2. HEBPESTES. 153 



19. Herpestes semitorquatus. B.M. 



Dark red -brown, very slightly punctulated ; cheeks and sides of 

 th(! neck uniform pale bay ; legs and feet black ; tail black, with 

 some white tips to the hairs. Length of body and head 18 inches, 

 tail 11 inches. 



Herpestes semitorquatus, Gray, Zool. Sulphur, t. 3. f. 1-3, 1849; 

 P. Z. S. 1864, p. 555. 



Hah. Borneo (Belcher). 



The sknU is not quite adult, much broader compared with its length 

 than even that oi At In/lax pal mIosus. The contraction in the front 

 of the brain-cavity is sKght, and rather in front of the hack edge of 

 the orbits. The orbit is rather large, and sHghtly incomplete behind ; 

 the zygomatic arch is rather short, and not much bowed out. The 

 teeth are normal, and very Hke those of II. ichneumon ; they occupy 

 a rather shorter space. Length of the skull 3^ inches ; width of the 

 brain-case 1^, of the zygomatic arch IJ-^ inch. Skull short and 

 broad. 



Lower jaw — chin shelving; lower edge arched, without any pro- 

 minence under the end of the tooth-line ; false grinders 4.4; the 

 front false grinder small, deciduous ; the tubercidar grinders oblong, 

 longitudinal, with two unequal anterior and one large posterior 

 tubercle. 



Like H. hracliyurus in some respects ; but the tail is longer, and 

 the sides of the neck bright pale red, separated from the other parts 

 by a defined line. 



20. Herpestes exilis. 



" PaUide flavo nigroque aunulatis ; capite et dorso cinnamomeo et 

 nigro annulatis ; pcdibus nigrescentibus, gula cinnamomea, ventre 

 pallidiore ; cauda pilosa, non penicillata, palmis plantisque nudis. 



" Long. Corp. 10| poll., caudoB 8 poll." 



Herpestes exilis, JSi/doux, Zool. de la Bonitc, t. 3. f. 7-9 ; Gray, 

 P. Z. S. 1864, p. 5.55. 



" Hah. East Indies, Touranne {Eycloux)." 



21. Heirestes malaccensis. 



Dull ashy, beneath rather paler ; hairs black, white- and yellow- 

 ringed ; orbits, ears, and tip of nose naked, violet ; tail the colour of 

 the body, very thick at the base, ending with yellow hairs. 



Herpestes malaccensis, F. Cuv. 31. Lithoy. t. ; Gray, P. Z. S. 1864, 



p. 555. 

 Mangusta malaccensis, Fischer, Syn. p. 164. 

 Hei-pestes pallidas, var., Schiiiz, Syn. Matnm. i. p. 373. 

 Herpestes Frederici, Desm. Diet. S. Nat. xxix. p. 60. 

 Herpestes Lescbenaidtii, Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. t. 



Hah. Malacca, Pondicherry (Leschenault). 



