108 CATALOGUE. 



those of Mydaus, and are formed for perforating the ground, they differ 

 in being shorter, more compressed laterally, and more suddenly curved. 

 The tail is nearly half the length of the body ; it is somewhat bushy, 

 and terminated by long bristly hairs/' 



In the Dutch Catalogues of Zoology this animal is arranged in the 

 genus Mydaus : it is however more nearly allied to the genus Helictis, 

 which Mr. Gray has more recently defined in the characters above 

 detailed. Dr. S. Miiller also confirms the propriety of separating the 

 two genera by stating the peculiarities of the habits of the Helictis 

 orientalis as differing from Mydaus in a more strictly carnivorous 

 character, in which it resembles Canis, Lutra, and Herpestes, living 

 more exclusivley on small mammalia and birds. It does not diffuse 

 that intolerably fetid exhalation which so remarkably characterizes the 

 Mydaus ; nor is it confined to an elevation of six to seven thousand 

 feet above the level of the ocean, but also descends to the valleys and 

 declivities of mountains. 



" This animal is more solitary and circumscribed in its range than 

 any other of the quadrupeds that have come under my observation in 

 Java; I obtained but one specimen in the southern declivities of 

 Mountain Prahu. It appears to be confined to the western part of the 

 island." (Horsf. Zool. Res. in Java.) 



127. HELICTIS NIPALENSIS, Hodgs. spec. 



Gulo nipalensis, Hodgson, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. V. 237. 



VI. p. 560. 

 Helictis nipalensis, Hodgs., Classif. Cat. of Nepal. Mamm. 



Journ. As. Soc. Beng. X. p. 909. Calc. Journ. Nat. 



Hist. IV. p. 287. Gray, Cat. Mamm. Br. Mus. 



p. 69. Cat. Hodgs. Coll. p. 14. Schinz, Syn. 



Mamm. I. p. 328. 



Gulo orientalis, Hodgs., Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1834,^. 96. 

 Das Nepaulische Spitzfrett, Schinz. 



HAB. Nepal, Hodgson. 



A. A skin, presented by B. H. Hodgson, Esq. 



B. H. Hodgson, Esq., who discovered this animal in Nepal, gives the 

 following description of it in the fifth volume of the Journal of the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, pp. 237-8 : " Above, earthy brown : below, 

 with the edge of the upper lip, the insides of the limbs, and terminal 

 half of the tail, yellow ; a white mesial stroke from the nape to the hips, 

 and a white band across the forehead, spreading on the cheeks and 



