]( 



HERPESTID^. 



long hairs. Toes 5.5; claws compressed, rather short, curved ; 

 inner toes of fore and hind feet very short, with short claws rather 

 high up the foot. Claws brown. Hind part of the soles of hind 

 feet covered with hair, which is bent towards the centre on each 

 side ; the front part bald, oblong, narrow behind, occupying less than 

 two-thirds of the foot, ^vith three subequal pads in front and two 

 elongated pads on each side of the hinder edge (Hodgson, J. A. S. B. 

 t. 31. f. 5). Front upper false grinders 2, compressed ; the third 

 subtriangular, with a very small subposterior internal tubercle, and 

 a small posterior marginal one ; flesh-tooth large, elongate, tri- 

 angular, nearly twice as long as the front margin, with a large in- 

 ternal lobe on the front edge ; tubercular grinders transverse, twice 

 as broad as long on the outer edge ; hinder tubercular very small. 



Urva, Hodgson ; Grmj, Cat. Mam. B. M. p. 50 ; P. Z. S. 18(54, p. 568. 

 Mesobema, Hodgsom. 



Urva cancrivora. (The Urva.) B.M. 



Black, grizzled, hairs with a very broad white subterminal ring ; 

 a white streak on the side of the neck ; legs and feet black ; tail 

 ashy red at the end. 



Urva cancrivora, Hodqson, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. vi. p. 560 ; Gray, 



P. Z. S. 1864, p. 508. 

 Mesobema caucrivorus, Hodgson, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, x. p. 910 



Calcutta Journ. N. H. ii. p. 214, iv. p. 287. 

 Gulo m'va, Hodgson, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. v. p. 238 ; Calcutt 



Journ. N. H. ii. p. 45, t. 13^. f. 2. 



Hah. India — Nepal, in caverns. Central Northern region {Hodcf 

 son) ; Affghanistan {^Griffith) ; Arakan (Bh/th). 



Fur lax, elongate, ringed, blaclcish ashy, more or less grizzled by 

 the white tips to the hairs ; lips and cheeks whitish ; a long streak 

 on the side of neck white ; legs and feet black ; tail bushy, appearing 

 more or less irregularly banded from the dark band on the hairs. 



The not quite adidt skull of Urva cancrivora is very like that of 

 Tceniogale vitticoIUs, but considerably smaller. The orbit is incom- 

 plete ; the zygomatic arches not so bowed out, with the most convex 

 part nearer the hinder end. The nose is rather thick. The con- 

 traction of the brain-case is just over the hinder part of the orbit ; 

 the brain-case is rather longer (perhaps ■^^) than the face. The 

 teeth are normal, and vei-y like in form and proportion to those of 

 T. vitticoTlis ; but they are rather narrower, and the first tubercular 

 molar is shorter and broader, more oblong, and the hinder tubercular 

 molar smaller. Length of the skull 3^ inches ; width of the brain- 

 case 1^ inch, of the zygomatic arch 2 inches. 



Lower jaw slender ; chin gradually shelving ; the lower edge 

 curved, arched up behind, to near the condyle. The false grinders 

 4.4; the front small, concave. Tubercular grinders moderate, 

 oblong, elongate, with two small anterior and two large high poste- 

 rior prominences. 



