1.SS5.] GENUS PARADOXURUS. 797 



Dimensions. Nearly the same as those of P. nirjar. Cantor says 

 in the largest specimen he measured the head and body together 

 were 24| inches long. In another the head and body 20|, tail IG|. 

 In a Tenasserim specimen measured by Ticked the head and body 

 measured 20| inches, tail 20|. Horsfield gives 22 and 1 8. All 

 the above measurements were, I believe, made on fresh specimens. 



Distribution. P. hermaphroditus ranges throughout the countries 

 east of the Bay of Bengal — Burma, Siam, Malay peninsula, &c. It 

 is found also in Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and some of the smaller 

 Indo-iMalay islands, extending to Ceram and even the Ke Islands 

 (P. Z. S. 1858, p. 113), but perhaps introduced. In Lower Bengal 

 and at the foot of the Himalayas, in Nepal and Sikhim, some of the 

 Paradoxuri appear to belong to this species, or to be intermediate 

 between it and P. niger. 



Before proceeding to discuss the synonymy it is necessary to deal 

 with the differences between this and the last species. Although 

 the two have been classed apart by a great majority of naturalists, 

 by all in fact except Blyth and Jerdon, it is, I think, quite as much 

 a question of convenience as of facts whether the Indian and Malay 

 types of the common Paradoxarus should be considered species or 

 subspecies, tiiat is geographical races. Both are variable, but the 

 vast majority of specimens are readily distinguished by some or all 

 of the following characters : — • 



1. The back is usually striped in P. hermaphroditus, unstriped in 

 P. niger. 



2. There is generally a distinct grey or whitish transverse frontal 

 band in P. hermaphroditus^ not in P. niger. 



3. The fur in P. niger is usually longer, more ragged, and pro- 

 vided on the upper parts with long black tips, which are wanting 

 in P. hermaphroditus ; in the latter the fur is generally of more 

 even length. 



4. The inner lobe of the upper sectorial tooth is much larger in 

 P. hermaphroditus, so that the breadth of the tooth at right 

 angles to the outer margin is about j^,, the length of that 

 margin, whilst in P. niger the proportion is j^^ \ The inner 

 lobe is, as a rule, not quite at the distal extremity of the tooth 

 in the former, and the inner margin from the inner lobe to the 

 hinder extremitv is straight ; in P. niger the inner lobe is quite 

 at the distal extremity, and the inner margin concave. 



5. The muzzle is shorter in P. hermaphroditus than in P. niger. 



There is, however, variation in all these characters — not one can 

 be said to he constant. So far as I have seen, the shape of the 

 upper sectorial is on the whole the best character, hut even here I can 

 find, in the large collection of skulls in the British Museum, a com- 

 plete or jiearly complete passage from one form to the other. But 

 I believe the difficulty chiefly arises from the circumstance that 

 whereas the animals inhabiting the peninsula of India (from the 

 Himalayas to Cape Comorin) and Ceylon differ but little from each 



* Mean of two measurements of P. hermaphroditus and four of P. niger. 

 Proc. Zool. Soc- 1885, No. LII. 52 



