146 HERPESTIBJi:. 



* Animal large : hair of hodi/ and tail long, harsh ; tail ending in a 

 black pencil. 



1. Herpestes ichneumon. B.M. 



Grey, hairs largely ringed ; head and middle of the back darker ; 

 legs reddish ; feet and end of tail black, with a long flaccid pencil ; 

 under-fur short, reddish. 



Herpestes ichneumon, Gray, Cat. Matnm. B. M. p. 61 ; P. Z. S. 1864, 



p. 548. 

 Viverra ichneumon, Linn. S. N. 

 Herpestes Pharaonis, A. Smith, S. A. Quart. Journ. i. p. 49 ; Schinz, 



Syn. Mamm. i. p. .367. 

 Ichneumon Pharaonis, Geoff. Mem. Egypt. 

 Mangusta ichneumon, Fischer, Syn. p. 163. 

 Ichneumon ^gypti, Tiedem. Zool. i. p. 364. 

 Mangouste d'Egypte, F. Cm. 3Iamm. Lith. t. 

 Mangouste d'Alger, F. Cuv. Manwi. Lith. t. 



Hab. North Africa ; Egypt; Senegal (iira(7c, B.M.) ; Cape Filpila, 

 1850. 



The skull is elongate, rather slender ; the brain-case (that is, 

 from the occiput to the back edge of the orbit) is three-fifths of the 

 entu'e length ; the crown is straight ; the forehead arched and rather 

 convex ; the orbits are not quite complete behind. The teeth are 

 normal, moderate-sized ; the flesh-grinders of the upper jaw rather 

 narrow, the front being two-thirds the length of the outer edge ; 

 the front tubercular trigonal, transverse ; the hinder one small and 

 oblong, transverse. Length 3^ inches, width at zygomatic arch 

 2 inclies — the same as the length of the brain-case ; mdth of brain- 

 case 1| inch. The skull is contracted in front, just over the back 

 edge of the orbits. Lower jaw very shelving in front ; false grinders 

 ^ ; tubercular grinder oblong, elongate, moderate, with a very 

 obscure anterior lobe, two lateral, and one larger hinder lobe. 



2, Herpestes caffer. B.M. 



Like the preceding, but darker ; under-fur shorter, red ; end of 

 tail with a long, black, flaccid pencil. 



Herpestes cafier, Licht. Verz. der Saugeth. 1835 ; Gray, F. Z. S. 1864, 



p. 549. 

 Viverra caffra, Gmelin, S. N. 

 Ichneumon Pharaonis, Verreaux. 



Hah. South Africa, on plains away from the sea ; K^atal (Krcnts). 



The skull of H. caffer is elongate, larger and longer than that of 

 the adult //. ichneumon, and is more convex on the forehead and 

 behind the orbit. The front of the brain-case is contracted some 

 distance behind the back edge of the orbit, while in H. ichneumon 

 this contraction is just over that part. The zygomatic arch is very 

 long, much longer than in H. ichneumon, and not so arched out as 

 it is in the latter species. Like as the two species are externally, 

 they are veiy distinct in the form of their skuUs. The teeth of the 



