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



eight nearly equal, parallel, narrow, black-brown streaks ; 

 chin and beneath pale brown ; hind-feet and outer side of 

 fore-legs brown . . ." (P. Z. S. 1848, p. 22). 



The type, from Tulyah Bay, Madagascar, and in the 

 British Museum, agrees tolerably closely with this descrip- 

 tion despite many years' exposure to light in the exhibition 

 gallery. Probably, however, a certain amount of fading has 

 taken place. The ground-colour of the back and sides is 

 pale grey, approaching silvery grey, the head being darker ; 

 the legs, throat, and belly are yellowish buff, not brown as 

 described. The back and sides are marked with eight dark 

 rusty-brown stripes standing boldly out against the broader 

 pale interspaces. Three of these on each side of the middle 

 line pass forwards over the nape up to the occipital region, 

 becoming gradually fainter in front of the shoulders, upon 

 which they are strongly emphasized. The fourth from above 

 on each side disappears in front of the base of the fore-leg, 

 barely extending on to the side of the neck. Posteriorly 

 towards the root of the tail and the back of the thighs these 

 stripes fade away and become broken up into irregular spots. 

 Beneath the fourth stripe from above on each side there is a 

 faint fifth stripe which does not reach the elbow of the fore- 

 leg ; and in the middle of the back between the two upper- 

 most of the paired stripes there is a faint spinal stripe 

 stretching nearly from the withers to the croup. Thus there 

 are eleven longitudinal dark stripes in all (PL VII. fig. 3). 



So far as the stripes are concerned, the type of M. vittatus 

 differs from that of M. substriatus in the following respects : — 

 (1) The intensity of their colour; (2) the extension of three 

 of them over the nape to the occiput ; (3) the presence of a 

 short faint spinal stripe ; (4) the absence of the short stripe 

 in the posterior half of the body below the second from the 

 top ; (5) the presence of the faint stripe below the fourth 

 long stripe and just above the pale tint of the belly. For 

 the rest, the ground-colour was apparently originally much 

 paler, since Gray described the hairs as " black and white 

 grizzled/' and according to his description, which is borne 

 out by the figure, the legs were much browner — at all events, 

 externally. 



The genera and species above described and discussed may 

 be distinguished as follows : — 



a. Heel of hind foot entirely covered with hair; 



black stripes mostly broader than pale stripes. Galtdictis, Geoffr. 

 a'. Tail dark, the same tint as the head fasciatus, Gmel. 



