CATALOGUE. 69 



Paradoxurus hirsutus, Hodgson, Asiatic Researches, XIX. 



p. 72. 



MACHABBA and MALWA, Hodgson. 

 HAB. North Bihar and Nipalese Tara'i. 



A. A Drawing. Presented by Dr. F. B. Hamilton. 



Science is indebted to B. H. Hodgson, Esq., for the first authentic, 

 and, hitherto, the only account of this species of Paguma, published in 

 the nineteenth volume of the Asiatic Researches, Calcutta, 1836. 



" This animal," Mr. Hodgson states, " is known by the names of 

 Machabba and of Malwa in the north Bihar, as well as in Nipalese 

 Tarai ; it is forty-five inches in length from the tip of the snout to the 

 end of the tail, and about six pounds hi weight. The length of the 

 tail, inclusive of the hair projecting beyond its tip, is equal to that of 

 the animal, exclusive, about an inch less. The female is somewhat 

 smaller than the male, and rather paler coloured, but the difference 

 is trivial, neither sex nor nonage causing any noticeable diversity in 

 this species. The colour of the animal is a full clear yellow, largely 

 tipped with black, and entirely void of marks or lines upon the body. 

 The entire bridge of the nose, with the upper lip, the whiskers, and 

 broad band thence proceeding over the cheeks, the ears, the chin and 

 lower jaw, the fore-legs wholly, and the hind from the heel downwards, 

 together with the terminal third of the tail, are black or black-brown. 

 The region of the genitals, and a zone encircling the eyes posteriorly, 

 are pure pale yellow. The soles of the feet and the snout are brownish 

 fleshy gray. The nude part of the lips, the palate, tongue, and bare 

 portions of the ears and of the genital regions, pure fleshy white. 



" The fur is of two kinds, viz. hair and wool. The former is 

 straight, elastic, not rigid, of great length, and free set, not even 

 ordinarily applied to the body, and considerably erigible under ex- 

 citement. It is two inches and a quarter long, and, for the most 

 part equally so over the whole body and tail, the face only and the 

 limbs being dressed in short adpressed fur. The colour of the hair is, 

 generally for two- thirds from the root, yellow, and for the terminal 

 third, black ; but here and there a hair wholly black intervenes, and 

 sometimes the hair has a third dusky ring towards the base. The wool 

 is soft, wavily curved in its length somewhat more than half as long as 

 the hair, and almost entirely of a yellow hue, though, close to the skin, 

 it has a dusky colour. 



" The females have four ventral teats, and produce, I understand, but 

 one brood per annum. The habits of the species render them more 



