THE SAND-BADGER 679 



of the stumpy tail only some three-fourths of an inch. With the ^exception of the 

 back of the head, the top of the neck, a stripe down the back, and the tip of the 

 tail, which are whitish, the general color of the long and thick fur is dark brown, 

 but lighter below than above. There is a kind of crest of long hair on the back of 

 the head and neck. The muzzle is long and pointed, and almost entirely naked in 

 front of the eyes, with the flesh-colored nostrils obliquely truncated and mobile. 

 The Malayan badger appears to be confined to the mountains of Java, Sumatra, and 

 Borneo, ranging in the former island from an elevation of about five hundred to up- 

 ward of seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. In Borneo it is found at 

 elevations of not more than eighty or one hundred feet, and in Sumatra does not 

 ascend above one thousand feet. It is a nocturnal and burrowing animal, not un- 

 common in some districts. 



Horsfield, the original describer of this animal, says that when killed carefully 

 and the scent glands immediately removed, the flesh of the Malayan badger is quite 

 free from odor, and far from unpalatable. The secretion of the glands is, however, 

 fetid in the extreme, and has been compared to that of the skunks. As in the latter, 

 it can be ejected by the animal to a considerable distance. We have but little in- 

 formation as to the habits of this animal in a wild state; but it is stated to be gentle 

 and easily tamed when in captivity. 



THE SAND-BADGER 

 Genus Ardonyx 



With the sand-badger or, as it is often termed, the hog-badger (Ardonyx 

 collaris} , we come to our last representative of the badgers, and at the same time of 

 the present section of the Weasel family. The ordinary sand-badger is an Indian 

 species, ranging from the Eastern Himalayas through Assam and the neighboring 

 regions to Tenasserim and Lower Burma. There is, however, also a smaller species 

 (A. taxoides), inhabiting Assam and Arakan, and possibly China; while there is 

 probably a third in Eastern Tibet. 



The sand-badgers are easily distinguished from the other members of the group 

 by their proportionately-longer tails; that of the Indian species being from a quarter 

 to a third the length of the head and body. 'The long and naked snout is very like 

 that of the Malayan badger; the eyes are small and the ears also small and rounded. 

 The body is rather flattened from side to side; and only a portion of the naked soles 

 of the feet are applied to the ground in walking, so that these animals may be de- 

 scribed as digitigrade rather than plantigrade when in motion. The pelage consists 

 of a full soft under-fur, mingled with long stiff hairs. In color the Indian sand- 

 badger is dirty gray both above and below, with a more or less marked blackish tinge 

 on the back, most of the individual hairs being dirty white throughout their length, 

 but the lo"cro r ones on the back and sides having black tips. The head is white, 

 with some variable black bands, while the lower parts and limbs are dusky, the 

 limbs being sometimes black. Here, then, we have another instance of the ten- 

 dency in the present family for the under parts to be lighter than the upper regions. 



