On a new Mongoose from Matabeleland. 469 



LXXI. — On a new Mongoose from MatabeMand, British 

 South Africa. By W. E. DE WiNTON. 



Tn a collection of mammals lately presented to the British 

 Museum by Mr. F. C. Selous, taken on his property Essex 

 Vale, near Bulawayo, there is the skull of a hitherto un- 

 (lescribed form of Cynictis ; the skin, unfortunately, was not 

 obtained. I propose to name it, in honour of the collector, 



Cynictis Selousi, sp. n. 



Skull more elongated than C. pem'ciUata, with the squa- 

 mosal portion of the zygoma not so much expanded laterally ; 

 this process is only very slightly bowed upwards to join the 

 malar, so that, viewed from the side, the lower edge of the 

 zygomatic arch forms a straight line to the base of the infra- 

 orbital foramen. The ascending process of the malar is very 

 plight, running into a fine point, and barely meeting the post- 

 orbital process. The back of the palate ends in a projecting 

 point in the middle line ; the pterygoid processes bow in- 

 wards, ending in small knobs. The auditory bullee are con- 

 siderably inflated, the posterior basal portion drooping below 

 the plane of the anterior chamber. 



Type in Brit. Mus. Collector's note : — " Skull of animal, 

 probably killed and eaten by an eagle, found on grassy heap 

 under a tree, Essex Vale, Matabeleland, 18th Oct., 1895" 

 (F. G. 8.). 



In all measurements I follow Mr. Thomas in his mono- 

 graph of the group (P. Z. S. 1882, p. 59). 



Skull : basal length 76 millim. ; greatest breadth 43 ; 

 nasals, length in middle line 16, greatest breadth 8 ; inter- 

 orbital breadth 18*5; intertemporal breadth 16*5; palate 

 length 44, to cross-line 26*5 ; basicranial axis 26 ; basifacial 

 axis 49 ; facial index 188. 



Breadth outside postero-external angle of Pii 25. 



Teeth: Pii, horizontal length 4"1; Eii, length 4*5; i-ii, ex- 

 ternal length 6"1, anterior breadth 5'5, greatest diameter 8-5 ; 

 ^ length 45, breadth 7-5; "^^ length 3-5, breadth 6 ; ^z, 

 length 4-1 ; ^4, 6 ; ^, 6 ; ^2, 5-5. 



This is the skull of an adult animal with the teeth some- 

 what worn, the sutures of the nasal bones not perfectly closed. 

 The size alone will distinguish it from the well-known form, 

 and in shape the skulls are strikingly different, tiie new 

 species having a narrower and more evenly oval skull than 

 C. penicillata, viz. with the zygoma much less expanded in 

 proportion to the face and brain-case. The breadth of the 

 skull will be seen to barely equal ihe length of the palate, 

 while in C. penicillata this measurement exceeds the length 

 of the palate by about 5 millim. at all ages. 



