HEEPESTES. 



175 



Tlie types of this species are in the British Museum, and are two in number, but 

 besides these I have had the opportunity to examine two other examples which 

 were kindly submitted to me for investigation by Dr. Day ; and Mr. Moore of the 

 India Museum has shown me Blyth's type of H. pallipes. 



It is so closely allied to JS, auropunctatus that some of Hodgson's examples of 

 that species are scarcely separable from it, the only appreciable external difference 

 being that the under-surface is not quite so white in H. auropunctatus, which has 

 always a shght yellowish tinge on these parts. Otherwise, the fur of the two so- 

 called species is identical, and their form similar. I observe also that a specimen of 

 S. auropunctatus shot by me in the neighbourhood of Calcutta in the month of 

 January, and which is very pale compared with other examples from the same local- 

 ity, so closely resembles JS. persicus in its fur and general appearance that I would 

 have hesitated to indicate S. persicus as a sub-species had not the skulls of the two 

 types differed from the skuUs of S. auropunctatus in being less elongated, with 

 shorter and broader muzzles, wider palates and broader frontal areas between the 

 orbits. The circumstance that the pale-coloured specimen from Calcutta was shot 

 in the cold weather should not be lost sight of when we remember that these 

 Mungooses are the southern representatives of the ferrets. Such an isolated instance 

 does not prove that JSerpestes auropunctatus is subjected to seasonal changes of fur, 

 but such a possibility should not be disregarded in studying these animals where 

 there are any extremes of climate, such as are found in Bengal, and it is also note- 

 worthy that the examples of so-called S. persicus have all been obtained in winter. 



In S. persicus, the fur is annulated in the same way as in S. auropunctatus, i. e., 

 there are five to six alternate, dark brown and yellow bands, the apical being of the 

 former, and the basal ring of the latter colour. In the tail, there are generally 

 eight alternate bands with the apical ring dark brown. The hair, as in the pale-yellow 

 examples of S. auropunctatus, is much adpressed and rather harsh. On the flanks 

 the hair is 0-75 long, and on the base of the tail 1-05. The under parts are pale 

 greyish- white. The tarsus has the fur distributed as it is in S. auropunctatus, 

 and the lower last molar is the same as in that species. The dimensions of S. persi- 

 cus and H, auropunctatus are very similar, as the following measurements show : — 



Lengtli of body and head 

 „ of tail 

 „ „ with hair 



s. 



12-60 



9-30 



10-90 



11-0 

 8-75 

 10-25 



jff, auropunctatus. 



12-70 



8-501 



10-25 



12-0 



8-401 

 1010 



No. 1 is one of Hodgson's types of jff. auropunctatus, and it agrees remarkably 

 with S. persicus in the character of its fur ; and No. 2 is an example slightly darker 

 than the preceding one, and approaching to a Nepal specimen. 



This species is the western representative of S. auropunctatus and extends 

 to Persia. 



1 Caudal vertebrae removed, and skin, therefore, somewhat shrivelled. 



