332 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



The Sheikh Saad specimen is shorter in the tail than that from Koweit. 

 It was shot in low scrub on the River bank below Sheikh Saad. As this, cat 

 appears as a rare straggler within the range of the preceding species, 

 F. chaus, with which it might in the field be confused, the chief differences 

 may be emphasized as follows. The tail in typical F. chaus reaches little 

 more than half the length of the outstretched hindlegs, in all the F. ocreata 

 group the tail extends two to five inches beyond them. The ear of F. chaus 

 is deep reddish with a darker patch in the centre and a tuft of long hairs 

 at the tip, in F. ocreata the ear is paler, self-coloured, and without the tuft. 

 The hair on the body of F. ocreata is distinctly softer. The most marked 

 difi"erence however lies in the skull, which in F. clmus is almost twice the 

 size of that of the F. ocreata group, with far larger carnassial teeth. 



The European wild-cat, Felis sylvestris, extends to Asia Minor and will 

 probably be represented in N. Persia, but is not likely to be found on the 

 Mesopotamian plains. 



15. Hbrpfstes pebsicus, Gray. 



1864. Herpestes persicus, Gray, P. Z. S., p. 554. 



Persian Mungoose. Arabic Jeraydee ma'l Nakhala, or 'Abu 

 al arrais ' 



! $ Amara Connor, 25-8-16. 



2 c? „ Buxton, 21-12-17 & 1-12-17. 



1 „ „ 25-2-18 1918. 



1? Busra Shortridge, 12-1-17. 



1 Baghdad Ingoldby Dec. 17. 



1 Busra Connor, no date M 22 in al. 



1 Busra Wall „ „ M 23 



1 „ Christy June 1918 in al. 



This is the common mongoose of the Tigris, at least from Fao to Baghdad. 

 The Arab children tame them easily and sell them as pets for a few annas. 

 Connor remarks that his female from Amara had full grown young follow- 

 ing her in August. The first Arabic name, literally, rat of the palm-tree, 

 is misleading, and some men have seriously informed me that they live on 

 dates. But the Arab is not accurate in his observations and seeing a mon- 

 goose in a palm tree probably led to this belief. 



The type locality is Mohammerah and its range is given from there to 

 Kuzistan. No specimen of a larger mongoose has been so far obtained, but 

 in May 28, 1917, I chased but failed to secure, a large mongoose beyond 

 the oil fields at Maidan-i-Naptun. This might have been an Indian species 

 or even the Egyptian, M. ichneumon, which Kinnear points out may reach 

 the country west of the Tigris. 



16. Hyaena hy^na, L. 



1766. Canis hycena, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. 1., p. 58. 



The Striped Hyaena. Arabic Dhab'a. 



1 Ur of the Chaldees. Patiala Lancers. 



Lt.-Col. Cox, 1/4 Som. L.I., told me he had seen a hyaena in the desert 

 outside Makina near Busra in 1916, and chased it for some distance on a 

 horse. Ludlow tells me that 4 miles N. of Feluja on the left bank of 

 the Euphrates he rode and chased a hyaena to ground. The earth was 

 m the side of a mound, self dug, with more than one entrance. Outside 

 there was a large larder of Camel and donkey bones. 



These, the only records I have of the hyaena are from the Euphrates. 



