238 
THE MAMMALS OE EGYPT. 
ICTONYX. 
Ictonyx, Kaup, Tliierreich, vol. i. 1835, p. 352. 
Fore feet larger than the hind feet, with more powerful claws. Hair rather long 
and loose. Upper surface of the body longitudinally striped, lower surface black. 
Dentition : i. c. i, pm. | m. i = 34. 
Very great confusion has been caused by the coupling the name ‘ Zorille ’ with the 
African striped polecats. This name was applied by Buffon (Hist. Nat. 4to, 1765, 
vol. xiii. p. 302, pi. 41) to the small Central American skunk latterly known as 
SpilogaJe. 
A very excellent plate was given of this animal, with a full explanation of the origin 
of the name — ‘ Zorilla ’ being the local name for skunks used by the Spanish- 
speaking inhabitants of the country. Schreber and Gmelin applied this word as the 
specific scientific name of this skunk, viz. Viverra zorilla. 
About the end of the century a specimen of the South-African somewhat similarly 
marked animal was brought home by a ship coming from Bombay which no doubt 
called at the Cape; this specimen fell under the notice of Shaw, who figured it 
(‘ General Zoology,’ Mammals, pi. 94) under the name of “Striated Weasel,” a name 
wUich he used for the small American skunks, considering it as only a variety of those 
animals with four white dorsal stripes instead of the usual five. About this date 
Bowdich discovered a nearly allied form on the banks of the Gambia in West Africa, 
and sent specimens to London. 
In 1820, Desmarest wrote his volume on Mammals for the ‘ Tableau Encyclopedique 
et Methodique,’ basing his description of the Zorille {Mustela zorilla) on the African 
animal, at the same time adhering to the impression that it was the same as that 
described by Buffon, who, he said, had erroneously considered that the Zorille was an 
American animal. 
In 1826, Isidore Geoffroy St.-Hilaire (Diet. Class. Hist. Nat. vol. x. p. 209) gave an 
excellent treatise on the Martens [Mustela) and allied species. He treated the 
‘ Zorille ’ of Africa as a subgenus allied to the Skunks, carefully distinguishing between 
the specimens from South Africa and those collected by Bowdich in Senegambia. He 
.nevertheless confounded them with the American animal, as is proved by the citation 
of ‘ Le Zorille ’ of Buffon and Viverra zorilla of previous authors as types of his new 
subgenus Zorilla. 
In 1835, Kaup in his ‘ Thierreich ’ made a new genus especially for the South-African 
animal, calling it Ictonyx capensis, and not recognizing any other species. These 
names, both generic and specific, are the first properly applied to this animal. 
