HEEPESTES. 181 



Herpestes pallidus, Wagner. Plate YIII, figs. 9 & 10.* 



Mangouste de Malacca, P. Cuv. Hist. Nat. des Mammif. Tome P. Livr. v^ Avril 1819. 



? Ichneumon griseus, Geoff. Deseript. de TEgypte Hist. Nat. vol. ii. (1813), p. 188. 



Herpestes griseus, Desm. Mamm. 1820, p. 212 ; Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1831, p. 102; Ogilby, 



Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1835, p. 101 ; Cantor, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1846, p. 242 ; Gray, Voy. 



Samarang- Zool. 1850, p. 15 ; Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1864, p. 553, et Cat. Carniv. Mamm. 



B. M. 1869, p. 151; Horsf. Cat. Mamm. E. Ind. Co.'s Mus. 1851, p. 90; Kelaart, Prod. 



Faun. Zey. 1852, p. 41; BlytH, Jom-n. As. Soc. Beng. 1852, p. 349; Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. 



Mus. 1863, p. 51 ; Jerdon, Mamm. of Ind. 1867, p. 152 ; Stoliczka, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 



1872, p. 682; Blanford, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1874, p. 662. 

 Herpestes frederici, Desm. Diet. Sc. Nat. 1823, vol. xxix. p. 60. 

 Mangusta malaccensis, Fischer, Syn. Mamm. 1829, p. 164. 

 Mangusta grisea, Fischer, Syn. Mamm. 1829, p. 164. 

 Herpestes nyula, Hodgson, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. v. (April 1836), p. 236 ; Calcutta, Journ. Nat. 



Hist. 1844, vol. iv. p. 287; Gray, List, Mamm. Brit. Mus. 1843, p. 52; Cat. Mamm. Nepal 



and Tibet, Brit. Mus. 1846, p. 8; Horsfield, Cat. Mamm. E. Ind. Co. Mus. 1851, p. 92. 

 Mangusta mungos (et Caffra?), Elliot, Madras Journ. Lit. and Sc. 1839, vol. x. p. 102. 

 Herpestes pallidus, y( signer, Schreber, Saugeth. Suppl. vol. ii. 1841, p. 311, pi. cxvi. G; Schinz, 



Syn. Mamm. 1844, vol. i. p. 373. 

 Herpestes malaccensis, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xxi. 1852, p. 349 (in part) ; Cat. Mamm. As. 



Soc. Mus. 1863, p. 51 (in part) ; Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1864, p. 555 ; Cat. Carniv. 



Mamm. Brit. Mus. 1869, p. 153. 

 Calogale nyula. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1864, p. 560, et Cat. Carniv. Mamm. B. M. 1869, 



p. 158. 

 Herpestes fimbriatus , Temm. Esquisses Zool. 1853, p. 112. 



A careful consideration of the types of 5". nyula in London, leads to the conclu- 

 sion that they are only young examples of K. pallidus, Wagner ; and the series of 

 jff. pallidus in the British Museum and in the India Museum, London, as also in 

 the Indian Museum, Calcutta, prove that the species is the subject of considerable 

 variation in colour and in the character of the banding of the hair. The fur of the 

 young has seemingly finer and more numerous annuli than in the adult, and this 

 appears to hold true of the other Asiatic Kerpestes, whereas the difference of colour 

 manifested by this species may be due to seasonal changes which may present sub- 

 ordinate modifications distinctive of the two sexes. But, moreover, the colour of the 

 fur of the animal is also influenced by the surroundings among which it lives, because 

 this is undoubtedly the case with H. auropunctatus, which is rich olive-brown in 

 Nepal ; pale, almost yellow-white, about Agra ; and dark olive-brown in Cachar and 

 Upper Burma. 



In this species, the hair is rather harsh and much longer on the hind quarters 

 than on the anterior portion of the body, and in its loose, open character, it is very 

 different from the soft, adpressed hair of S. auropunctatus. On the hind quarters, 

 in the adult, it is 2-50 inches long, and on the root of the tail 3 inches, slightly 

 diminishing in length towards the tip, which is in no way tufted, and on which the 

 hair is 2'50 inches long. The silky pile is brownish towards its base and yellowish 



* On the plate the skull of this species is figured under the name H. griseus. 



