520 Mr. R. I. Pocock on the 
Rhynchogale* (type mellert) was associated by Gray with 
Crossarchus and Suricata, and provisionally left in that 
category by Thomas. It appears to me to be more nearly 
related to [chneumia and Bdeogale, despite the suppression of 
the groove on the upper lip. 
In position and relative size the teeth are not at all unlike 
those of Jchneumia and Bdeogale, although the upper car- 
nassial is a little more forward. ‘heir chief peculiarity lies 
in the flatness of the crowns of the molars, probably an 
adaptation to a frugivorous diet f. The twist of the lower 
dental row is not much, if at all, more marked than in 
Bdeogale, and the same is true of the concavity of the palate. 
The mesopterygoid fossa is more forward than in /ehneumia 
and Bdeogale, but the bulle, which are more inflated poste- 
riorly than in Bdeogale, do not surpass those of Jehneumonia 
in that respect. The feet are pentadactyle and hairy as in 
Ichneumia. The absence of the groove below the rhinarium 
is a distinctive feature of Rhynchogale, which appears also to 
have a longish snout; but this latter feature seems to be 
foreshadowed by the long upper lip of Jchnewmia. On the 
evidence I think the genus may be regarded as a specialized 
form of the Jchneumia+ Bdeogale group of genera. 
The exact position of Cynictis (type penicillata) and Para- 
cynictis (type seloust) is doubtful, but there are indications 
perhaps of closer kinship with Jchneumda than with any 
other genus, although the relationship is not close. Never- 
theless, the large ears of Cynictis are foreshadowed in 
Ichneumia, and, as in that genus, the fore foot is hairy down 
to the carpal pad and the hind foot down or almost down to 
the plantar pad; but the suppression of the hallux in Cynictis 
and of both pollex and hailux in Paracynictis, and the reduc- 
tion in depth of the interdigital webs mark the feet as more 
specialized than in Jchnewmza, though possibly in the greater 
length of the claws they are more primitive. Specialized 
features in the skull are its shortness, a character correlated, 
judging from Suricata, with stronger postorbital bars and 
* I have seen no fresh or spirit-preserved material of this genus apart 
from a newly born kitten found by White at Zomba and preserved in 
the British Museum. The anal sack is well developed, but the most 
remarkable feature about the specimen is the enormous depth of the 
upper lip beneath the rhinarium, giving an unusually thick aspect to the 
muzzle. The rhinarium, moreover, is set upon the summit of the 
muzzle, and has an upward, not a forward aspect, almost as in Cynogale. 
Since I do not know the condition of the muzzle in the young of other 
genera of mongooses, a simple record of the facts must suffice. 
+ White found the stomachs of Rhynchogale filled with fruit (P. Z. 8. 
1894, p. 139). 
