516 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



CARNIVORA. 



The Suricate in the Transvaal. -- With reference to my note on 

 Cynictis penicillata [ante, p. 179), I have a similar observation to make 

 respecting the true Meer-Kat or Suricate (Suricata tetradactyla). The 

 ' Royal Natural History ' positively asserts that it does not inhabit the 

 country north of the Orange River.* I have myself seen the animals on 

 the Free State Flats several years ago, and now have come across them in 

 the Transvaal. On the 27th July a Boer brought in a Suricate, which was 

 perfectly full-grown and apparently old. What is more, it was as savage as 

 could be ; and all who know the habits of this interesting little mammal 

 must also be aware that it is very easily tamed. In addition, the Boer 

 roared with laughter when I asked him whether the animal had really been 

 caught in the Transvaal. " Waar anders?" (Where else?) he answered. 

 11 Do you think I brought or had this little beast sent from the Free State 

 or Cape Colony?" For a long time past I had the idea that the Suricate 

 inhabited the Transvaal, for the following reasons. Several acquaintances 

 had tame ones, and they all, without exception, assured me that the animals 

 had been caught in the Heidelberg and Pretoria districts. My suspicions 

 were confirmed by the bringing in, straight from the veld, so to say, of a 

 snapping, snarling creature. I have also long noticed their burrows. The 

 ground is always in a way ploughed up within a certain radius of a " Meer- 

 Kat's location." There can be no doubt as to the creature's identity. The 

 • Royal Natural History ' itself says that there is no other Mungoose which 

 has ears of another tint than its general body colour. The other charac- 

 teristics of a Suricate need not be enumerated here. It is, however, certain 

 that the animal is not in any way plentiful here in the Transvaal. — Alwin 

 C. Haagner (P. 0. Modderfontein, S. A. K.) 



[This animal is not unknown in the Transvaal. I not only kept a pair 

 alive when in Pretoria, but brought them home with me a few years ago. 

 When coaching between Potchefstroom and Vryburg, I have seen quantities 

 about their holes. — Ed.] 



* The statement in the work referred to is : " Meerkats appear to be 

 confined to the Cape Colony, extending at least as far north as Algoa Bay." 

 -(Ed.) 



