NEW SPECIES OF PARADOXURUS. 



79 



The ears in the present species are covered, outside, with hair which also 

 forms a margin round the inner surface. The fissure of the posterior part 

 of the helix is simple, and the processes of the interior are less developed 

 than in Hirsutus. Both, as well as the one to be next described, have a 

 small stripe of fur below the os calcis ; and in all the large lax interdigital 

 membrane is covered with hair. 



The females have four ventral teats. They are rather less than the 

 males, but otherwise entirely like them : nor does nonage afford any 

 material distinctive signs. 



Paradoxurus Lanigerus, Mihi. This species is strictly confined to the 

 northern region of Nepal, for warding off the cold of which its woolly 

 fleece is peculiarly well adapted. In general conformation and physiogno- 

 my it is mediate between the two preceding animals, being less vermiform 

 than Hirsutus — less robust than Nipalensis. In size it is considerably less 

 than either. It measures only 32 inches from the snout to the tip of the 

 tail, whereof the length of the tail is but 12 inches, or barely more than 

 a third of the entire dimensions. The ears are hairy on the outer side : 

 and the tail is without twist. 



The fur consists entirely of wool precisely similar to that of a coarse 

 fleeced sheep. It is about an inch long, and collected into floces or clumps 

 which incline to a curled appearance. On the legs and face the fur is short- 

 er, closer set, and more like the fur of the congeners of this singularly robed 

 species. The colour is an uniform earthy brown, but paler and fading into 

 yellow, on the belly : the whiskers are white : and the nude parts, fleshy 

 gray. As the Paradoxuri generally, and the Hirsuti species in particular, 

 bear a resemblance in several respects to the Viverr(s proper, with which 

 they are ordinarily compared ; the following anatomical details may excite 

 some interest, as well by their novelty, as by the demonstration they afford 

 that striking differences of form and consequently of habits exist between 

 the one group of animals and the other. 



