1882.] AFRICAN MUNGOOSES. 75 



obtained by Dr. Brehm at Algoa Baj-, and now preserved in the 

 Leyden Museum. Temminck, in liis original description, mentions 

 another specimen, from the Gaboon ; but I am told by Dr. Jentink 

 that this is not now in the Leyden ]\Iuseuin. 



The following is a description of the Algoa-Bay specimen : — 

 Fur short and harsli, the hairs on the back barely half an inch 

 long. General colour all over pale giey, the hairs finely grizzled 

 with black and creamy white ; belly like the back, except that the 

 Iiairs have longer pale tips and less black. Tail-hairs rather longer 

 than those on the body, uniformly annulated with black aud white ; 

 no trace of a darker tail-tip. Feet and legs hke the body ; soles 

 naked. 



Dimensions (Algoa Bay). 



Head and body . . 13-0' 



Tail ". 10-2 



Hind foot 1-75 



The skull is so imperfect that the only measurements obtainable 

 are the following, which Dr. Jentink has kindly taken for me : — 



Palate-breadth 074 



Incisors to cross line 083 



This small species bears a certain resemblance to some of the 

 smaller Indian Mungooses, especially //. aia-opimctatus, Hodgs., 

 though it has much shorter fur than that species. It appears to be 

 very rare, as there seem to have been no sj)ecimens recorded in 

 addition to the two mentioned by Temminck, of which, as mentioned 

 above, only one is now in the Leyden Museum. 



I may here mention that an examination of the type of H. micro- 

 cephalus, Temm.-, a species of which the locality was not known, 

 has convinced me that that name must stand as a synonym of H. 

 auropunctatus, the specimen being quite similar to the types of 

 Hodgson's species preserved in the British Museum. 



8. Herpestes (Ichneumia) albicauda. 



H. albicaudus, G. Cuv. Regne Anim. ed. 2, i. p. 158 (1829). 

 *H. leucurus, Ehrenb. Symb. Phys. pi. 12. Decas 2 (1830). 



Ichneumia albescens, T. Geoff. Mag. Zool. 1839, pp. 16 & 35 (de- 

 scription, not figure) (1839). 

 *//. loemjio, Temm. Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 93 (18.53). 



Ichneumia nigricauda, Puch. Rev. et Mag. Zool. vii. p. 394 (1855). 

 iBdeogale nigripes, Puch. t. cit. p. 11 1 (1855). 

 *II.2}luto, Gray, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 552 (nee Temm.) (1864). 



Ichneumia abu-wudan, Fitz. & Heugl. Sitzungsb. Ak. Wien, liv. 

 Abth. 1, p. 561 (1866). 



Hab. East Abyssinia to Natal, and West Africa (Guinea &c.). 

 Size large, form rather slender. Tail bushy, rather shorter than 



' Apparently somewhat stretched. 

 - Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 113 (18.53). 



