1907.] MAMMALS FROM LIBEEIA. 1041 



G. servalina Pucli. * from the Gaboon and G. victoria} Tlios. t 

 from Entebbe, will also prove, I suspect, to belong to the same 

 category of species as G. jMensis. In G. servalina, however, the 

 linear arrangement of the spots seen in G. poensis is not 

 apparent and the tail is differently banded. G. victorice, also 

 difiers in the annulation of the tail, its paler under side and other 

 characters. G. victorice is placed by Matschie + in the section 

 of species with long-haired tg.ils. The hairs of the tail, however, 

 are not long in the sense that those of G. genetta, G.felina, and 

 O. dongolana are long. 



Genetta johnstoni, sp. n. (Plate LIY. figg. 1, 2.) 



This species, which is dedicated to Sir Harry Johnston, who 

 has interested himself in the fauna of Liberia, may be briefly 

 diagnosed as a Genet with the tail short-haired and ornamented 

 with eight black rings, which are longer, especially distally, than 

 the pale rings ; with a black spinal stripe and with the reddish 

 spots on the sides rather small, close-set and forming dorsally 

 very distinct longitudinal lines sej)arated by narrow intervening- 

 spaces ; and with the limbs for the most part dark-coloured. 



Hair on body short and thick, about 20 mm. long, but fre- 

 quently longer on the lumbar region of the spine, where it 

 ranges from about 20 mm. to 30 mm., forming in the latter case 

 a sort of crest. On the tail, especially at the root, the hair is 

 short and thick, almost woolly, and about 22 mm. in length. 

 Ground-colour varying from a rather rich golden or ochre-yellow 

 to a paler, almost sandy or greyish yellow, fading to a still 

 pa,ler yellowish or whitish-grey tint on the under side, the belly 

 and groin being lighter than the chest and throat. From 

 behind the shoulder to the root of the tail there extends a 

 spinal stripe which is always black and varies in width from 

 about 15 to 19 mm. On each side of this there are from five 

 to six rows of spots, the three uppermost rows being well defined 

 and the one or two inferior rows, consisting of smaller spots, 

 m.ore scattered, more widely spaced and showing less regular 

 linear arrangement. The spots of the two uppermost rows 

 coalesce wholly or mostly into definite longitudinal stripes, in 

 which the number of spots cannot be ascertained with certainty ; 

 there appear, however, to be about twelve from behind the 

 shoulders to the root of the tail ; the spots of the third line are 

 less coalesced than those of the two superjacent lines. The two 

 uppermost rows are about as wide as the spinal stripe and aro 

 always wider than the intervening pale sjDaces, sometimes more 

 than twice as wide. They always differ from the spinal stripe in 

 colour, since they consist of black and i-ed hairs intermixed, the 

 red hairs being rather more in evidence in the centres than at 



* Rev. Mag. Zool. 1855, p. 154, and Arch. Mus. x. p. 115, pi. x., 1858. 



t P. Z. S. 1901, p. 87, pi. V. 



X Verb. Internat. Zool. Congr. Berlin, 1901, p. 1138. 



