HEEPESTES. 185 



tail. The tail without its terminal hair is 13*25 inches, and with it 2*25 inches 

 longer. 



The coloration is dark, as in Serpestes brachyurus of Malacca, hut the fur is 

 much longer and resemhles that of H. palUdus, to which it is much more closely 

 allied. The under pile is thick, and the long hairs have their tips all hlack, pre- 

 ceded hy a narrow yellow hand, followed hy three, hroad, hlack hands separated from 

 each other hy two, narrow, yellow hands, the hase of the hair heing yellow. The 

 narrow character of the yellow hands is the cause of the dark colour of the fur, 

 which is markedly speckled. The yellow hands are hroader on the tail, and there 

 are seven hrown hands, including the narrow apical ring, and six yellow hands, the 

 hase of the hair heing yellow. The hairs on the head are very short and the annu- 

 lation very fine. The upper surface of the fore feet is darker than the rest of the 

 hody, and the hair is scarcely annulated, while on the hind feet it is wholly dark- 

 hrown. The claws on the fore feet are elongated and curved, — douhtless the result 

 of confinement, — while the hind claws are short and strong. The upper two-thirds 

 of the tarsus are clad. The under surface of the throat is rufous-yellow, very 

 faintly speckled, hut the hairs of the chest and helly are nearly as much annulated 

 as on the upper parts, and they are more rufous. The hairs on the sides are I'SO 

 inch in length, while on the hase of the tail they are 3 "25 inches long. The tail 

 is concolorous throughout, and like the hody, and is of the same character as in 

 S, pallidus. 



The skull is an enlarged representation of H. palUdus, and the orhit is 

 douhtless perfect in the adult, as the two processes are closely opposed in this skull 

 and touching, although the sutm^es are not entirely ohHterated ; the frontal, squamo- 

 malar, maxillo-frontal, and nasal sutures heing more or less intact, whereas all the 

 others have disappeared. The nasal portion of the palate is rather short and hroad. 

 There is a small cusp at the anterior horder of the second and third premolars, hut 

 the tendency to form such a cusp is evinced hy other species of the group, hut to a 

 much less extent. The last lower molar has three permanent, anterior cusps, hehind 

 which is the posterior half of the tooth. The skull conforms more to S. palUdus, 

 Wagner, than to S. vitticoUis, Bennett, and S. brachyurus, Gray, and it is closely 

 allied to S. jerdonii, Gray. 



This species inhahits Southern India and Ceylon. 



Herpestes javanicus, Geoffroy. 



Ichneumon javanicjis, Geo^.Descni^t. de V 'Egj^te,lSlS, Hist. Nat. vol. ii. p. 138, No. 5; Des- 



marest, Nouv. Diet, d^ Hist. Nat. 1818, vol. xix. p. 214. 

 Ichneiimon ruber, GeoE.DescYi^t. de F Egypte, 1813, Hist. Nat. vol. ii. p. 139, No. 6; Desm, 



Nouv. Diet. 1818, vol. xix. p. 215; Mamm. 1820, p. 213 ; Desmoulins, Diet. Class, vol. iv. 



p. 179. 

 Herpestes javanicus, Desm. Mamm. 1820, p. 212; Miiller, Over, de Zool. van den Ind. Arch. 1839, 



p. 28; Wagner, Sehreber, Saugeth. Suppl. 1841, vol. ii. p. 309, pi. llQc; Schinz, Syn. Mamm. 



vol. ii. (1844), p. 372; Cantor, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xv. 1846, p. 241; Gray, Voy. of 



