236 Synopsis of sundry Species of [ApriI,, 



tail, shorter than the body, snout to rump, 1 1 inches ; tail, 9 or 1 Of with 

 the hair. 



Remarks. In this species, as in the following 1 , the tail is pointed, 

 much attenuated from a thick base, and clad in long lax hair. The 

 naked skin of the lips and soles is fleshy brown : the iris, brownish 

 yellow ; pupil, variable, but usually oblong and subtransverse ; digits, 

 membraned crescentwise to the third phalanges. No anal pouch, but 

 the folds of the skin on the caudal margin of the anus are subdilated 

 and furnished with some scattered glandulous points below the surface, 

 probably subservient merely to the lubrication of the parts. The ani- 

 mal emitting no peculiar odour. 



The intestinal canal is 36 inches long, or more than three times the 

 length of the body, and of equal diameter throughout. The caecum is 

 one inch long, and wide as the gut. The stomach has thickish coats, 

 and is equally broad almost at either end. The molar teeth are brist- 

 led with points almost as in the Insectivora. In the catalogue, this 

 animal is identified with the M. Javanica of Horsfxeld. But in the 

 judgment of very competent persons, it is a distinct species. It differs 

 materially from the common Mungoose of the plains, not only by its 

 smaller size, softer shorter hair, and darker colour, but by a less ver- 

 miform habit of the body and shorter toes, the soles of which, in the 

 hinder extremities, are less extended towards the os calcis. 



Species Nyula, mihi. 



The Nyul of the plains. Habitat, the open Tarai. 



Mungoose. Varied, with mixed rich red brown and hoary yellow, the 

 ears, face, and limbs, redder and less maculate ; the neck and body be- 

 low, pure pale yellow ; hair of the body and tail, long and harsh, with 

 10 to 12 rings of alternate brown and yellow; toes, long, and in the 

 hind extremities, nude to the os calcis ; tail, concolorous with the body 

 above, pointed and equal to the body in length. Snout to rump, 15 

 inches ; tail, the same, or 18 with the terminal hair. 



Remarks. This is the common Mungoose of the Nipalese lowlands, 

 and of North Behar, and which is identified with Cafra vel Grisea in 

 the catalogue, perhaps justly so : I leave it to others to judge. Both 

 of the above species affect the cultivated fields when the crops are 

 standing, and the grass after the crops are down. They live in burrows 

 of their own making ; and the structure of their extremities is fosso- 

 rial, but not typically so ; the nails being suited also to climbing trees, 

 at which the animals are sufficiently expert. 



The males are larger than the females ; and the young darker hued 

 than their parents. The females breed in spring : have four ventral 

 teats, and usually produce three or four young at a birth. The food 



