Stripe-necked Ichneumon. 



Herpestes vitticollis, Bennett, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 67. 

 Mungos (?) vitticollis, OaiLBY, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 103. 

 Mangusta vitticollis, Elliott, Madras Journ. vol. x. p. 103, pi. 2, 1839. 



The Stripe-necked Ichneumon is unquestionably the most splendid species of the genus, 

 and may at once be distinguished from all its congeners by its red livery. The first specimens 

 were sent home by Philip Poole, Esq., in 1835, then Assistant-Surgeon of the Madras Medical 

 Establishment, with an accompanying note stating that they were obtained in the forests about 

 twenty miles inland from Kolun or Quilon, in the Travancore Country. Since that time specimens 

 have been received from Bombay and Madras. Mr. Elliott, in his list of Mammalia of the 

 Southern Mahratta Country, says, a single specimen of this animal was caught, in the thickest 

 part of the Ghat forest, by accident, in 1829. It is very rare, inhabits only the thickest wood, 

 and its habits are but little known. 



The muzzle is brown, the cheeks, the crown of the head, the back of the neck, throat 

 and chest are grey, each hair being annulated with brown and white ; this grey colour extends 

 on to the shoulders, where the hairs are terminated with red; the body, rump, and the tail 

 are bright red; a stripe along the side of the neck, the fore legs, the hind feet, and the tip 

 of the tail are black. 



The Bombay specimen in the Society's Collection differs from those shot in the Travancore 

 Country, in having the whole of the body grey, and in this respect agreeing with Mr. Elliott's 

 specimen from Madras. 



Length of the head and body, eighteen inches ; tail, thirteen. 



