474 



CARNIVORES. 



have four premolar teeth on either side of each jaw, and are further characterised 

 by the hairiness of the soles of the hind-feet. 



The thick-tailed mungoose (Cynictis penicillata} is the only representative of 

 its genus which is characterised by having four toes on the hind-foot and live on 

 the fore-foot. This animal inhabits the Cape Colony, and is of medium size. It 

 may be readily distinguished from all its allies by its bushy white-tipped tail, and 

 the peculiar greyish -yellow colour of its fur, which is liable to some degree of 

 individual variation. The other two species (Bdeogale crassicauda and B. puisa) 

 are from East Africa, Mozambique and Zanzibar, and are distinguished by having 

 but four toes on both fore and hind-feet. Both species are closely allied, differing 

 mainly in the colour of the hairs of the tail. 



THE THICK-TAILED MUNGOOSE ( nat. size). 



THE SMOOTH-NOSED MUNGOOSES. 

 Genera Rhinogale and Crossarchus. 



The remaining members of the mungoose group, all of which are African, 

 differ from the whole of the preceding in that there is no median vertical groove 

 between the nose and the upper lip. They are referred to three distinct genera, 

 of which the two here mentioned have five toes on each foot. 



Meller's mungoose (Rhinogale melleri) is an East African species, which is of 

 interest not only on account of its being the sole representative of the genus to 

 which it belongs, but also from only a single specimen (described as long ago as 1864) 



