516 Mr. R. I. Tocock on the 



Family Mungotidae. 



Iilmiootoi(.l Carnivora distiiiguislied by the combination of 

 a number of positive and negative characters, of which the 

 |)iinci[)al are : — 



Tlie secretion of tlie anal glands^ the orifices of which are 

 outside the anus, is discharged into a nearly naked, glan- 

 dular, cutaneous sack capable of being closed by the juxta- 

 position of the upper and lower halves of its thickened rim. 



Perineal scent-gland absent in both sexes. 



Vulva close beneath lower rim of anal sack. 



Prepuce close to scrotum. 



Glans penis short, with orifice on its lower surface ; " 

 baculum present. 



Feet with fossorial, non-retractile, usually long claws, and 

 pollex and liallux, when present, arising just above the 

 ])liuitar pad. 



Ear rounded, small or moderate, without marginal bursa, 

 and with antero-internal ridge (intratragus) curving abruptly 

 backwards beneath the supratragus, and high above the 

 intertragal notch. 



Resembling the Hysenidfe and Cryptoproctidse in the 

 possession of an anal sack and the absence of preputial scent- 

 gland, but differing from them in the smaihiess of the penis, 

 the proximity of the prepuce to the scrotum, etc. Tlie last 

 character mentioned and the absence of the preputial gland 

 distinguish them from the Viverridse {Viverraj Paradoxurus, 

 etc.). They approach the Galidictidee in the structure of the 

 feet and in cranial characters, but differ in the presence of 

 the ajial sack, the absence of the perineal gland and of the 

 bursa in the ear, and in the presence of an alisphenoid canal 

 or of a groove representing it. 



Characters and Classification of the Genera of Mungotidae. 



In 1864, and in papers published after that date. Gray 

 made use of the presence and absence of the naked area of 

 skin cleaving the upper lip as a character of primary impor- 

 tance in classifying the mongooses. He even divided them 

 into two families — the Herpestidse and Rhinogalidae — on that 

 basis. 



Thomas also chose this as the leading feature in grouping 

 the genera of African mongooses, the number of toes coming 

 next in order, then the premolar teeth, and, finally, the 

 hairiness of the sole of the hind foot (P. Z. S. 1882, pp. &2- 

 63). But wliether the analytical key compiled on those lines 



