154 HERPESriD^. 



**** Smaller : tail like back, much shorter than the body. 



22. Herpestes brachynrus. B.M. 



Black, hairs yellow -ringed ; under- fur brown ; face, cheeks, and 

 sides of neck yellower ; belly and tail darker ; throat pale yellow- 

 brown ; fore legs and feet blackish ; tail thick, about half as long as 

 the body. Length of head and body 18 inches, tail Vg inches. 



Herpestes brachyiu'us, Gray, Mag. N. H. i. p. 578, 18.36; Voy. of the 



Samarang, Mamm. t i. £ 123, 1849 ; P. Z. S. 1864, p. 556. 

 Mangusta bracliyura, De JBlainv. Ost. Atlas, t. 6. 



Hah. Borneo (Malacca). 



The skull is most like that of H. caffer, but shorter ; the brain- 

 case, the zygomatic arches, and the face are shorter and more ven- 

 tricose ; the forehead broader and regularly convex. The constric- 

 tion of the front of the brain-case is rather behind the orbit, and 

 not very great ; the orbit is rather small, and complete behind. 

 The teeth are normal, and very like in proportion and form to those 

 of H. ichneumon, but rather larger in all parts, as the skull is larger ; 

 brain-case five-eighths of entire length. Length of the skull 3^ 

 inches ; width of brain-case 1| inch, at zygomatic arch 2yL inches. 



3. ATHYLAX. 



Atilax, F. Cuvier, Mamm. Lithogr. 1826, iii. t. 



Athylax, I. Geoff. 3Iag. Zool. 1837 ; De Blainv. Osteogr. ; Gray, P. Z. S. 



1864, p. 656. 

 Galera, IJroicn, Hist. Jam. i. p. 85, 1756. 



Like Herpestes, but teeth and jaws stronger. Toes 5.5; claws 

 blunt. SkuU elongate. Teeth 40, normal, very massive, with large 

 acute tubercles on the crown ; the false grinders |. The lower jaw 

 very strong, with a well-marked chin, and a tubercle on the lower 

 edge under the posterior end of the tooth-line (De Blainv. Ost. 

 Viverra, t. 5). The grinders much longer and broader, with larger 

 and higher tubercles, and the hinder upper tubercular grinder much 

 larger than in most, if not in any other, of the genera ; but in the 

 disposition and number of the tubercles they are just like those in 

 the other species. 



M. I. Geoffrey compares this genus with his Galiclia, and concludes 

 that they are distinct (see Mag. de Zool. 1839, p. 25), 



This genus is separated from Herpestes by the large size and thick- 

 ness of the teeth and the strength of the lower jaw, with its two 

 distinct prominences. The skull and lower jaw of both species, if they 

 are distinct, are figured by De Blainville, as above referred to. 



1. Athylax vansire. 



Atilax vansire, F. Cuvier, Mamm.. Lithog. p. 411, t. ; Diet. Sci. Nat. t. 

 Atliylax vansire, Gray, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 557. 

 Mustela galera, Fr.rl. Syst. p. 453 ; Schreb. Sliugeth. t. 155. 

 Viverra galera, Shaw. 



