280 Mr. O. Thomas on 



easy to understand Boulenger^s transference of the familj' to 

 the Heteiomi, with which they iiave practically nothing in 

 common. 



There are two genera, Fierciffer and Jordanicus, widely 

 distributed in tropical and temperate seas, 



XXXVII.-— T«^70 new West- African Mammals. 

 By Oldfield Thomas. 



(Published b}' permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.) 



Muugos plioeaicmus, sp. n. 



A small species with the terminal pencil of the tail rich 

 reddish. 



General appearance that of the members of the gracilis 

 group of the genus, apart from the red tiiil-tip. Colour most 

 nearly approaching tliat of a pale Lake Zuai specimen of 

 M. gracilis, far paler than the West- African M. melanurus. 

 General coloui- of back approaching ''clay-colour," paler and 

 more buffy on the shoulders, more rufous on the posterior 

 back. Head as usual greyer than back, but still with a bufFy 

 tone in it, Sides grizzled bufFy. Under surface uniform 

 bufF, the throat more "cream-buff." Hands and feet dull 

 buffy, rather darker than '^ cream-buff," Tail coarsely 

 grizzled with black and bufFy above, uniform ochraceous buff 

 below j the full terminal pencil deep tawny rufous. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in the flesh) : — 



Head and body 330 mm. ; tail 289 ; hind foot 61 ; ear 28. 



Skull : condylo-basnl length 68'3 ; zygomatic breadth 33'5 ; 

 palatal length 35'4 ; greatest diameter of p* 7"7. 



Bah. Panyam, Bauchi Province, N. Nigeria. Alt. 4000'. 



Type. Old male. B.M. no. 12. 7. 9. 2. Collected 12th 

 February, 1912, and presented by the late Rev. G. T. Fox. 



Tlie only other known mungoose with a red tail-tip is 

 il/. sanguineus, Riippell, of Kordofan, which is considerably 

 smaller (hind foot 50-54: mm.), is lighter coloured throughout, 

 and has the under surface white instead of buffy. 



In Mr. Wroughton's monograph of this group he assigned 

 to M. sanguineus an example from Suakin with the tail-tip 

 *' half chocolate-brown and half black," but the conspicuous 

 and evidently natural red tail-tip of the N. Nigerian species 

 leads me to tliink that §angui7ieus has also a really red tail- 

 t;ip and that the Suakin specimen is merely one of the ordinary 



