
two terminal thirds. The tips of the long hairs are pale orange-brown, succeeded
by a yellow band of variable extent which is much broader in the Mungoose referred
to H. fulvescens, than in H. muccwrtUae and in the dark specimen. In the two
latter the pale orange-hrown tip is succeeded by a bright yellow band, while in
the larger H. fulvescens the sub-apical yellow band is much paler, and there are,
below, four alternate brown and yellow bands, the basal portion of the hair being
broadly pale-yellow, almost white. In the type, although smaller than the so-called
H. fulvescens, a circumstance, I have said, either the result of or
explicable on the supposition that it is the hill form, there are also four alternate
brown and yellow bands, but much narrower than in H. fulvescens. In the dark-
brown example there are generally six alternate brown and yellow bands, the
last being pale-yellow or white, and not much broader than the others, and the
face has the peculiarity that long white hairs are interspersed over it. This is the
youngest of the specimens, and in its more numerous bands it adheres to the hair
colouring, apparently distinctive of young as compared with adult Herpestes. In
the type, the hair of the tail is generally six-banded, and the brown bands in all
decrease in breadth towards the tip. On the flanks the hair is 1-70 mohc» in length,
and on the base of the tail 1-90 and at its tip 1-30. In the adult H. fulvescens the
hair is somewhat longer. In these three Mungooses- the tail has no dark tip, and
it gradually decreases in width towards the end, which is not tufted as in H. smitMi
and H. jerdonii, and in these respects it resembles H. auropmctatus, but it has a
slight rufous tinge which increases towards the tip. I t is evident that the similarity
in the pelage of these Mungooses is so marked as not to yield any feature
to separate them specifically from each other. The claws of the ferine specimens
are much the same as in if. pallidus, and the upper third of their tarsi is
c ad. The large specimen (H. fulvescens) measures from muzzle to root of tail 16-25,
and the tail without the hair 11-50, and with it 14 inches. The type of H. maccar-
thia is 12-20 from muzzle to root of tail, the tail being 9 inches long, the hair at the