MYDAUS MELICEPS. 



the sides of the neck the hairs are lengthened, and have a curved direction upward 

 and backward ; on the top of the head, meeting from before and behind, they form 

 a small transverse crest, and on the abdomen they are thinly disposed, and afford in 

 some parts a view of the naked skin. The colour of the hairs is blackish-brown, more 

 or less intense on every part of the body, except the crown of the head, a streak along 

 the back, and the extremity of the tail. These parts are white, with a slight tint of 

 yellow. The mark on the head has a rhomboidal form, obtuse and rounded anteriorly, 

 but gradually attenuated as it passes to the shoulders, where it unites with the streak 

 on the back : in some individuals this streak is interrupted. On the abdomen the 

 brown is of a lighter hue, inclining to grayish or rufous. The covering is subject to 

 several variations : some of the individuals deposited in the Honourable Company's 

 Museum are grayish-brown, others are deep brown with a sooty tint ; the last colour, 

 as far as my observation extends, is the most common, and has formed the base of the 

 specific character placed at the head of this article. The tail is scarcely half an inch 

 long, but the hairs covering and surrounding it project above an inch from the body. 

 The limbs are short and stout, and the feet agree in structure with those of the allied 

 genera, being formed for the plantigrade manner of walking. The claws are united 

 at the base by a thick membrane, which envelopes this part as a sheath. Those of 

 the fore feet are nearly double the size of those of the hind feet. In place of the 

 pouches and reservoirs of fetid fluids with which several genera of this family are 

 provided, the INIydaus has two glands of an oblong form, about one inch long, and 

 half an inch wide, near the extremity of the rectum : they are placed opposite to 

 each other, and are individually furnished with an excretory duct nearly half an inch 

 long, which communicates with this intestine. In the middle of each duct is a very 

 minute aperture, surrounded by a muscular ring, somewhat swelled, which enables 

 the animal at pleasure to discharge or to retain the fetid fluid secreted by the glands. 

 The ducts enter the rectum about half an inch within the external aperture. The 

 internal surface of these glands is covered with numerous wrinkles disposed trans- 

 versely. The fluid secreted by them is perfectly analagous, in its odour, to that 

 secreted by several species of Mephitis in America, particularly to that of the 

 Mephitis striata of Fischer. Having experienced that of the latter, which is known in 

 most parts of North America by the name of Skunk, I readily recognised it in Java. 



The Teledu is already known to Zoologists. The illustrious Baron Cuvier first 

 noticed it in the Regne Animal as a species of Mephitis, with which genus it agrees 

 as well in the number of its teeth, as in the apparatus for secreting an intolerably 

 fetid fluid. Mr. Desmarest has introduced it into the article ISIammalogie in the 

 Encyclopedic Methodique, with the specific name of Javanensis ; this has also been 

 adopted in the Descriptive Catalogue of a Zoological Collection made by Sir Stamford 

 Kaffles in Sumatra, contained in the XIII* volume of the Transactions of the 

 Linnean Society. Specimens of this animal were brought to France by Mr. Leschenault 



