MAMMALS OF MESOPOTAMIA. 335 



There seems to be little known regarding the Martens in this reeion 

 although they occur in the highlands of Asia Minor. Major St John re 

 marks "I am told that Marten skins are commonly sold at Ispahan said tc 

 come from the Westward. But whether this means Asia or the forests of 

 the Zagros I cannot say" (Blanford's Eastern Persia, II, p 44) The Zagros 

 is an old name for the Push-ti-koh. He assumes that these skins were 

 Maries abietum, a synonym of Martes maries, the Pine Marten, a species 

 which has a larger amount of white on the throat patch, but rehable identi- 

 fication rests on skull differences. 



Maries foina has a range from central and southern continental Europe to 

 Western Asia, also Afghanistan and the Himalayas. 



21. Mellivora wilsoxi, sp. nov. 



Wilson's Ratel. 



1$ Baksai, Tyb River, Iraq— Persian Frontier. Wilson, May 1914. 



The material representing Mellivora indica in the British Museum is most 

 meagre. On comparing the present specimen with what is available and 

 with the series from Africa, I find that it shows a number of differences 

 from both, which, though not great in themselves, are so constant that tJi- 

 erection for it of a new species seems justified. 



For comparison below I have used a specimen obtained by the Mammal 

 Survey of India from Bengal. The dimensions given in brackets are those 

 of this specimen which unfortunately is a $ . 



Mellivora wilsoni, sp. nov. 



A Mellivora having the mantle extending almost to the tip of the tail, as 

 in indica, but the mantle showing a marked white border along the shoul- 

 ders and flanks as in so many of the African forms. 



Size rather smaller than indica (even allowing for the difference in sex 

 of the two specimens compared) with a rather longjer tail proportionately. 



General colour black with a greyish-white mantle commencing from be- 

 tween the eyes (commencing rather behind the line of the eyes in indica) and 

 extending over the entire back and upper side of the tail almost to its tip ; 

 bordered by a white band, about 20mm. wide, from the ears along the flanks. 

 Tne individual hairs of the mantle are pure white to their bases, rather sparse 

 and about 30 — 3omm. long. Everywhere these overlie a finer, shorter coat 

 of brown hairs (except in the marginal border where they are absent) and 

 these seen through the white hairs give the eSect of grey colour to the 

 mantle. On the marginal border the white hairs are closer set, and longer 

 (40 — 45mm. on flanks), which with the absence of the underfur accounts 

 for the contrast between the margin and the rest of the mantle. The claws 

 are black. 



Dimensions of the type. — Head and body, o9o mm. (705) ; tail, 175, (175) ; 

 hindfoot, 100, (120) ; ear 19, (19 from dry skin). ,SA;mZZ.— Condylobasal length. 

 122, (1 33); palatilar length, 56, (55) ; interorbital breadth, 32, (28); breadth of 

 brain case 58, (62) ; upper tooth row behind the canine, 27, (28) ; length of 

 carnassial, 11. 5, (13). 



Hah. — S. W. Persia, the type from Ram Hormuz, alt. 500. 

 Tiipe.—KAnlt $ B. M. No. 5,10-4-21. Original number 24. Collected 4th 

 April 1905, by Mr. R. B. Woosnam and presented to the National Museum 

 by Col. Bailward. 



The specimen taken by Col. A. T. Wilson near Baksai, some distance 

 further N. W. and sent for identification to the British Museum by the 

 Bombay Natural History Society corresponds closely, in all essential char- 

 acters with the description of M. xvilsoni so far as the absence of the skull 



