11:3 

 AFRICAN ZOOLOGY 



By Dr. SMITH. 



Continued from page 64. •> 



Genus Ichneumon. Lacepede. 



Incisors «, canines \ \, molars f !, — 36. Muzzle sharp, ears 

 bhort and semicircular ; body elongated ; anal pouch large ; 

 feet with Jive toes, semipalmaied ; tail tapering towards the 

 point ; nails curved and sharp pointed. 



Viverra. Linnaeus. Man^vsta. Olivier, Cuvier. HerpcsteS. llHger, 

 Desmairest. 



Ichneumon Pharonis. (Egyptian Ichneumon.) Hair on neck, 

 back, sides, and base of tail, long ; on head, lower parts of neck, 

 breast, belly, extremities, and tail near the tip, short. Colour of 

 head, back, neck, breast, belly, tail till near the tip, and ex- 

 tremities towards their roots, grey, freely pencilled with black, 

 €ach hair being annulated with these colours ; sides of body- 

 dirty reddish white, or greyish white, with less of the black 

 pencilling ; lower parts of extremities nearly an uniform pure 

 black ; soles of feet entirely bare ; space round eyes and be- 

 tween them and nostrils, nearly bare, and of a black colour ; 

 eyes red ; outsides of ears blackish brown, insides white pen- 

 cilled with black. Tail very bushy towards root, tapering 

 towards the point, which is tufted with a brush of long jet 

 black hairs- Length from nose to base of tail twenty-eight 

 inches ; length of tail twenty-five inches. 



Inhabits Egypt and South Africa — rather rarfe in the latter. 



Viverra Ichneumon, Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 84. Herpestes 

 Pharonis, Desm. Mamm. 213. Mangouste, Buff. xiii. Nema 

 and Pharaoh's Rat, Modern Egyptians. Commiche Muishond 

 Cape Colonists. 



Var? 



Length from nose to base of tail eighteen inches ; length of 

 tail fifteen inches. From nose to tip of tail a narrow moderate- 

 ly distinct golden yellow stripe, and another on each side of the 

 face, which diverges from the first, passes over the eye and ter- 

 minates on the side of the head. In all other respects its cha- 

 racters precisely correspond with those detailed in the foregoin j 

 description. 



Oha. The appearances exhibited by the teeth, prove, that the single spe- 

 timen, which has supplied me with the means of furnishing this descrip- 

 tion had not attained the adult slate, and in consequence 1 have not con- 

 sidered myself yet warranted in publishing it as a distinct species, und«f 

 the name of Ichneumon dorsaliSf as it is desisnated ia my note$. 



