1885.] GENUS PARADOXURUS. 799 



p. 66) as ash-coloured (one pale ash, the other Jlavescenti-einereus), 

 with three dark dorsal bands and spots on the sides ; and it is not 

 clear what the supposed specific distinctions were. The type is in 

 the British Museum, and presents no peculiarity. 



P. pallasii was founded on a skin now in the British Museum, 

 and showing the whitish frontal band distinctly, but in other cha- 

 ractei'S approximating to P. niger, there being no stripes on the 

 back, where the fur has long black tips. There is no skull, so the 

 characters of the teeth cannot be examined. The figure in Gray 

 and Hardwicke's Illustrations, if taken from this specimen, is very 

 incorrectly coloured, the markings being much exaggerated. The 

 circumstance that Gray (P. Z. S. 1861, p. 136) identified two 

 Cambodian skins with P. pallasii is in favour of the name being 

 considered a synonym of P. henncqjhrodttus. 



The type of P. crossii was a specimen kept in confinement; the 

 characters of the fur are consequently not to be depended upon ; the 

 upper sectorial tooth in the skull figured^ is broader than it 

 usually is even in P. hermaphroditus, and quite unlike that of 

 P. niger. 



P. finlaysonii was founded on "a rough sketch brought by Mr. 

 Finlayson from Siam " ! From the description the animal represented 

 was probably a typical example of P. hermaphroditus. 



"P. quinquelineatus and P. musangoides. Gray, are perhaps only 

 varieties of the young animal of this species (P. fasciatus — mu- 

 sanga)."^ Except that I should substitute a stronger term than 

 " perhaps," I have for once the satisfaction of concurring in Dr. 

 Gray's opinion. Nothing is known of the types of these supposed 

 species. 



Of P. nubicB I hope to obtain further information. There is 

 nothing in the figure or description to show that the animal differs 

 from P. hermaphroditus ; but the locality was given as Nubia ap- 

 parently on trustworthy evidence, the animal having been brought 

 alive to Paris by a Mr. Burton of Bordeaux. Wagner's name P. 

 felinus was, as already remarked, merely substituted for hermaphro- 

 ditus. 



Of Gray's Paradoxurus nigrifrons, the description of which only 

 appeared in 1864, its author admits that the skull is very much like 

 that of P. cro«5n^, and on the next page that " the nature and colour 

 of the fur" are very similar in both ; but P. nigrifrons "is rather 

 darker in every part, and the crown and cheeks are reddish black, 

 being in P. crossii grey or whitish." Both specimens, it should be 

 remembered, had been kept in confinement. 



Hombron and Jacquinot described P. setosus from a young speci- 

 men obtained at the island of Ceram. The skull is figured, and 

 shows the milk-teeth. There is nothing in the description or figure 

 to justify the separation of the form. 



The type of P. strictus, Hodgson, is a skin with short fur ; the 

 dorsal stripes and rows of spots are unusually distinct and numerous. 



' P. Z. S. 1864, p. 535. = P. Z. S. 1864, p. 537. 



» P. Z. S. 1864, p. 534. 



52 



» 



