A NEW BORNEAN HERPESTES. 225 



»das Thier nicht gar zu selten sein uud Ijei Verfolgung 

 »oder Anniiheriug eines Feindes eine öla'tige, entsetzlich 

 » stinkende Flüssigkeit diesem entgegenspritzen, deren Ge- 

 »ruch noch tagelang an den Kleidern kaftet". 



It seems that never a skeleton of Herpestes hrachyurus 

 has been procured, at least I find it mentioned in no 

 description nor catalogue. It therefore is very interesting 

 that we now can compare the bony parts of our animal 

 with the same parts in other Herpestes-STpecxe^ ; as its name 

 is hrachyurus = shorttailed, we may suppose that the tail- 

 vertebrae are much less in number than in the other Her- 

 pestes-species. The following skeletons have been recorded : 



Royal college of Surgeons London. H. yriseics 13,7,3 



13,7,3,21 (?) 



After Cuvier and Riippell. . . . „ ichneumon 14,6,3,29 



Riippell. Abyss. Wirbelthiere . . „ gracilis 14,6,3,25 



„ „ „ . . „ sanguineus 15,5,3,22 



Wagner. Schreber's Saugethiere . „ galera 14,6,3,29 



Leyden Museum „ gracilis 13,7,3,31 



„ „ 13,7,3,31 



„ galera 13,7,3,27 



„ fluto 14,7,3,26 



„ pulverulentus 13,7,3,26 (?) 



„ „ 13,7,3,25 (inc.) 



„ „ 13,7,3,18 (inc.) 



„ „ „ griseus 13,6,3,20 (inc.) 



, „ „ 13,7,3,25 (inc.) 



„ „ „ javanicus 13,7,3,24 (inc.) 



„ „ „ hrachyurus 14,6,3,21 



And as far as we can judge after this small and bad 

 material it seems indeed that H. hrachyurus has the 

 smallest number of tailvertebrae ; further it appears from 

 the above list, that it has with ichneumon^ gracilis^ galera 

 and pluto in common 14 thoracic or dorsal and 6 lumbar 

 vertebrae, that sanguineus has 1 thoracic vertebra more 

 than all other species and 1 lumbar less, meanwhile a H. 

 ^mews-skeleton in the Leyden Museum has 1 lumbar 

 vertebra less than the other ones and that pluto presents 

 14 -|- 7 = 21 thoracic -f- lumbar vertebrae, instead of 14 -f" 6 

 or 13 4-7 = 20, as in its fellow-species. 



Notes from the Leyden IVTuseunti , Vol. XXIII. 



15* 



