CARNIVORA. 
125 
THE AFRICAN POLECAT. LA . MARTRE OU BELETTE 
d’afrique. 
Mustela Africana. Desm. 
.This animal, which has not yet been figured 
in any publication, was first described by that illus- 
trious French zoologist M. A. G. Desmaret, professor 
of zoology in the Royal School of Economy at Alfort, 
in the 10th volume of the second edition of the 
Nouveau Dictionnaire d^Histoire Naturelle, from a 
specimen in the French Museum of Natural History, 
brought from Africa. It is known from the other 
species by being of a brownish red above, and a pale 
yellow beneath, with a narrow longitudinal reddish 
brown band on the middle of the belly. The head 
and body are ten inches long, and the tail six or 
seven, the hairs of which are longer than those of the 
body, and of the same colour as the back. It is very 
like the weasel, but considerably larger. 
