THE MEERKAT 



481 



THE BANDED MUNGOOSE. 

 (One-sixth natural size.) 



THE MEERKAT 

 Genus Suricata 



The meerkat of the Cape Colonists, or suricate as it is frequently called by 

 zoologists {Suricata tetradadyld} , while agreeing with the two genera last men- 

 tioned in the absence of a groove below the nose, differs from both in having but 

 four toes on each foot. It is further characterized by having three premolar teeth 

 on each side of the upper jaw, and four on the lower jaw, so that the total number 

 of teeth is thirty-six. The soles of the hind-feet are naked. 



The meerkat is a small animal of slender form, with a tail of about half the 

 length of the head and body. The fur is long and soft, of a light grizzled gray 

 color, with black transverse stripes across the hinder part of the back, the under 

 parts rufous, the head nearly white (except a black mark round the eyes), the ears 

 black, and the tail yellowish, with a black tip. The longer hairs are broadly 

 ringed with black and white, the white predominating. The transverse light and 

 dark bands on the loins are formed, according to Mr. O. Thomas, by the regular 

 arrangement of the hairs, by which the white and black rings come opposite to each 

 other on adjacent hairs. The same writer observes that meerkats may be distin- 

 guished at a glance from all other mungooses by their elongated nose and claws, as 

 well as by their peculiar coloration, no other species having ears differing in color 

 from the rest of the head. 



Meerkats appear to be confined to the Cape Colony, extending at least as far 

 north as Algoa Bay. In regard to their habits, we may quote from Mrs. A. Martin, 



3 1 



