476 



CARNIVORES. 



the eastern portion of the Cape Colony to Mozambique, the colour of the under- 

 surfaee of tlie bodv is grizzleil g^rev. 



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■N 



THE BANDED MCNGOOSE (J nat. size). 



The Meerkat. 

 Genus Siiricata. 



The meerkat of the Cape Colonists, or suricate as it is frequently called by 

 zoologists (Saricata tetradactyla), while agreeing with the two genera last 

 mentioned in the absence of a groove below the nose, differs from both in having 

 but four toes on each foot. It is further characterised by having three premolar 

 teeth on each side of the upper jaw, and four on the lower jaw, so that the total 

 number of teeth is thirty-six. Tlie soles of the hind-feet are naked. 



The meerkat is a small animal of slender form, with a tail of about half the 

 length of the head and body. The fur is long and soft, of a light grizzled grey 

 colour, with black transverse .stripes across the hinder part of the back, the under- 

 parts rufous, the head nearly white (except a black mark round the ej^es), the ears 

 black, and the tail yellowish, with a black tip. The longer hairs are broadly 

 ringed with black and white, the white predominating. The transverse light 

 and dark bands on the loins are formed, according to Mr. 0. Thomas, by the regular 

 arrangement of the hairs, by which tlie wliite and black rings come opposite to 

 each other on adjacent hairs. The same writer observes that meerkats may be 

 distinguished at a glance from all other mungooses by their elongated nose and 

 claws, as well as by their peculiar coloration, no other species having ears differing 

 in colour from the rest of the heail. 



Meerkats appear to be confined to the Cape Colony, extending at least as far 



