92 



MR. O. THOMAS ON THE AFRICAN MTJNGOOSES. [Jan. 3, 



those of Crossarchus. First upper premolar absent, with no dia- 

 stema in its place ; first lower either present or, if absent, there is 

 a distinct diastema. Auditory meatus somewhat prolonged, with 

 the imperfection of the floor well marked, consisting of a line of 

 minute holes, quite different from the large round hole found in this 

 position in Cynictis^. 



1 . SURICATA TETRADACTYLA. 



Viverra suricatta, Erxl. Syst. Regn. An. p. 488 (1777). 



r. tetradactyla, Schreb. Saug. iii. p. 434, tab. cxvii. (1778). 



Mus zenik, Scopoli, Delic. Flor. et Faun. ii. p. 84 (1786). 



Viverra zenik et tetradactyla, Gmel. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 8.5 

 (1789). 



Suricata capensis, Desm. Tabl. Meth. Mamm. (p. 15) in Nouv. 

 Diet. d'Hist. Nat. 1st edit. xxiv. (1804). 



Rhyzcena tetradactyla. 111. Prodr. Syst. Mamm. p. 134 (1811). 



Suricata viverrina, Desm. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. 2nd edit, 

 xxxii. p. 297 (1819). 



Rhyzcena typicus, Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 117 (1835). 



Hub. Cape Colony (Algoa Bay, Cape, &c.). 



Size small ; form slender. Tail about half the length of the head 

 and body together. Fur long and soft. General colour light 

 grizzled grey, with black transverse bands across the posterior part 

 of the back. Longer hairs broadly ringed with black and white, 

 the white on the whole predominating ; the transverse bands formed 

 by the regular arrangement of the hairs, by which the white and black 

 rings come opposite to each other on adjacent hairs. Underfur 

 dark rufous. Head nearly white, except a distinct oblong black 

 mark round the eyes. Ears black. Tail yellowish, with a well- 

 marked black tip. Feet like body. Skull as described above. 

 Dental percentage 70-79. 



This animal is a well-known Cape species : it seems to be confined 



' Prof. Flower, in his paper on the Classification of the Carnivora (P. Z. S. 

 18(59, p. 20), says of this genus : — " Here, and here alone among the Viver- 

 rida;, there is a prolonged auditory meatus ; but it presents the peculiarity 

 of being fissured along the whole extent of the middle of its floor." It should, 

 however, be noted that Crossarchus has a somewhat produced meatus, and that 

 all the genera of this group have constantly a more or less fissured meatus-floor, 

 individual skulls often exceeding Suricata in this respect. 



