HERPESTES. 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 hrachyimis of Malacca, but the fur is 

 much longer and resembles that of S. pallidm, to which it is much more closely 

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

 ceded by a narrow yellow band, followed by three, broad, black bands separated from 

 each other by two, narrow, yellow bands, the base of the hair being yellow. The 

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

 which is markedly speckled. The yeUow bands are broader on the tail, and there 

 are seven brown bands, including the narrow apical ring, and six yellow bands, the 

 base of the hair being 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 

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

 brown. The claws on the fore feet are elongated and curved, — doubtless 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, but the hairs of the chest and belly are nearly as much annulated 

 as on the upper parts, and they are more rufous. The hairs on the sides are 1"50 

 inch in length, while on the base of the taU they are 3 '25 inches long. The tail 

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

 S. pallidus. 



The skull is an enlarged representation of S. pallidus, and the orbit is 

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

 and touching, although the sutures are not entirely obliterated ; the frontal, squamo- 

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

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

 There is a small cusp at the anterior border of the second and tlurd premolars, but 

 the tendency to form such a cusp is eviuced by other species of the group, but to a 

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

 which is the posterior half of the tooth. The skull conforms more to H. pallidus, 

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

 allied to S. jerdonii. Gray. 



This species iahabits Southern India and Ceylon. 



Herpestes javanicus, Geoffrey. 



Ic/meumon, javanicus, GeoR. DescYiTpi. de V 'Egjiite, 1^13, Hist. Nat. vol. ii. p. 138, No. 5; Des- 



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

 IcAnetimon ruder, GeoS-.Tyescvvpt. de 1' Egypte, 1813, Hist. Nat. vol. ii. p. 139, No. 6; Desm. 



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



p. 179. 

 Her^estes 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. 116c; Schinz, Syn. Mamm, 



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



z 



