162 HERPESTES. 
Fia. 85. HERPESTES MUNGO. 
No. 110941 U. S. Nat. Mus. Coll. Nat. size. 
species; legs short; five toes on each foot, the first one short; claws 
lengthened, not retractile; palms usually naked. Skull with short 
face and elongated braincase, postorbital constriction great; palate 
extending beyond posterior molars; pterygoids short; pterygoid fossa 
Wanting. 
464. mungo (Viverra), Gmel., Syst. Nat., 1, 1788, p. 84. 
Common INDIAN MUNGOOSE. 
[ype locality. India. Introduced into the Islands of Jamaica, 
Porto Rico, St. Kitts, etc. 
Genl. Char. Hair long, ragged; tail hairy, shorter than head and 
body; tarsus naked to heel; palate extending midway between last 
molars and posterior end of pterygoids, which are parallel. 
Color. Grayish brown, speckled with white or light gray, some- 
times tinged with ferrugineous; hairs with dark brown and grayish 
white rings alternating. 
