102 



such a change is advisable, or even excusable, perhaps it would be 

 better to follow the exainple of M. Desmarest in the ' Dictionnaire des 

 Sciences Naturelles,' and substitute the specific name oifasciatus for 

 tbat of Mungos, as regards this animal, reserving the latter name for 

 the species to which it really belongs, and •vvhich is at present de- 

 signated by the very vague term of griseus. 



The other species brought by Mr. RendaU, and ■which I propose 

 to call Herpestes Gambianus, is new to science, but is in some degree 

 allied to the Herp. vitticollis, characterized by Mr. Bennett at a re- 

 cent meeting of the Society (page 66) . It is, however, much smaller 

 than that epecies, measuring only 1 7 inches from the nose to the 

 root of the tail, whilst the Herp. vitticollis measures fully 23 ; the 

 tail also measures 1 3 inches in the latter animal, and only 91 in the 

 former. The general colour of the body is that grizzled gray and 

 brown, so common among the Herpestes, upon the upper parts, clearer 

 upon the head, neck and ehoulders, and copiously mixed ■vvith red 

 upon the latter part of the back, hips and thighs, particularly upon 

 the latter, which are nearly all red ; the tail has a copious mixture 

 of black, and is terminated by a small tuft of pure black ; but this is 

 only found at the extreme point, and does not extend over a consider- 

 able portion of the organ, as in Herp. vitticollis. The throat and sides 

 of the neck are pale silvery brown ; the breast, belly , and interior of the 

 limbs, red; the feet alone, not the whole legs as in Herp. vitticollis, 

 are black, and a etripe of dark brown extends from the ear to the 

 shoulder, along each side of the neck. The hair lies smooth and 

 close to the skin. 



There are some peculiarities in the dentary eystem of these animals 

 ■which are deserving of notice. 



He)'p . fasciatus and Herp. Gambianus. Teeth -- : r— r : t—:- The 



incisors small, simple, and regular ; the canines of moderate size ; 

 the first two falše molars of the normai form; the third, carnas- 

 sier, of rather small size compared with its analogue in genera 

 raore decidedly carnivorous, and the lašt two, in both jaws, tubercu- 

 lous. The rudimentary false molar, mentioned by M. F. Cuvier, is 

 wanting in both these species ; nor can its absence be OMong to the 

 age of the epecimens examined, os some -vs^ere evidently young ani- 

 mals, though arrived at adult age. Its entire absence is further con- 

 firmed by the situation of the teeth respectively, in the reciprocal 

 position of the jaws, the first inferior false molar fiUingup the entire 

 vacant space betvveen the corresponding superior tooth and the canine 

 of the eame jaw. 



This system difFers considerably from that ascribed to the Herpestes 

 by M. F. Cuvier (Dents des Mammif&res, i. 99.), but agrees in all re- 

 spects ■mth the description of M. Desmarest. The following, however, 

 is equally foreign to the accounts of both these authors, and, were 

 not all the other characters so perfectly accordant •vvith those of Her- 

 pestes, would decidedly indicate a new genus. Indeed, it so stands 



