HERPESTES. 463 
Fic. LXl. HERPESTES MUNGO. MONGOOSE. 
Measurements. Total length, 737-890; tail, 356-380. Skull: 
basal length, 75; zygomatic width, 42. The size of both animals 
and skulls varies, however, considerably, and the female is usually 
the smaller. 
The family CANIpD& contains various animals, such as Dogs, 
Wolves, Foxes, Jackals, etc., which have a great uniformity of struc- 
ture and similar habits. It is a cosmopolitan group, and its members 
are sociable, fond of each other’s society, and some of the species 
usually hunt in packs, and are possessed of more intelligence than 
falls to the lot of most quadrupeds. A great number of species and 
many varieties are recognized, some of them very unsatisfactorily 
defined. The group is divided into two series, the Lupine and the 
Vulpine, the former containing the wild and domestic Dogs, Wolves, 
and Jackals, the latter the true Foxes and their allies. These are 
distributed over many lands, and their coats, like those of the cats, 
vary in length of hair and thickness of fur according as the climate is 
productive of excessive degrees of heat or cold. As a general rule, 
the animals of northern habitats are larger and more powerful than 
their brethren of southern latitudes, but their habits are the same. 
