Mammals from Ruwenzort. 119 



breadth acro-^s braiii-case 8'9 ; front of i' to back of vi C'-l ; 

 lfi)f(tli of lower tootli-iow 7. 



Huh. Kliweiizoii Ka-st. Alt. 10,000'. 



Ti/pe. Adult male in spirit. B.M. no. G. 12. 1. 8.3. Col- 

 lected i)th April, lilOG, bv 11. E. Dent. 



'I'lii.s species is of the intermediate size found in S. sorella, 

 beinrr niarkedly smaller than S. Innaris and morh, and 

 equally larj^erthan the pii^my S. Johnstoni. From S. sorella 

 it is at once distinguished by its far shorter tail. 



I have had much pleasure in naming this distinct mountaiu- 

 sbrew in honour of my collea<i;ue Mr. W. \i. O^ilvie-Grant, 

 to whose exertions as originator and manager science is 

 indebted for the remarkable results obtained by the Iluwenzori 

 Kxpedition of ilr. Woosnuni and his companions. No less 

 than twenty new species and subspecies have now been 

 described from their collections, and the specimens registered 

 in the Museum collection amount to over three hundred. 



Mungos * gracilis proteus, sub>p. u. 



A very variable form, usually strongly affected by 

 melanism. 



In the single wlioUy non-melanistic specimen the colour 

 throughout, of body, limb.-, and tail (ai)art from the black 

 terminal pencil), is grizzled tawny ochraceous, darkened on 

 the posterior back, the upper surface of the hands and feet 

 terminally rich rufous. From this there is a complete series 

 of intergradations to one in which the body is blackish bistre, 

 the tail even darker, practically black throughout, and the 

 feet deep glossy bhn:k. The type is an intermediate speci- 

 men, its general colour mummy-brown, but its feet and tail 

 wholly blackish. 



Dimensions of the type (measured in the flesh) : — 



Head and body 30G mm.; tail 260; hind foot 50; ear 25. 



kSkuU : condylo-basal length 61. 



JlalK Kuwenzori East. Alt. 7000' (ranging from 5000'). 



Tg^je. Adult female. B..M. no. (j. 12. 4. 35. Original 

 number 115. Collected 13th March, 1906, by R. E. Dent. 



This remarkably variable mungoose forms a parallel to the 

 Alpine .squirrels, which are commonly afl'ectcd by melanism 

 in a similar way. Possibly something of the same sort occurs 

 in Abjssinia, where the dark ^^ mutgigella" has been con- 

 tjido.ed to be the same species as the true gracilis. Elsewhere 



* ^fum/os, E. Geoff. & G. Cuv. Map. Enovcl. ii. pp. 184-187 (1795). 

 JIirf>fstc8, 111. Prodr. Syst., Miimiu. p. lHo (181 1> 

 Cy. Talmer, Iudo.\ Gt-u. Mamm. 1904. 



