276 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 
Characters.— A riaete iba od eras species, distinguished from 
all the other four by its greatly inferior dimensions. The 
chest and throat lack the black and white markings character- 
istic of C. gambianus, while the colour of the pelage is quite 
unlike that of C. obscurus. 
Distribution Oubangui region, Upper Congo. 
XIX, THE MEERKATS. GENUS SURICATA: 
Suricata, Desmarest, Tabl. Méth. Mamm., in Nouv. Dict. 
Hist. Nat. vol. xxiv. (1804). 
Rhyzena, Illiger, Prodr. Syst. Mamm. p. 134 (1811). 
From the other Smooth-nosed Mungooses the single South 
African representative of this genus is distinguished by having 
only four (instead of five) toes on each of the fore- and 
hind-feet ; while it is further characterised by having three 
pairs of pre-molar teeth in the upper, and four in the lower 
jaw ; and likewise by the naked under surface of the whole of 
the tarsus and metatarsus. The muzzle is produced; the 
front claws are elongated and nearly double the length of 
those on the hind-feet ; the profile of the face is convex; and 
the teeth are of the general type of those of the preceding 
genus. 
I. THE MEERKAT. SURICATA TETRADACTYLA. 
Viverra suricatia, Erxleben, Syst. Regn. Anim. p. 488 (1777). 
Viverra tetradactyla, Schreber, Siugethiere, vol. iii, p. 434 
(1778). 
Wus zenik, Scopoli, Delic. Faun. Flor. vol. ii. p. 84 (1786). 
Viverra zenik, et V. tetradactyla, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. vol. i. 
p- 85 (1789). 
Suricata capensis, Desmarest, Tabl. Méth. Mamm. in Nouv. 
Dict. Hist. Nat. vol. xxiv. (1804). 
Rhyzena tetradactyla, Mliger, Prodr. Syst. Mamm. p. 134 (1811). 
Suricata viverrina, Desmarest, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat. 2nd ed. 
vol. Xxxil. p. 297 (1819). 
