794 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON THE [NoV. 3, 



peninsula of India and Ceylon. It ranges through all those parts 

 of India that are well wooded, and is found equally about human 

 habitations and in wild forest. 



The question of nomenclature and the distinction between this and 

 the next species will be discussed under the latter. 



Si/nonijmi/. The origin of the names Viveri'a nigra, V. bondar, a.nd 

 ParadoAurus typus has already been mentioned. P. leucopus of 

 Ogilby has been classed as distinct by several writers ; and by Gray 

 (P. Z. S. I8G4, p. 512) it is said to be probably a variety of P. yrayi. 

 The vibrissae are, however, described as black, whilst in P. yrayi 

 they are always white. The species was of peculiar coloration, with 

 a band round the loins, the feet, and the tip of the tail pure white. 

 But pied or piebald specimens are not of infrequent occurrence in 

 the present s])ecies : they are mentioned by Elyth, Jerdon, and 

 Tickell, and as the remainder of Ogilby 's description, and especially 

 the presence of long coarse hairs tipped with black on the head, neck, 

 shoulders, rump, and tail, agree with P. niyer, there can be no 

 hesitation in classing P. leucopus as a partially albino individual of 

 that species. 



P. pennantii was named from a drawing in General Ilardwicke's 

 collection, said to have been taken from an animal found in the 

 Upper Provinces of Bengal, where P. niger is the only species found. 



The figure of Platyschista pallasii resembles P. niyer in color- 

 ation and in the want of any distinct pale frontal band. The back 

 was said to be banded, but the banding represented in the figure is 

 very ill-marked and indefinite. 



The identity of Hodgson's P. hirsulus with P. hondar has been 

 generally accepted. The only difference between the northern race 

 {P. bondar v. hirsutvs) and the southern (P. niyer v. typus = 

 hermaphroditus apud Gray), so far as I can fee, is that the latter is 

 more ashy and blackei', the former browner in colour. The reason 

 why Blyth and Jerdon, to whose opinions I should attach great 

 weight, have classed P. bondar as distinct whilst uniting P. niyer 

 and P .hermaphroditus, was, I believe, that neither of these naturalists 

 had ever seen any of the specimens called P. bondar or P. hirsulus 

 by Gray, Hodgson, and others. Jerdon's description of P. bondar 

 is evidently copied from Hodgson's account of P. hirsutus. 



2. Paradoxurus hermaphroditus. 



? La Genette de France. Buff. Hist. Nat. Supp. iii. p. 237, pi. 47 



(177(5). 



Viverra hermaphrodita,Vh\\. Schreb. Siiugeth. iii. p. 426 (1778); 

 Zimm. Geol. Gesch. ii. p. 285 ; Bodd. Eleuch. An. p. 82 ; Gmel. 

 Syst. Nat. i. p. 90 ; Shaw, Gen. Zool. i. pt. 2, p. 400. 



V. prehensilis, Blainv., Desm. Mam. p. 208(1820) ; nee V. pre- 

 hensilis, Kerr, An. King. p. 169 (1792). 



V. musanga, BafHes, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 252 (1820) ; Uesm. 

 Mam. Suppl. p. 539. 



V. mitsavya, \ar.javanica, Horsfield, Zool. Bes. Java, pi. (1824). 



Paradoxurus typus, /3. sumairanus, Fischer, Syn. Mam. p. 159 

 (1829). 



