268 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 
cultivated and wild districts Waid that they live in small parties, 
which frequently combine to attack Snakes. Holes in trees, 
and burrows dug by their own strong claws in the ground, 
serve for their habitation ; while they not unfrequently take 
possession of the deserted mounds of White Ants or Termites. 
In Mozambique, according to Peters, the Small Mungoose is 
extremely partial to hens’ eggs, which it breaks in a peculiar 
fashion, throwing them with its fore-paws between its hind-legs 
against a wall or stone. 
XV. THE FOUR-TOED MUNGOOSES. GENUS BDEOGALE, 
Bdeogale, Peters, Reise Mossambique, p. 119 (1852). 
In this East and West African genus the teeth agree in 
number and general characters with those of Herpestes albi- 
cauda, but there are only four toes to each foot. The sole of 
the hind-foot is hairy. 
I. THE THICK-TAILED MUNGOOSE. BDEOGALE CRASSICAUDA. 
Bdeogale crassicauda, Peters, Reise Mossambique, p. 120 
(1852); Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1882, p. 81. 
Characters.— Distinguished from the next species by the re- 
latively longer tail, in which the long hairs are white in their 
basal, and black in their terminal half, instead of being uai- 
formly blackish-brown. ‘The last lower molar seems also pro- 
portionately longer. 
Distribution. Mozambique. 
II], THE PUISA MUNGOOSE. BDEOGALE PUISA. 
Bdeogale puisa, Peters, Reise Mossambique, p. 124 (1852); 
Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1882, p. 81. 
Characters.—Size rather large; form slender; tail less than 
half the length of the head and body; under surface of tarsus 
and metatarsus thickly haired to the base of the toes. General 
colour dark brownish, with or without rings on the hairs ; long 
and soft under-fur tawny-yellow ; limbs nearly black ; head grey 
