116 Mr. R. I. Pocock on the Species of 



redescribed Geoffroy's type of Mustela striata as Putorius 

 striatus (' Regne Animal/ nouv. ed. i. p. 144, 1829). 



As a matter of fact, the two forms clearly differ in the 

 colour of the tail, which is covered with black and red or 

 brown and yellowish hairs in Viverra fasciata, Gmelin 

 ( = striata, Desm.), and with white hairs in Mustela striata, 

 E. GeofTY. St. Hilaire. Nor do the descriptions of the latter 

 published by Geoffroy and Cuvier justify the belief that the 

 throat, th'ghs, and feet were washed with red *. 



Since the two forms above discussed appear to belong to 

 the genus Galidictis, it is clear that striata cannot stand for a 

 white-tailed form, if the whiteness of that organ be. regarded 

 as of systematic importance. I am not aware that there is 

 any evidence or any reason to think that either of the two 

 forms described below as Galidictis exlmius and ornatus, 

 which have apparently been cited on many occasions as G. 

 striata, are dimorphic in the colour of the tail f or that the 

 legs and throat can ever be described as washed with red. 



I propose, therefore, to give new names to two white- 

 tailed forms of Galidictis, selecting as types examples from 

 known localities in Madagascar, and leaving open the question 

 as to their probable specific identity respectively with two 

 examples described, one by E. Geoffroy St. Hilaire in 1826, 

 the other by his son in 1839, to both of which the inad- 

 missible name striata was attached. 



Galidictis eximius, sp. n. (PI. VII. fig. 1.) 



Head greyish or yellowish brown, speckled black and 

 tawny, the black speckling disappearing on the muzzle, 

 cheeks, and round the eyes, but some longer speckled hairs 

 lie backwards over the base of the ears and spread on to the 

 antero-superior base of the pinna. For the rest the ears are 

 covered with short white hairs in front and with yellow- 

 brown and black hairs behind. 



From the occipital region between the ears there extend 

 backwards four black sinuous stripes, which are compara- 



* In 1829 Buffon ('(Euvres Completes,' viii. p. 43, pi. ccxxxvii. fig. 2), 

 ignoring these differences, redescribed Viverra striata, giving references 

 to Gmelin, Desmarest, and Geoffroy, without adopting the earlier name, 

 fasciata, proposed by Gmelin. He reproduced in this work a coloured 

 edition of the figure originally issued in his Supplement, and this figure 

 clearly shows the tail and legs to be brown. 



f The dichroism of the tail in the white-tailed mongoose (Ichneumia 

 albicauda) is worth bearing in mind in this connection. 



