Samarang, Zool. (1850), p. 1 5 ; Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud. 1864, p. 554, et Cat. Carniv. Mamm.
1869, p. 152; Horsfield, Cat. Mamm. E. Ind. Co/s Mus. 1852, p. 88; Blyth, Journ. As. Soc.
Beng. vol. xx. (1852), p. 819.
Ichneumon javanicus, F. Cuv. Hist. Nat. des. Mamm. T. ii. Feb. 1821, livr. xxv®, plate.
Mangusta javanicus, Horsfield, Zool. Research, in Java, 1822 (plate); Fischer, Syn. Mamm. 1829.
Mangusta rubra, Fischer, Syn. Mamm. 1829, p. 165. '
Eerpestes exilis, Gervais, Zool. de Bonite, 1841, pp. 82-88, pi. iii. figs. 7-9; Schinz, Syn. Mamm.
1844, vol. i. p. 875; Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 555; Cat. Carniv. Mamm. B. M. 1869,
p. 158.
Eerpestes rutihis, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. .1861, p. 186.
Calogale rutila, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 561; Cat. Carniv. Mamm. 1869, p. 159.
This is a large species haying the punctulated hair of -ET. cmropunctatus, like
which the pelage is adpressed and short compared with S . pallidus, hut much more
dense. The tail is about half the length of the body and longer than in H.
brachyurus, to which the species in its size and form is closely allied.
The general colour is rather rufous olive-brown, dark on the back, and still
darker and more rufous on the upper surface of the head and on the cheeks, on
which regions the annulation of the hair is much finer than on the body. The body
is very uniformly punctulated, but the lower halves of the limbs are altogether dark-
brown. The under surface of the neck from the chin and also the chest are rufous-
yellow without annulation, but the belly is punctulated like the sides, the hair, however,
being much more sparse. The ears are clothed with fine rufous-brown hairs.
The fur is not much longer on the hind quarters than it is on the body generally,
and on the base of the tail it is not much longer than at its tip. On the flanks
the hair is 125 inch, the base of the tail i*70, and near its tip 1*60 inch in length.
The underlying pile is sparse, and dark-brown at its base, and bright, rather golden-
rusty at its tip, and it is less woolly than in the other species. The long hairs on
the body have broad, brown tips, the succeeding brownish-yellow band being about
half the width of the former, and it is generally followed in the longer hairs by
three brown bands, one of which is basal, each of these rings being separated from
its fellow by a yellow band, half the breadth of the brown rings. In the shorter
hairs, the brown bands are reduced to three. The dark colour of the animal is due
to the greater breadth of the brown as compared with the yellow bands, and to
the subdued colour of the latter. On the tail, there may be either four or five
brown bands on each hair, but in the former case the apical band is very feeble and
extremely narrow; the usual number, however, is four of either colour, the basal
band being yellow. In all, the apical yellow band is but little distinguished from the
brown band before it, and the others are but half the breadth of the brown bands.
The annulation is uniform to the tips of the individual hairs, but it is not so generally
marked as on the body. The claws are of moderate strength and proportionate to
the size of the animal. The central line of the tarsus is nude nearly to the heel.
Inches.
Length froin tip of muzzle to vent . . . . . . 20,'0'0 .rft',
„ - of tail without hair . . .........................................................9:*50
,j with hair . . . . . . . . -10’75:'.
I have not seen the skull of this species, but Horsfield in his Zoological
Kesearches has figured it in profile. His figure was taken from the skull oi the
largest specimen in the India Museum, London, and it was probably the skull of the
example of this spepies now in the British Museum. Dr. Horsfield, however, only
gave the generic characters.
Horsfield’s specimen was from Java and Cantor’s . from Penang, and the type ■
of B . emlM, Gervais, is the young of this species, and B . rutibm, Gray, is an immature
specimen obtained by Mouhot in Cambodja. A specimen in the Paris Museum,
which I have seen since the preceding remarks were written, stands in that collection
under the name of. AT. exilis, Gervais; it was obtained in Cochin China, and is
identical with B . rutilm, Gray, and with five other specimens from Java and
Sumatra, all of . which agree with a fine series in the Leyden Museum referred to
B . javanicus. I have also examined the type of B . ruber, which is a pale-reddish
Berpestes, evidently the adult of this species.
Hebpestes bbachyubtts, Gray. Plate VIII, figs. 3 & 4.
Errperleslrachywme, Gray, Mag. Nat. Hist. (New Series,) i 1837, p. 578; Voy. „£ ___
Mamm. pi. iv. p 15 (I860); Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud. 1864, p. 56«; B W . OsMogr. Atlas, pi vi
Cantor, Journ. As Soc Beng. 1846, vol. xv. p. 243; Blyth, Joum. As. Soc. 1852, p. 349; Cat’
Mamm. As. Soc. Mus. Beng. 1868, p. 52.
■ The type of this species is also in the British Museum. The general colour is
<krk blackish-hrown finely punctulated with yellow, more especially on the anterior
half of the body and on the shoulders, the caudal hairs being broadly black-tipped
and the head paler and more olive-brown than the rest of the body. The fore
limbs and. the lower half of the hind legs are dark-brown and unspeckled The
ohm and throat are rusty yellowish-brown, the chest and belly are brown and
the hairs are handed much as on the hack. The underlying pile is yellowish-brewn.
The long hairs of the fur have indistinct, pale-brown tips, which merge into clear
yellow bands which are succeeded by brown hands, three times as broad as the
former, and which are followed by three alternate, yellow and brown bands. The
very broad middle area to the hair and the dark tip give the dark colour to the fur,
and the hnght yefiow, sub-apical band produces the yellow-speckled appearance,
but m many of the dorsal hairs this band entirely disappears. On the head, the
dark bands are pale-brown, and the yellow hands also are paler than on the ■
trunk, so that the head is considerably lighter-coloured. The sides of the face,
before the eyes, and the dorsum of the muzzle are pale yellowish-brown, and the
cheeks are also of the same colour, hut grizzled. The punctulation of the tail is
almost obscured by the black. The tail also is- untufted, and it is broader at its
base, from which it,gradually tapers to the tip. The hair of the flanks is 1-20
long, and on the base of the tail an inch longer. The whiskers are rather feeble
and pale-brown. The daws are moderately strong, and one-half of the under sur-
face of the tarsus is bare.