252 MAMMALIA. 



Var. B .'—Unnanicus . 



Herpestes auropunctatus birmanicus, Thomas Ann. Mag. N. //. (5), xvii, 



p. 84 (iSS'S) ; id. P. Z. S., 1886, p. 58. 

 Herpestes birmanicus, Blanford Mammals, p. 122 (1888). 



Mush-i khourma, Persian. 



Distribution. — South-west Persia (Blanford), Sind (Blanford), 

 Kandahar (Hutton), and the lower ranges of the Himalayas and 

 their neighbouring plains from Kashmir to Sikkim, including 

 Lower Bengal. 



The Burmese variety is found in Assam, Upper and Lower 

 Burma and perhaps the Malay Peninsula. 



There is now in the Museum a very fair series of Herpestes 

 persicus of Gray ; Anderson in his Zoological Researches seems 

 to doubt whether this species is separable from H. auropunctatus ; 

 he, however, asserts that the skull of Herpestes persicus is less 

 elongated with a broader and shorter muzzle, wider palate and 

 broader frontal area between the orbits ; all these differences seem 

 to break down on examining a larger series of skulls, such as the 

 Museum now possesses, and it is quite impossible to find any point 

 of distinction between these two so-called species. 



Thomas has also separated the Assamese and Burmese small 

 mungoose as a distinct geographical race, and Blanford has raised 

 this race to the dignity of a species. 



There seems no ground for specifically separating these two 

 races, as the distinction seems to rest merely on the slightly larger 

 size and darker colour of the Burmese race; the hind-foot and 

 tarsus of the four representatives of this race in the Museum varies 

 from r95 to 205 inches, while those of the typical race run up to 

 2*05 as well. 



Var. A.—typicus. 



