HEEPESTES. 189 



third the length of the hair, and these are succeeded by three brown bands alternating 

 with as many yellow bands. The hairs on the flanks are 2-50 inches in length. Many 

 of the caudal hairs have long, rich orange-red tips, equalling nearly one-half their 

 length and followed by about six alternate, brown and orange-yellow bands. Nume- 

 rous other hairs have only a narrow, basal, brown band, the rest of the hair being bril- 

 liant orange-red, and so long that the banding of the other hairs is hidden by it, and 

 the general colour of the tail is orange-red, except for 3-50 inches which are jet 

 black. The hair at the base of the tail is 3' 60 long, but it slightly decreases in 

 length as the tip is reached. The ears are covered with short, fine, reddish-brown 

 hairs, and there is a tuft of annulated hairs at their middle, like the hairs on the side 

 of the face. The front hmbs are dark purphsh-brown, and the front of the hind leg 

 and the tarsus are of the same colour. The claws are moderately developed. The 

 centre line of the tarsus is nude. 



Erom the tip of the muzzle to the root of the tail is 19 inches, and the tail 

 without the hair is 10*50 inches. 



The skull of this species is recognised by its large size and by its flattened and 

 expanded frontal region, also by its projected, rather narrow and long muzzle, and 

 powerful teeth. The skull in the British Museum has lost all trace of the sutures, 

 and the orbit is entire. The nasal portion of the palate is moderately broad, and 

 the nasal border tends to form a notch, as in H. maccartUcE. The sagittal ridge 

 does not form a crest, and the lines from the post-orbital angles of the frontals 

 meet opposite the frontal contraction, which is moderate. The teeth are the same as 

 in other Asiatic Serpestes, only larger, the last molar being proportionally greater 

 than in the other species. 



This form is an inhabitant of Southern India and Ceylon, and is not uncommon. 



Herpestes tjrva, Hodgson. Plate IX, figs. 5 & 6. 



Guio uTva, Hodgson, Joui-n. As. Soc. Beng. vol. v. (1836), p. 238; Cal. Journ. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. 



(1842),p. 45,pL13i,%. 2. 

 Urva cancrivora, Hodg. Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. vi. (1837), p. 560; Gray, List of Mamm. Brit. 



Mus. 1843, p. 50; Cat. Hodg. Coll. Brit. Mus. 1846, p. 8; Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1864, 



p. 568, et Cat. Carniv. Mamm. 1869, p. 166; Blyth, Jom-n. As. Soc. Bengal, 1852, vol. xx. 



p. 349, et Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Mus. p. 49 (1863) ; Horsfield, Cat. Mamm. E. Ind. Co. 



Mus. 1851, p. 93; Giebel, Saugeth. vol. ii. 1859, p. 794; Jerdon, Mamm. of Ind. 1867, p. 139; 



Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1870, p. 630. 

 Vivena fusca, Gray, Hardwicke's 111. Ind. Zool. vol. i. pi. iii. (bad figure not described) . 

 Mesohema cancrivora, Hodgson, Joiu-n. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. x. (1841), p. 910. 

 Osmetictis fusca, Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. x. 1842, p. 260. 



Tliis animal is about the same size as S. mtticollis, which it resembles in the 

 lono", loose character of its fm- which is harsh as in that species, and longest on the 

 hind quarters and on the base of the tail. The tail is rather bushy, somewhat more 

 so than in S. vitticollis. The white band below and behind the ear distinguishes it 

 at once from any other known Herpestes. The fur is described by Hodgson as being 



