THE MADAGASCAR MUNGOOSES 483 



of black bordering his large dark eye serves, like the antimony of an Egyptian 

 beauty, to enhance the size and brilliancy of the orbs. A curious kind of seam, 

 starting from the middle of his chin and running underneath him along the whole 

 length of his body, gives him somewhat the appearance of a stuffed animal which 

 has not been very carefully sewed up. His bright, pretty little face is capable of 

 assuming the greatest variety of expressions, that which it most frequently wears 

 when in repose being a contented, self-satisfied smirk ; impudence and independence 

 displaying themselves at every line of his plump little figure. . . . He is abso- 

 lutely without fear, and with consummate coolness and audacity will walk up to the 

 largest and most forbidding-looking dog, although a perfect stranger to him, and, 

 carefully investigating the stranger on all sides with great curiosity, express disgust 

 and defiance in a succession of little short sharp barks." 



Meerkats seem to have, indeed, a remarkable affection for dogs, and, when 

 tamed, will follow these animals for long distances, trotting contentedly along in 

 their wake in the same manner as a dog follows his master. L,ike most of the civet 

 tribe, when tamed, the meerkat is an inveterate thief. 



THE MADAGASCAR MUNGOOSES 

 Genera Galidictis, Enpleres, etc. 



It will be convenient to allude, under the name of mungooses, to certain very 

 curious members of the civet tribe which inhabit the island of Madagascar. These 

 are arranged under four distinct genera, of which the first three are nearly allied to 

 one another, and are also related to the African mungooses, while the fourth is very 

 different from both, and is indeed an altogether aberrant modification of the family. 

 Most of these creatures have no recognized English titles, so that we are compelled 

 to mention them under their scientific names. 



The munguste (Galidictis striata) is one of two nearly-allied species character- 

 ized by having the ground color of the fur of a light tint, marked by longitudinal 

 dark stripes on the body ; this peculiar coloration being alone quite sufficient to dis- 

 tinguish these animals from all their allies. The munguste measures about twelve 

 and one-half inches in length, exclusive of the tail ; the latter being rather shorter 

 than the head and body. The tail is bushy in both species, and the claws are longer 

 than in the true mungooses. In the munguste the snout is rather short, but it is 

 more elongated in the other species (G. vittata). 



The galidia (Galidia elegans], which is the only representative of its genus, 

 differs from the munguste in having the fur of the body uniformly colored ; but the 

 tail is ringed with black bands, the individual hairs being of one color throughout 

 their length. The hemigalidia (Hemigalidia olivacea) differs from it by the tail 

 being of the same uniform coloration as the head and body, and also in its more 

 pointed muzzle, and the smaller curvature of the claws. 



The most remarkable of these four types of Madagascar Carnivores is however, 

 the Eupleres goudoti ; its most peculiar characteristic being the very small size of the 

 teeth and the weakness of the jaws. The teeth, of which the number is the same as 



