394 MR. R. I. POCOCK ON A [ Apr. 6, 
The following papers were read :-— 
1. Description of a new Form of Ratel (Mellivora) from 
Sierra Leone, with Notes upon the described African 
Forms of this Genus. By R. I. Pocock, F.L.S., F.Z.S., 
Superintendent of the Gardens. 
[ Received March 9, 1909.] 
(Plate LX.) 
The Society has recently received from Mrs. Bettington a Ratel 
which not only came frem Sierra Leone, a locality whence the 
genus Mellivora has never been previously recorded, but differs 
markedly in coloration from all the examples that I have seen 
alive and equally so from all the skins, with one exception, that 
are contained in the collection of the British Museum. 
I propose to describe it as a new species under the name 
Mellivora signata. 
MELLIVORA SIGNATA, sp. n. (Plate LXT.) 
Forehead and fore part of the nape and sides of the neck quite 
white, the white on the sides extending farther back than on the 
upper surface of the neck. In the angle thus defined upon the 
posterior part of the nape, as well as on the shoulder, the colour is 
jron-grey, being a mixture of wholly black and wholly white 
hairs and of black hairs with a pale subapical annulus, the black 
predominating. Behind the shoulders the prevailing colour of 
the back is black ticked or speckled with yellowish and brownish 
grey. None of the hairs of this region appears to be wholly pale 
as in all other Ratels, except JZ. cottont; but a considerable number 
of them have a narrower or broader pale subapical annulus 
imparting the speckled appearance above described. Over the 
hind-quarters this speckling gradually dies away ; there 1s, indeed, 
a gradual but marked decrease in the amount of speckling from 
the fore part to the hind part of the back, the speckling of the 
fore part blending with the iron-grey hue of the shoulders and 
the latter blending to a certain extent with the white of the head 
and neck, though the angular line of demarcation is very visible. 
Tail all black. Legs, muzzle, and under parts black, as in all 
Ratels. Hairs on the sides of the neck showing a tendency to 
grow forwards and inwards from a whorl on the shoulders, thus 
forming a weak nuchal crest. 
Loc. About 100 miles inland of Sierra Leone. 
It was stated above that, with one exception, this specimen, 
which is not yet adult, differs markedly from all the skins of 
Mellivora in the British Museum. This exception is a piece of 
the skin of the hind-quarters, flat and native-prepared, which 
was brought from West Africa by Winwood Reade, together 
with other material for which no locality was in any case, 
