132 TTTEEEIir^. 



retractile claws ; tail long, thick at the base ; hairs long, rigid, often 

 ringed with distinct colors. 



The Ichneumons or Mungooses, as they are named in India, hare a 

 sharp muzzle, small eyes, short limbs, the hinder ones semi-plantigrade, 

 and the toes connected by a membrane. The female has only four mam- 

 mse. The tongue is rough with homy papillae. Some of the species are 

 stated to have a yoluminous simple anal pouch, which does not contain 

 odoriferous matter, and at the bottom of which the vent is pierced. 

 Hodgson states, " that both Nepal species of Herpestes have a congeries of 

 small glands surrounding the caudal margin of the anus like a ring, and 

 secreting a thick musky substance, which is slowly protuded in strings 

 like vermicelli, through numerous scattered minute pores ; and one species 

 (nyula) has also on either side the rectum two large and hollow glands 

 of similar structure, but with a thinner secretion, each of which has a 

 larger and very palpable pore." 



The mungooses" are very active in their habits, bold and sanguinary in 

 disposition. They are partly fossoiial, and in the hot tropical coimtries 

 of the old continent appear to take the place of the weasels of colder 

 regions. 



The bony orbit is often closed by a ring posteriorly, which however is 

 not perpetual, and in some appears to depend on advanced age. 



This genus is numerously represented in the Indian peninsula, and 

 extends to Africa. 



127. Herpestes griseus. 



Geoferot. — Bltth, Cat. 164. — E. palUdus, Schinz. — Maru/usta mun- 

 gos apud Elliot, Cat. 21. — Mangus, H. and Mahr. in Southern In- 

 dia. — Newal, Newara, in Northern and Central India ; sometimes called 

 Nyul. — Mungli, Can. — Yentmva, Tel. — Eoral of Gonds. 



The Madras Mdngoos. 



Bescr. — Tawny yellowish-gray, the hairs ringed with rufous and yel- 

 lowish, the general result being an iron gray tinge, with less of the yellow 

 tint than in the next species from Northern India, which it otherwise much 

 resembles in size and form, whilst in the character of its fur it is more 

 like n. nipalensis. The muzzle is concolorous with the body, as is the 

 tail, which is not tipped with black, and is nearly equal in length to the 

 body. 



