1864. | DR. J. Ey GRAY ON THE VIVERRID. 549 
2. HERPESTES CAFFER. i B.M. 
Like the preceding, but darker ; under fur shorter, red; end of 
tail with a long, black, flaccid pencil. 
Herpestes caffer, Licht. Verz. der Saugeth. 1835 ; Wagner, Gel. 
Anz. ix.; Gray, Cat. Mamm. B. M. 51; Gerrard, Cat. Ost. B. M. 
73; Schinz, Syn. Mamm. i. 368; A. Smith, 8. A. Q. J. 50. 
Viverra caffra, Gmelin, S. N. 
Ichneumon pharaonis, Verreaux. 
Hab. S. Africa, on plains away from the sea; Natal (Kraus). 
The skull of H. caffer is elongate, larger and longer than that of 
the adult H. ichnewmon, and is more convex on the forehead and 
behind the orbit. The front of the brain-case is contracted some 
distance behind the back edge of the orbit, while in H. ichneumon 
this contraction is just over that part. The zygomatic arch is very 
long, much longer than in H. ichneumon, and not so arched out as it 
is in the latter species. Like as the two species are externally, they 
are very distinct in the form of their skulls. The teeth of the 
two species are very: similar ; but the teeth of H. caffer are consider- 
ably longer, stronger, and rather wider proportionately, especially 
the tubercular teeth. 
Length of skull 4 inches; width at zygomatic arch 2} inches, of 
middle of brain-case 12 inch. 
Lower jaw very shelving in front, with a prominence on the lower 
edge under the end of the tooth-line ; false grinders 4/4; tubercular 
moderate, oblong, with two anterior lateral and one larger posterior 
prominence. 
The great difference between the skulls of these two species, which 
are so like externally, should act as a caution to naturalists, who 
complain so frequently that species are often separated on too slight 
external characters. Temminck, for example, would unite H. ich- 
neumon, H. caffer, and H. widdringtonii as one species, and at most 
only as “‘ permanent local varieties,’’ whatever those may be. 
3. HERPESTES DORSALIS. 
Ichneumon pharaonis, var., A. Smith, 8. A. Q. J. 49. 
** Back with a narrow, moderately distinct, golden-yellow stripe 
from nose to tip of tail, and another on each side of the face, which 
diverges from the front, passes over the eyes, aud terminates on the 
side of the head. 
“ Hab. South Africa. 
‘Length: head and body 18 inches ; tail 15 inches (not adult).’’ 
4. HERPESTES WIDDRINGTONII. B.M. 
Like H. pharaonis; but fur shorter, under fur more abundant 
and longer, giving the animal a reddish tint ; tail pencilled, distinct, 
but shorter: 
Herpestes widdringtonii, Gray, Ann. Nat. Hist. ix. 49, 1842; Cat. 
Mamm. B.M. 51; Gerrard, Cat. Ost. B. M. 73; Schinz, Syn. 
Mamm. i. 375. 
Hab. South of Europe: Sierra Morena (Widdrington). 
