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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



CARNIVORA. 



Habitat of the Thick-tailed Mungoose (Cynictis penicillata). — 

 According to the ' Royal Natural History ' the Thick-tailed Mungoose 

 inhabits the Cape Colony. Nothing is said about other parts of South 

 Africa. As far as my own personal experience goes, C. penicillata also 

 inhabits both the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. I have often 

 seen and shot the animals on the Free State flats some miles north of 

 Bloemfontein. Some time back I shot two examples of the same species 

 about twenty miles north of Johannesburg, in the Transvaal. They are 

 somewhat difficult to shoot, but, being spurred into a great desire of 

 obtaining one for identification by the statement in the ' Royal Natural 

 History,' I finally managed to shoot the two individuals above mentioned. 

 I have their skins before me now. The one is of a brilliant orange drab 

 on the back, fading into light yellowish grey on the flanks and under parts. 

 The fur is finely speckled owing to the hairs being ringed with alternate 

 black and amber-brown. The tips of the hairs are amber, and the roots 

 white. The other example is of a greyish yellow colour, much lighter 

 than the former. The fore feet of both have five toes, and the hinder ones 

 only four. The tail is bushy, and has a white tip. There can be no doubt 

 as to their identity. The question is, How far north do they extend ? 

 That I cannot say as yet. — Alwin C. Haagner (Dynamite Factory, P. 0. 

 Modderfontein, Transvaal, South Africa). 



[I procured a specimen of the Meer-Kat (Cynictis penicillata) near 

 Pretoria in 1890, and recorded the same in my 'Naturalist in the Trans- 

 vaal,' p. 159 (1892). This specimen I placed in the British Museum, 

 which, Mr. W. E. de Wintou informs me, is "still the only specimen we 

 have with locality north of the Colony." — Ed.] 



White Stoat. — In the last issue of 'The Zoologist' (ante, p. 131), I 

 observe the record of a white Stoat (Mustela erminea) from the North of 

 England. About the 21st of November last I received a similar specimen 

 from West Somersetshire (near Watchet), and, considering the mildness of 

 the weather at that time, I was surprised at its appearance. It was pure 

 white, except some regular light brown markings over each eye, looking 



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