1080 
widely open behind; ears moderate, covered with short hair externally; nose 
with a distinct, naked, central longitudinal groove below. Vertebrae: C. 7, 
D. 13, L. 7, S. 3, Cd. 29. Body elongated. Limbs moderate in size; feet 
subplantigrade, soles naked; toes, 5 on front foot, 5 on hind, well-developed^ 
united by a web. Tail long and cylindrical, covered with long flaccid hair. 
Madagascar. 
#444 Cryptoprocta ferox Bennett, 1833, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 1 (4), 
May, 46. Fossa, Foussa, Beutelfrett. Madagascar *. 
Toxoplasma t89. — Blood. 
species Plimmer, 1915. — London Zoo, from Madagascar. 
#445 (443). Claws not retractile; prescrotal gland absent. See #446. 
#446. MTJNGOTiDAE Pocock, 1916, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 349. — Anus opens 
into a sac; alisphenoid canal present; supracondyloid foramen present. 
Secretion of anal glands (the orifices of which are outside the anus) dis- 
charged into a nearly naked, glandular, cutaneous sac capable of being 
closed by juxtaposition of upper and lower halves of its thickened rim. Peri- 
neal scent-gland absent in both sexes. Vulva close beneath lower rim of anal 
sac. Prepuce close to scrotum; glans penis short, with orifice on its lower 
surface; baculum present. Feet with fossorial, nonretractile, usually long 
claws; pollex and hallux, when present, arise just above plantar pad. Ear 
rounded, small or moderate, without marginal bursa, but with anterointernal 
ridge (intratragus) curving abruptly backwards beneath supratragus, and 
high above the intertragal notch. Bulla distinctly everted. Syn. herpesti- 
DAE Gill, 1872a, 5; Pocock, 1929, Encycl. brit., 14th ed., v. 4, 898. See #447. 
#447 (449; 452). Toes 4 on front feet, 4 on hind feet. See #448. 
" Pocock (1919, 522-524) has divided this family into 2 subfamilies as follows: 
A (B). MVNGOTiNAE Pocock, 1919, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., London, 9th ser., v. 3 (18), 522.— Mongooses. 
Supratragus large and valvular, with a valvular flap just above it. Plane of base of skull subparallel to plane 
of palate; bullae much longer than wide, inflated, project some distance below condyles. Contains all 
genera except Suricata. Syn. heepestinae Gill, 1872a, 5. 
B(A). suEiCATiNAE Thomas, 1882, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, Jan., 59; Pocock, 1919, Ann. Mag. Nat. 
Hist., London, 9th ser., v. 3 (18), 522.— Supratragus a simple ridge with no valvular flap above it. Plane of 
base of skull inclined at an obtuse angle to plane of palate; bullae nearly as wide as long, very flat, and 
project only slightly below occipital condyles, which are situated between their postero-superior portion; 
ridge of mastoid extends on outer side of bulla below inferior edge of auditory meatus. One genus #448 
Suricata. 
Pocock's classification and key to genera are very suggestive and may eventually stand. Pending further 
experience by mammalogists, however, we adopt, for purpose of this bulletin, as basis for the generic key a 
grouping which (though not pretending to be phylogenetic) is easier to follow, as it starts out with char- 
acters of the toes and nose. 
The generic and specific synonymy of this group is very confused in literature, especially as respects the 
names Herpestes, Mungos, and mon^o. Allen, Pocock, and Thomas have done much to straighten out the 
difficulties, but it is necessary to keep in mind the type species and locality adopted by a given author or 
the reader becomes hopelessly confused. 
