HERPESTES. 123 



fur dark brown at the base, then whitish, the longer hairs beyond 

 this on the back are black, then comes a yellowish ring, and the 

 tip is black. The black tips are only found on the upper parts. 

 On the tail-hairs the alternations of colour are more numerous. 



Dimensions. Skins measure : head and body about 14 or 15 inclies, 

 tail with hair 9 or 10, tarsus and hind foot 2'2. No measurements 

 of fresh specimens are available. The skull of a male is 2-6 inches 

 long to the back of the occipital condyles, 1-32 broad across the 

 zygomatic arches. 



Distribution. There are in the British Museum two specimens 

 from Burma, one collected by Captain Wardlaw Eamsay, tjie other 

 obtained by Mr. Oates in Pegu : a third specimen was collected by 

 Mr. Hume in Manipur. I have also a skin from Cachar. This 

 species probably replaces H. auropunctatus in Burma and some of 

 the other countries east of Ihe Bay of Bengal. 



60. Herpestes mungo. The common Indian Mungoose. 



Viverra mungo, Ginel. Syf<t. Nat. i, p. 84 (1788). 

 Herpestes frederici, Desm. Diet. Sc. Nat. xxix, p. 60 (1823). 

 Herpestes malaccensis, Fischer, Syn. Mam. p. 164 (1829) ; Bhjth, Cat. 



p. 51 ; Jerdon, Mam. p. 134. 

 Mangusta (Herpestes) nyula, Hodgson, J. A. S. B. \, p. 236 (1836). 

 Mangusta uiungos, Elliot,- Mad. Jour. L. S. x, p. 102. 

 Herpestes pallidus, Wayner, Schreh. Sauyeth. Sujip. ii, p. 311, pi. cxvi g ; 



Anderson, An. Zool. lies. p. 181. 

 Herpestes griseus, Kelaart, Prod. p. 41 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 51 ; Jerdon, 



Mam. p. 132 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 227 ; Thomas, 



P. Z. S. 1886, p. 56, note ; nee Ichneumon griseus, Geoffr. 

 Herpestes ferrugineus, W. Blanf. P. Z. S. 1874, p. 661, pi. Ixxxi. 

 Herpestes andersoni, Murray, Vertebrate Zooloyy of Sind, p. 34 (1884). 

 Herpestes mungo, TV. Blanf. P. Z. S. 1887, p. 631. 



Neioal, Neioala, Nyul, or Newar, Dhor, Rasu, H. ; Mnnyus, in the 

 Deccan and Southern India; Binyuidaro, Sarambitmhui, Ho Kol ; Koral, 

 Gond. ; Munyli, Can. ; Manyisu, Ventawa, Tel. ; Kiri ov Kirijn'lai, Taxn.; 

 Kiri, Mai. ; Muyatea, Cing. 



Hair long and somewhat ragged. Tail, without hair, a little 

 shorter than the head and body. Tarsus naked to the heel, the 

 hinder part of the naked sole narrow. 



In adult skulls the orbit is complete behind. The bony palate 

 extends above the posterior nares to about half the distance between 

 the last molars and the posterior end of the pterygoids. Ptery- 

 goids parallel, not divergent. 



Colour. Greyish brown, speckled with white or pale gi*ey, some- 

 times with a ferruginous tinge on the head and feet. A variety is 

 ferruginous throughout. Lower parts paler. Underfur light 

 broun, longer hairs distinct in colour from the underfur, and 

 marked by alternating rings of white or greyish white and dark 

 brown, 4 or 5 of each on the hairs of the back. The dark and light 

 rings are generally of nearly equal length, but occasionally the pale 



