Dr. Horsfield on a new Species of Mustda, '22I& 



habit similar to that animal ; the tail however is proportionally longer, 

 and more regularly cylindrical. Body long and slender, being niore 

 robust and elevated at the rump, gradually tapering towards the shoulder ; 

 neck slender ; head conical, of moderate length, somewhat compressed 

 above, abruptly terminated at the muzzle ; ears short, truncated above, 

 orifice large, open, and bordered anteriorly by a thick semispiral tuft of 

 hairs, forming a convoluted entrance to the organ of hearing ; eyes in- 

 termediate between the muzzle and ears ; whiskers few in number, short, 

 slender, and closely applied to the head ; a few short, lax, white, bristly 

 hairs, in a tuft at the gape of the jaws ; fur on the body, extremities and 

 tail long and lax, on the head and neck soft, delicate, and closely applied ; 

 tail equal in length to the body and neck conjointly, cylindrical through- 

 out, bushy or covered with long, lax, rather bristly hairs ; posterior legs 

 proportionally long, thighs remarkably stout ; claws long, strongly curv- 

 ed and compressed, semiretractile. 



MUSTELA HaRDWICKII. 



M. capite et collo supra pedibus cauddque nigris^ corpore toto cotloque 



subtus sordid^ testaceis, guld albidd. 

 Tab. VIII. 



The head and neck above, the extremities, tail and posterior part of the 

 rump are black ; the neck imderneath, and the whole of the body, are 

 of a sandy yellow or testaceous colour, exhibiting in a certain disposition 

 to the light a slight glossy reflexion, the dark is more intense on the head 

 and neck, and the upper parts are here separated by well-defined lateral 

 and posterior boundary-lines from the under parts and nape; on 

 the feet and on the root of the tail the colour partakes of the testa- 

 ceous tint of the body ; the two colours gradually pass into each 

 other at the union of the extremities vdth the body ; the rump 

 and thighs are clouded, tawny hairs being loosely scattered among 

 the blackish hairs of the hinder parts ; many of the separate hairs 

 have likewise alternate dark and tawny bands ; the throat and muzzle 

 underneath are nearly white ; the ears are entirely comprised within the 

 dark upper parts, the truncated boundary of the lobe above is beset with 

 a line of tawny hairs ; the claws are rather pale, inclining to white ; the 

 soles of the feet are naked, prominent, and black. 



