122 YITEKRID.i:. 



form, or in western varieties while, and without any ainulation 

 on the hair. Dorsal fur brown at the base, then for some distance 

 pale brownish grey or yellow, the longer hairs beyond this are 

 blackish brown, then very pale brown or white, and, in some cases, 

 tipped dark. Hairs of the tail with 5 to 7 alternations of pale 

 and dark. There is some difference in the extent to which the 

 pale and dark rings are developed; in very dark specimens the 

 pale rings are greatly reduced in size and vie? versa. 



Dimensions. Head and body 10 to 12 inches, tail, without hair 

 at end, 7 to 10, tarsus and hind foot without claws 1-7 to 1*9 ; 

 weight of a large male 18 ounces. A male skull measures 2''3 

 inches in basal length, 1'15 broid across zygomata. 



Distribution. Throughout Northern India, being found in the 

 lower Himalayas from 8ikhim to Kashmir, in the Xorth-west Pro- 

 vinces, Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan, South Afghanistan, and Southern 

 Persia. To the eastward common in Lower Bengal about Calcutta, 

 and found at Midnapur, but not recorded further south in the 

 Peninsula. This species is found at Chittagong, and rangc-s througli 

 Cachar and Assam to Upper Burma, where it was procured by 

 Anderson at Bhamo. It has not been found in Arakan, Pegu, or 

 Tenasserim, but a single specimen, possibly imported, was obtained 

 by Cantor in the Malay Peninsula. This is now in the British 

 Museum, and is uudistinguishable from Indian specimens. 



Varieties. The AVestern form, found iu Sind, Baluchistan, and 

 Southern Persia, is very much paler and greyer in colour than 

 Bengal and Himalayan skins usually are, and was distinguished 

 bv Blyth as H. pallipes, and by Grray subsequently as H. persicus. 

 This was formerly classed separately by Andei'son and myself. As, 

 however, every intermediate gradation in colour can be found, I 

 do not think the distinction can be maintained. The pterj^goids in 

 the skull of the pale-coloured variety are closer together anteriorly, 

 and diverge more behind ; but I can find no other difference, the 

 discrepancies in breadth of the skull noticed by Anderson not 

 being constant. 



Habits. Nothing particular appears to h^ve been recorded about 

 this form, which is an active, inquisitive little animal, frequently 

 seen in the daytime about bushes, hedgerows, and cultivated fields. 

 The habits, so far as known, resemble those of //. miuujo. 



59. Herpestes birmanicus. The small Burmese Mungoose. 



Herpestes auropunctntus birmanicus, Thomas, A.M. N. II. ser. 5, xvii, 

 p. 84 (1880) ; id. T. l. S. 1886, p. 58. 



Size larger than that of H. auropunctatits, which this species re- 

 sembles in the short, even fur and in structure generally. In the 

 skull, the termination of the bony palate above the posterior nares 

 is concave, and the pterygoids do not diverge. 



Colour. Dark brown, minutely speckled with grey or yellowish 

 gi'ey throughout, lower parts very litth^ paliM- than ui)per. Under- 



