?o2 Mr. R. I. Pocock on some of (lie 



following liim apparently, Blanford^ in 1888^ spoke of the 

 colour as red-brown. 



Detceting the diserejiaucy between ]\[ivart's and Sanynl's 

 aecounts. Mr. Lydekker, in 189G, commented ou it as fol- 

 lows : — " The colour has been hitherto described as uniformly 

 reddish brown, save for a narrow dark streak down the head. 

 The ditlference may, perhaps, be in part accounted for from 

 the fact that one description is taken from the living animal 

 and the other from dried skins, and also from the difi'erent 

 ages of the specimens examined, old ones being probably 

 more grey than younger examples." 



The main pait of this passage is hardly in accord with 

 the facts, for the original authors — Gray, Schlegel and 

 ^Miiller, Eydoux aud Souleyet — independently mentioned 

 the wiiite speckling; an 1 although Gray, at all events, had 

 only a dried skin to go upon, and the French aud Dutch 

 authors certainly never saw Cynogale?i\\\e, their descriptions 

 nevertheless agree, at any rate in recording the white 

 speckling, with that of Sanyal, who had a living specimen 

 before him. 



All the adult and subadult specimens in the British Mu- 

 seum, ranging from Malacca to Borneo, resemble in colour 

 those described by Giay and by the French and Dutch 

 authors. They are very dark brown, frosted with grey 

 above. The whitish speckling scarcely extends on to the 

 tail and legs, aud is absent on the underside, wliich is paler 

 brown than the back. The rhinarium is flesh-coloured and 

 the upper lip, lower lip, chin, and a varying amount of the 

 interramal area and of the upper end of the throat are pale. 

 There are two white spots on each cheek, marking the 

 position of the genal vibrissal tufts, wliich are white, like 

 those of the interramal tuft. Similarly, the vibrissas arising 

 from the pale area of the upper lip are white. The upper- 

 most of them, however, are black, as also are the superciliary 

 bristks. 



Mivart's silence on the subject of the grey speckling 

 suggests that his description of the colour was written from 

 uicmory. At all events, it is quite misleading. 



Saiiyal's description fits none of the specimens exactly. 

 His example, from an unknown locality in Borneo, was clearly 

 much whiter than any seen by other authors; but since it is 

 not available for examination, even if pre-erved after death, 

 it is useless to do more than suggest the possibility of its 

 having been a very old animal or a partial albino. In this 

 connection, be it noted, the tip of the tail was described as 

 white. At the same time it must not be forgotten that the 



