138 tiveeriNjE. 



134. Urva cancrivora. 



HoDasoN. — Blyth, Cat. 158. — Ghdo urva, Hodgson (olim). — Fiverra 

 fiisca, Gbay, apud Haedwickb, 111. Ind. Zool. 1, pi. 5. — Osmetictis 

 fusca, Geay, Mag. Nat. Hist. 



The Crab Mdngoos. 



Descr. — General color jackal or fulvous iron-gray ; inner fur woolly ;" 

 outer of long straggling lax tairs, generally ringed with black, wliite and 

 fulvous ; in some the coat has a variegated aspect ; in others an uniform 

 tawny tint prevails, and in a few dark rusty brown mixed with gray is the 

 prevalent hue ; abdomen brown ; Umbs blackish brown ; a white stripe on 

 either side of the neck, from the ear to the shoulder ; tail rufous or brown, 

 with the terminal half rufous. 



Length, head and body, 18 inches; tail 11 ; weight 4 fts. 



This curious animal has been found in the South-east Himalayas, ex- 

 tending into Assam and Arrakan. In its habit it is somewhat aquatic, 

 preferring, it is said by Hodgson, frogs and crabs. It lives in burrows in 

 the valleys of the lower and central regions of Nepal. The drawing of 

 the one figured by Hardwicke was taken from a caged individual at Agra. 

 Colonel Phayre informed Mr. Blyth that it was the only mungoos found 

 in Arrakan. 



Some details of its anatomy were furnished to Mr. Hodgson by Dr. 

 Campbell. It has two glands about the size of a cherry on each side of 

 the anus, which secrete an aqueous fetid humour, which the animal has 

 the power of squirting out with great force. The female has six ventral 

 teats, remote. The bony orbits are incomplete. 



Other genera allied to the mungooses are Galidia and Ichneumonia of 

 Is. Geoffroy, the former from Madagascar. Cynictis, Ogilby, with four 

 toes to each foot, and Ryzcena, lUiger, with the same number, both from 

 South Africa; and Grossarchus, P. Cuvier, from Sierra Leone. 



Bassaris astuta, Lichtenstein, from Mexico, a peculiar digitigrade car- 

 nivorous animal, is placed here by some systematists, and it has some 

 likeness to Paradoxarus, but it belongs to the sub-plantigrade division, 

 none of the Viverrides occurring in the new continent. 



The next group is well marked by anatomical characters as distinct 

 from the other digitigrade camivora. 



Fam. Canidje. The Dog tribe. 



