1 78 0« a new Genus of African Mongooses. 



So far as external characters can be interpreted on dried 

 skins, tlie feet of Parac>/nictis resemble those oE Bdeognle not 

 only in the number of the digits, but also in the extension o£ 

 the hair over the metatarsus nearly or quite down to the 

 jthintar pad. But in Paracynictis the carpal pad is compara- 

 tively sniall, and, although the feet have been slit down the 

 middle line beneath, it appears to me that the area between 

 this pad and the plantar ])ad was wholly or mostly overgrown 

 witii hair. There may, however, have been a narrow strip of 

 naked skin extending between the two pads. In Bdeogale, 

 on tlie contrary, the carpal pad is large and joined to the 

 plantar pad 1)T a wide and distally widening naked area. 



Finally, in Paracyyiiciis it seems certain that the digits are 

 longish, slender, and very imperfectly webbed, as in Ct/nictis, 

 but in Bdeogale the thick short digits are webbed to approxi- 

 mately the same extent as in Muvgos — tiiat is to say, up to 

 the base of the digital pads on the admedian side of each. 



Although on paper it may appear that Paracynictis occupies 

 an intermediate place genetically between Cgnictis and 

 Bdeogale, I do not think that is the true opinion to hold. 

 Paracynictis seems to me, on the available evidence, to be 

 nothing but an aberrant form of Cynictis, specialized by the 

 loss of the first digit of the fore-foot. Hence it may be 

 inferred that the occurrence of a similar defect in Bdeogale is 

 an adaptive resemblance ; and, without due consideration of 

 other facts connected with the feet, one would be inclined to 

 associate this defect with the adoption of a digitigrade gait. 

 In the case oi Bdeogale, which has sliort, compact, somewhat 

 *' canine " feet, this may be so — at least in part, — but the 

 long-clawed feet of Paracynictis are fossorial rather than 

 cursorial ; and I suspect the suppression of the digit in ques- 

 tion is connected with burrowing. Support for this suspicion 

 is supplied by the independent incidence of a precisely similar 

 character in Svricata, the fore-feet of whicli are essentially 

 fossorial. A short weak pollex must be a hindrance rather 

 than a help in digging amongst roots and stones ; and the 

 atrophy of the hallux may likewise be explained by the part 

 the hind-feet play in raking backwards the loosened material 

 of the burrow. So far as I am aware, there are no records of 

 the habits oi Bdeogale helping a decision as to whether the 

 loss of the pollex and hallux is connected with digging or 

 running. 



The close resemblance in coloration above alluded to 

 between Paracynictis, Ichneumia, and some species of Bdeof 

 gale is curious, since it does not appear to be attributable to 

 mutual affinity. Special attention may be drawn to the 



