182 CARNIVORA,
in its upper half. The long hairs have brown tips, succeeded by nine alternate, pale
yellowish or almost white, and brown bands, of nearly equal width, except the
basal band, which belongs to the pale series, and is generally broad. On the base of
the tail, the amrnli are much broader, but generally of the same number as on the
body, according to the age of the individual. The upper surface of the head is
generally suffused with rufous brown, as are also the lower parts of the legs. The
centre of the hind foot is nude to the heel.’
Inches.
Length of body and head . . . . . . . . . 18’20
„ of tail without hair . . . . . . . . 14’20
„ with hair . . . | . . . . . 16’50
The skull of S . pallidus agrees exactly with skulls sent by Hodgson to the
British Museum as examples of if. nyula. The skulls of pale-coloured and those
of more ferruginous skins all so agree with each other that they do not afford any
grounds of separation, although the more dusky examples from Bengal have been
regarded as S . malaccensis, P. Cuv. The teeth are the same in all. The two
processes behind the orbit never unite until the animal is fully adult, and until
the other sutures of the skull have disappeared by a normal synostosis, i. e.,
until the skull has ceased to grow. The last lower molar has two anterior and one
posterior cusp, with the tendency to form a cusp between the former two. This
species is distributed over India from the Punjab and Sindh southwards to Ceylon,
and eastwards through Assam and the Malayan peninsula from whence it has
been sent by Cantor.
I have adopted Wagner’s name S . pallidus for this species in preference to
H. griseus, as this latter name originally included an African species. The term
H. malaccensis is also objectionable, because it is misleading as to the geographical
distribution of the species, and moreover it has been but seldom recognised, and
JS. nyula likewise is unsuitable from the circumstance that it is a native term applicable
to Indian Mungooses generally.
H e u p e s t e s e e k r t j g i n e t j s , Blanford. Plate VIII, figs. 1 1 & 1 2 .
Herpestes ferrugineus, Blanford, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. .1874, p. 661, pi. lxxxi.
This Mungoose closely resembles rufous examples of the previous species,
jET. pallidus, and had it not been for certain characters presented by the skull, I
should have been disposed to regard the two as identical; but it may be that
even those supposed, distinctive, cranial features will be satisfactorily explained if a
larger series of skulls of all ages were examined. The characters in which it
differs most from S . pallid/us are the greater breadth of the post-orbital contraction
of the frontais, the shorter and broader muzzle, and more particularly the greater
breadth and shortness of the posterior or nasal portion of the palate. The orbit,
judging from the growth of the skull, is in all probability perfect in the adult.
The last lower molar has the same character as in M. pallidus. The annulation
of tlie fur IS the same as in that species, hut the distinctive external features of
the animal are its slightly more rufous tint than the generality of the examples of
M. palhcb.8, and the end of the tail beihg entirely rather bright red. The mesial
nude lrne of the tarsus extends quite to the heel as in the former species. The type
was procured by Mr. Day at Larkhana in Sindh . • . , . v
H e e h s s t e s j e e d o h i i , Gray. Plate VIII, figs. 7 & 8.
Gra7' Pr0°' Z°°l S°°' L°nd' p' 660’ et Cat CamiT' Mamm- Brit Mas.
Herpestes m/mtimlus, Jerdon, Mamm. of Ind. 1867 p 385
Calogah % « , Wagner Munolon, gelehrt.' Anzeig. u, p. « ,9 ; Sohreber, SSugeth. Snppl R B I H B H B B M P' H B Proc-B S°<=- 1864, p. 564, et Cat. Carmv. Mamm. M. B. 1869, p. 161.
The type of this species is in the British Museum. The species belongs to
the same group as H.pallidm, H. Jwcus, H. smithm, and S . maecaHUai. I t is
most nearly allied to the first of those, from which it is only distinguishable by its
slightly darker colour and less finely gnarled fur, and by the broad, black tip of
he tad, which is slightly rufous at its commencement: in these characters it
approaches JEE. widrmgtonn and H. ichneumon.
The hair is long, especially on the hinder parts of the body and tail, as in
H. pallidus and S . smithu. The underlying, woolly fur is pale-yellowish The
long hairs are broadly pale-brown tipped, darkest at the apex of the tcrmin.l rf™
but paling towards its base. This apical, dark ring is succeeded by a moderately
broad, nearly wlute band, followed by three brown bands, which are also pale
at their extremities, and each is separated from its fellow by a white band the
base of the hair being broadly white. On the long hairs of the tail there is an
additimial brown band, but the apices and bases preserve the same colours as the
body hairs. ®ie h ^ d hairs are short and much more finely annulated than on on mm mterior * ° B m Wm so that this area is more or less rufous. The upper surface of the fore and ■
feet is dark-brown, and its under surface is naked to the heel. The ears externally
are «^ormly chid with very short, yeUowish-grey hairs. On the flanks, the h a i
are about 1--76 inches: long, and on the base of the tail 3 inches in length but
they become much shorter towards the black tip, being barely 2 inchesf which
is the character of H. emthu, whilst the black terminal hairs are 3 inches, so that
the tip of the tad is tufted. The under surface of the throat and chin is pale
yellowish-grey, an^ the inferior aspect of the neck is grizzled; the belly being of
nearly the same colour as the sides. g
Length from tip of muzzle to root of tail 15-50; length of tail 14-90; the terminal
hairs reaching 2-75 -inches beyond this. terminal
. The skull of this species is chiefly distinguished by the breadth of the frontal
region both across the post-orbital processes and between the anterior margins of