120 



YIYEKU1D.E. 



generally thick at the base, and covered with long hair. The feet 

 are plantigrade, the extent to which the under surfaces of the 

 tarsus and carpus are naked varying in different species, extending 

 in some to the heel in the hind feet, whilst in others the proximal 

 portion of the tarsus is hairy below. The fur is coarse, and the 

 longer hairs ringed or annulated, that is marked with alternating 

 dark and pale spaces. Toes five on all feet. Mamma; usually 3 

 pairs, but occasionally 2. In several species, and probably in all, 

 there are anal glands. 



Dentition : i. ^, c. j^j, p. ^, m. |j^. Teeth of the molar series 

 \\ith strong, sharply-pointed cusps. Vertebra): C. 7, D. 13, L. 7, 

 S. 3, C. 21-29. The bony orbits in the skull are, as a rule, com- 

 plete in adults, in which there is a considerable contraction in the 



Fig. 84. Skull of Herpestes vitticolli*. 



breadth of the cranium behind the long postorbital processes. 

 This is much less conspicuous in young skulls. The brain-case 

 behind the postorbital process is very long, when compared with 

 the muzzle. The bony palate is continued above the posterior 

 nares for a long distance behind the molars ; the pterygoid bones 

 are very short, and there is no true pterygoid fossa, the pterygoid 

 process of the alisphenoid forming a short, broad fossa that termi- 

 nates posteriorly just at the posterior opening of the alisphenoid 

 canal, close to the anterior extremity of the pterygoid itself. 



Some of the species of this genus are African, one, H. ichneumon, 

 extending to Spain ; others are Indian. The African have been 

 recently revised by Mr. Oldfield Thomas (P. Z. 8. 1882, p. 64) ; the 

 Oriental by Dr. Anderson, in his 'Anatomical and Zoological 

 He-searches.' I entirely agree with the latter in his generic views; 



