So. 
oa 
MR. 0. THOMAS ON THE [Jan. 3, 
2. HERPESTES CAFFER. 
Viverra cafra, Gmel. Linn. 8. N. i. p. 85 (1789). 
HI, griseus, Smuts, Enum. Mamm. Cap. p. 19 (nec Desm.) (1832). 
H. madagascariensis, Smith, S.Afr. Quart. Journ. li. p. 114 
(1835). 
? Herpestes bennettii, Gray, Loudon’s Mag. N. H. i. p. 578 
(1837). 
Hab. Africa south of the Sahara. 
Somewhat larger than H. ichneumon, about 23 inches. Colours as 
in that species, with the following exceptions :—The annulations on 
the longer hairs are somewhat narrower, and consist of deep shining 
black and pure white rings, instead of brown or yellow ones, thus 
causing the general colour to be a much clearer grey ; and the under- 
fur is dark and dull (not bright) rufous, and sometimes simply dark 
grey-brown. Underside of hind feet always naked. Skull, compared 
with that of H. ichnewmon, longer and narrower, the breadth always 
less than half the length (46 to 48 per cent.). Teeth and other 
characters as in H. ichneumon. 
Dimensions. 
Head 
and body. ‘Tail. Hind foot. 
a. Kingwilliamstown (Zrevelyan) .. 22:0 18-0 3°7 
BS IS: SAGTICNS oc ieee ob otsteee nies ab 23°0 19:0 3°9 
C. sg UPA Seem Te Bh aS Be e0Ox art: 23°0 19:0 4-0) 
d. Oe eee ree ee ee aoeermesent sedan 43 iO) 19:0 4:0 
of the muzzle, a dimension not satisfactorily shown by merely taking the ‘“palate- 
length,” because the amount to which the bony palate extends behind the molars 
varies considerably, both between different individuals and different species. 
With regard to the “ basicranial axis,” I haye been compelled, with some hesi- 
tation, to use a different measurement from that given by Prof. Huxley, because, 
first, his anterior point, easy enough to take in a bisected skull, cannot be found 
with any exactitude in a whole one; and, secondly, in many genera of Carnivora, 
for instance in the group at present under discussion, this spot as defined by him 
for a non-bisected skull (“a point opposite the middle of the distance between 
the optic and ethmoidal foramina ”) falls considerably inside the posterior nares, 
and does not by any means “lie a little behind the posterior extremity of the 
vomer,” as it does in the Dogs. The axis I propose, however, is easily measured 
in all states of the skull; and a similar and corresponding axis may be readily 
obtained, not only in all the different genera of Carnivora, but also throughout 
almost the whole of the Mammalian class. I have, for example, long used 
this same axis in my notes on Rodents’ skulls, where it is always very readily 
observable, 
This axis, moreover, equally shows, in a horizontal line, what Prof. Huxley's 
axis shows in an oblique one, namely the combined lengths of the basioccipital, 
basisphenoid, and presphenoid bones, which, according to that author, “repre- 
sent the foundation around and upon which the other parts are built.” 
The measurements throughout are in English inches and tenths, except in the 
case of the tables of dimensions of teeth, where, a very small unit being required, 
they are given in millimetres, 
