188 CAENIVORA. 



Length from tip of muzzle to root of tail 17"50. Length of tail without hair 

 7 inches, but Cantor records a male 18 "50 inches long, and with the tail 9 inches, and 

 he states that S. brachytirus is distinguished from the other species not only by its 

 colour and comparatively short tail, but by its larger size and much more robust 

 make. 



The skull figured by Dr. Gray is that of an immature animal, with the orbit 

 incomplete and all the sutures of the skull intact, which, however, is not shown in 

 the figure, although they exist in the specimen which it represents. The posterior por- 

 tion of the palate is broad and short, the breadth nearly equalling that of S. urva, to 

 which the skull has so strong a resemblance that it might be taken for that species, 

 so that there are no skull characters which would entitle us to separate the spe- 

 cies genericaUy. The last lower molar is quadricuspidate. This species has been 

 recorded from Borneo and Malacca. 



Herpestes vitticollis, Bennett. Plate IX, figs. 3 & 4. 



llerpestes vitticoUis, Bennett, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 67; Scliinz, Syn. Mamm. vol. i. (184i4)^ 

 p. 374; Wagner, Schreber, Saugeth. Suppl. vol. ii. (1841), p. 317; Fraser, Zool. Typica, 1849, 

 pi. viii. ; Kelaart, Prod. Faun. Zeylan. 1852, p. 42; Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1852, p. 349; 

 Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. Mus. Bengal, 1863, p. 159; Giebel, Saugeth. vol. ii. 1859, p. 316; 

 Jerdon, Mamm. of Ind. 1867, p. 137. 



Mungos vitticoUis, Ogilby, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1835, p. 103. 



Maiujihda vitticoUis, Elliot, Madr. Joum. Lit. and Sc. vol. s. 1839, p. 103, pi. ii. ; DeBlainv. Osteogr. 

 p. 48, pi. xcvi. 



TcBiiioffale vitticoUis, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1864, p. 569; Cat. Carniv. Mamm. p. 167. 



The most striking characters of this large species are the black band behind 

 the ear, the dark-brown, unspeckled limbs, the fiery red and long hair on the hind 

 quarters and tail, and the black tip to the latter. In these respects it differs from 

 every other Asiatic Mungoose. The head is pm-phsh-brown, darkest on the forehead 

 and vertex, which have a rufous tint, and paler on the sides of the head, which tend 

 to greyish, aU the head and its sides being finely speckled with yellow from the 

 banding of the hair. The general colour of the front part of the animal may be 

 described as a reddish-yellow, much grizzled with brown, the former colour passing 

 into intense, almost fiery, orange-red on the remainder of the body, but obscurely 

 grizzled. The black band beliind the ears runs along the sides of the neck to the 

 shoulders, and below it there is a patch of orange-yellow extending round its 

 posterior end, and over the shoulder is a kind of collar, but not very distinct. The 

 chin and tlu'oat are the same colour as the sides of the face, but less grizzled ; and 

 the under surface of the neck and chest and over the humerus are vinous brown- 

 yellow and punctulated. The belly is nearly concolorous with the orange-yellow 

 sides, but it is not abruptly defined from the colour of the chest, as the yellow bands 

 from before backwards gradually increase in size, until, on the abdomen, they almost 

 completely replace the brown of the hairs. The basal pile is sparse, and it is a rich, 

 pale yellowish-brown. The hairs on the sides have long, orange-red tips nearly one- 



