African Mungooses. 115 



leaving only a very short black tip. Face coloureJ like 

 back, but the grizzling finer j tail coloured like back. 



Dimensions : — 



Head and body (circ.) 260 mm. ; tail (circ.) 250 ; hind 

 foot 52. 



Skull : condylo-basal length (circ.) 58 ; basilar length 

 (circ.) 53 ; zygomatic breadth 29 ; palate breadth across 

 y 19; length c-w' 21-5. 



Type (young adult), B.M. no. 72. 12. 12. 5. 



Hah. Cape Verd. 



8, Mungos melanurus zomhce, subsp. n. 



General colour " raw umber," with black tail-tip. 



Hairs of back 10-12 mm. long, dirty white at base, followed 

 by four rings, black and cream-buff alternately, with a black 

 tip, but in a very large proportion of the hairs thesubfcerminal 

 pale ring only gradually darkens to black at the extreme 

 tip. Face darker than back, almost black, very finely grizzled 

 with white ; tail and feet coloured like back. 



Dimensions : — 



Head and body (circ.) 260 mm. ; tail (circ.) 220 ; hind 

 foot 48 ; ear 24. 



Skull: condylo-basal length (circ.) 60; basilar length 55 ; 

 zygomatic breadth 29; palate breadth across p^ 19; length 

 c-m' 20-7. 



Hab. Type locality Zomba, Nyasa. (Type, B.M. no. 

 97.10.1.67.) 



93. 5. 2. 2-3. Zomba, Nyasa {Sir H. 11. Johnston). 



97. 10. 1. 67. Zomba, Nyasa [Sir H. H. Johnston). 



9. Mungos sanguineus , Riipp. 

 1835. Herpestes sanguineus^ Riippell, N. Wirb. Abyss, p. 27. 



This form has hitherto been accepted as a species distinct 

 from M. gracilis. The Natural History Museum has no speci- 

 men from Kordofan, the type locality of M. sanguineus, but a 

 specimen from the hills near Suakim can, I believe, be nothing 

 but a form intermediate between M. gracilis and sanguineus. 

 It is very pale in general colour and the tail-tip is half 

 chocolate-brown and half black. There is a cotype of M. 

 gracilis in the collection, and comparing these two specimens 

 with liiippell's plate of J/, sanguineus and gracilis, the Suakim 

 individual resembles the figure of M. sanguineus quite as much 

 as (if not rather more than) the cotype agrees with that of 

 31. gracilis. In the dimensions recorded by Riippell there is 



