CAPE POLECAT. 
79 
broad, and the muzzle long and sharp, while the ears are very small and rounded. 
The tail is comparatively long and bushy, and about three-quarters the length of 
the head and body; and the whole of the fur is relatively long and thick. The 
ground-colour of the fur is a glossy-black, marked with a variable number of 
white stripes and spots. Frequently, as in our illustration, there is a white spot 
between the eyes, and another over each of the latter; but sometimes all the three 
THE CAPE POLECAT (£ nat. size). 
are united. The hinder-part of the head is frequently white, and from this white 
area there are given off pure white stripes (separated by three narrow black ones), 
which unite near the tail; the upper part of the latter being also mostly white. 
In other cases, however, the whole of the hinder-parts of the head, the neck, and the 
anterior portion of the back are white. 
The Cape polecat ranges from the Cape to Senegal; but in Sennaar 
and Egypt it is replaced by another nearly-allied species (/. frenata). 
