128 vivERKiD.i:. 



Size of a small If. umiH/u. Naked sole not extending to the 

 heel. Tail without the hair at the end about three quarters the 

 length of the head and body. Fur less harsh than in most species 

 of the genus, long, with a thick woolly underfur ; hair of tail 

 but little longer than that of body. 



In the skull the orbit is imperfect (ap])arently from immaturity, 

 however), and the pterygoid bones parallel. 



Colour. iVormally dark brown speckled with dull yellow, but 

 some specimens are paler. Lower parts nearly as dark as upper ; 

 feet dusky. Tail the same colour as the body. Underfur brownish 

 grey, darker near the body, the longer hairs of the back with 

 alternating rings of pale brownish yellow and dark brown, three 

 or four of each, the basal aiKl terminal rings pale. Claws brown. 



Dimensions. Head and body 164 inches, tail 12;j. The skull 

 measures 2*7 inches in basal length, and l'45in zygomatic breadth. 



Dlstrihution. Peculiar to Ceylon. Kelaart's specimens were from 

 the hill-region to the south ; Gray's type was said to be from 

 Jaffna, but had evidently been kept in conlinement. 



Kelaart's two names /«Zt'<?S('<=;»s ii.\i(\. jlavidens were published in 

 a paper read before the Asiatic Society of Bengal, March 5th, 

 1851 (J. A. 8. B. XX, p. 287). The former occurs first, and is in 

 every way preferable. Gray's name maceartlda> was given in a 

 paper read before the Zoological Society of London, May 18, 1851. 

 It is clear that Xelaart's name is th.e earlier. Gray at first referred 

 the species to Cynictis, a South-African genus of Herpestiucc with 

 but four toes on each hind foot, and subsequently made //. maccartli'uc 

 into a special genus Onif<ho(/ale, apparently on account of its long 

 fore claws, a character \\hich, as Anderson has pointed out, was 

 entirely due to the type having been kept in confinement. 



Some skins are paler and more rufous than others, and one in 

 the British Museum is pale sandy. The normal colour is very 

 similar to that of H. jav aniens, A\hich may be distinguished by its 

 shorter tail. //. /«?(v«f('»,s is closely allied to H. fnscus, w liich it 

 appears to represent in Ceylon, and froni which it is chiefly 

 distinguished by its much smaller size. 



64. Herpestes vitticollis. The stiipe-neclced Munc/oose. 



Ilerpestes vitticollis, llenitett, P. Z. S. 18;3o, p. 07; Kehtari, Prod. 



p. 42 ; Jerdon, Mam p. 187; Anderson, An. Zool, lies. p. 188, 



pi. ix, figs. 3,4 (skull). 

 Mangusta vitticollis, 7sV//o<, Mad. Jour. L. S. x, p. 103, with coloured 



plate. 



Loko-mu(jatea, Cingalese. 



This is the laigest species found in Asia. Tail, including the 

 long hair at the end, about three quarters the length of the Iiead 

 and body, without the terminal hair about three fifths. The fur long 

 and harsh, that on the tail longest. Sole of the hind foot naked to 

 the heel. 



In the skull the bony palate runs far back, considerably more 

 than half the distance bt^ween the ])osterior up]ier molars and the 



