MUNGOOSES. 



469 



15 or 16 inches. It is characterised by the tip of the tail being black, and the 

 grizzled grey-brown colour of the fur, in which the individual hairs are ringed 

 with reddish-brow^ and Creamy-yellow. South of the Sahara this species is replaced 

 by the slightly larger but closely allied caffre mungoose (H. caffer), in which the 

 hairs are ringed with black and white. In South Africa, as far north as Zanzibar, 

 we have also a much smaller species, the slender mungoose (H. gracilis), agreeing 

 with the two preceding forms in the black tip to the tail, while in Kordofan the 

 nearly equal-sized red-tailed mungoose (H. sanguineus) is distinguished by its 

 general fawn-coloured fur, and the red tip to the tail. 



Three other South and West African mungooses of large size are characterised 

 by the tip of the tail being of the same tint as the body-colour. The largest and 

 most distinct of the African species is, however, the white -tailed mungoose 



t 



THE INDIAN MUNGOOSE (i nat. size). 



(H. albicauda), in which the length of the head and body varies from 22 to as 

 much as 26 inches. This species is distinguished from all the above by the under- 

 surface of the ankle being hairy, instead of nearly or quite naked, and also by its 

 bushy tail. The general colour is blackish-grey, the longer hairs being ringed with 

 black and white, and having the tips black. According to Mr. Thomas, the white- 

 tailed mungoose presents a remarkable individual variation in the colour of the 

 fur of the tail. The hairs are of considerable length, " in some cases with white 

 bases and long shining black tips, so that the whole tail appears to be black ; in 

 others with a long white tip beyond the black, so that then the tail appears to be 

 white ; in the latter case the hairs at the extreme tip of the tail being generally 

 wholly white." This species ranges from the eastern part of Abyssinia to Natal, 

 and reappears oh the West Coast in the Guinea district. 



Of the Oriental mungooses we select for especial notice the common Indian 



