178 On a new Genus of African Mongooses. 



So far as external characters can be interpreted on dried 

 skins, the feet of Paracynictis resemble those of Bdeogale noi; 

 only in the number of the digits, but also in the extension of 

 the hair over the metatarsus nearly or quite down to the 

 plantar pad. But in Paracynictis tlie carpal pad is compara- 

 tively small, and, altliough the feet have been slit down tlie 

 middle line beneath, it appears to me that the area between 

 this pad and the plantar pad was wholly or mostly overgrown 

 with hair. There may, however, have been a narrow strip of 

 naked skin extending between the two pads. In Bdeogale^ 

 on the contrary, the carpal pad is large and joined to the 

 plantar pad by a wide and distally widening naked area. 



Finally, in Paracynictis it seems certain that the digits are 

 longish, slender, and very imperfectly webbed, as in Cyiiictis, 

 but in JBdeogale the thick short digits are welibed to approxi- 

 mately the same extent as in Mxmgos — that is to say, up to 

 the base of the digital pads on the admedian side of eaci). 



Although on paper it may appear that Paracynictis occupies 

 an intermediate place genetically between Cynictis and 

 Bdeogale, I do not think that is the true opinion to hold. 

 Paracynictis seems to me, on the available evidence, to be 

 nothing but an aberrant form of Cynictis, specialized by the 

 loss of the first digit of the fore-foot, llence it may be 

 inferred that the occurrence of a similar defect in Bdeogale is 

 an adaptive resemblance ; and, without due consideration of 

 other facts connected with the feet, one would be inclined to 

 associate this defect with the adoption of a digitigrade gait. 

 In the case oi Bdeogale, which has short, compact, somewhat 

 ^^ canine " feet, this may be so — at least in part, — but the 

 long-clawed feet of Paracynictis are fossorial rather than 

 cursorial ; and I suspect the suppression of the digit in ques- 

 tion is connected with burrowing. Support for this suspicion 

 is supplied by the independent incidence of a precisely similar 

 character in Suricata, the fore-feet of which are essentially 

 fossorial. A short weak pollex must be a hindrance rather 

 than a help in digging amongst roots and stones ; and the 

 atrophy of the hallux may likewise be explained by the part 

 the hind-feet play in raking backwards the loosened material 

 of the burrow. So far as I am aware, there are no records of 

 the habits of Bdeogale helping a decision as to whether the 

 loss of the pollex and hallux is connected with digging or 

 running. 



The .close resemblance in coloration above alluded to 

 between Paracynictis, Ichneumia, and some species of Bdeo- 

 gale is curious, since it does not appear to be attributable to 

 mutual aflSnit}^ Special attention raa}^ be drawn to the 



