OCR Text |
Show 1882.] AFRICAN MUNGOOSES. 61 to any locality, though there is a certain tendency for all, or at least most of the specimens from one district to be alike in colour ; in fact, if this had not been so, I should not have felt justified in regarding the various forms even as distinct varieties. Again, H. albicauda varies most peculiarly in the amount of white present on the tail, some specimens having that member nearly entirely white and others wholly black, individuals of each type being moreover found in the heart of the district mostly inhabited by those of the other. Another remarkable point in connection with variation in colour is the fact that in certain species there seem to be two forms, one with annulated and the other with unannulated fur. Thus ordinary specimens of H. galera, Gr., have annulated fur, while others from various localities, among which are the types of H.pluto, Temm., have their longer hairs entirely unannulated. In the same way 77. mutgigella, Riipp., seems to be the unannulated form of H. gracilis, H. iodoprymnus, Heugl., being intermediate, and H.granti, Gr., similarly that of H. badius. It is of course possible that these two forms represent a seasonal change, though the few dated specimens that I have seen do not, on the whole, lend much support to this view, especially when we remember how comparatively little seasonal change of temperature must occur in the region with which we now have to deal. In the second place, attention should be drawn to the apparent frequency with which specimens of this group seem to lose the minute first toes on both fore and hind feet. Thus both " Cynictis" melanura and " Galerella" ochracea l owe their generic names to the fact of their halluces having been accidentally lost; and Bdeogale nigripes, Puch., has probably been referred to that genus for the same reason \ In the work already referred to3, Temminck has drawn attention to this same point, and has given several instances which had fallen under his own observation. The minute claw of the first toe is probably very easily knocked off during the skinning and stuffing of specimens ; and the digit itself, without the claw, is so small and inconspicuous that it would not be observable without the closest scrutiny. On the whole it would seem that though some few cases may occur in which the claw has either never been developed or has been knocked off during life, yet as a rule, so far as I have seen, the loss has probably occurred after death, there being generally distinct traces of the former presence of the claw, thus showing that it could not have been lost during life, for then the skin would presumably have healed over the place. Thirdly, it is worthy of note that while the dimensions of the teeth are very constant, their number is by no means so : thus, one of our specimens of Crossarchus zebra (p. 89) has an additional true molar above on each side behind the two normal ones, the extra ones not being in any way crowded or rudimentary, but fully 1 I have softened and opened the skin of the hind foot of the type of this species, and found, as I expected, a broken metatarsus, about one tenth of an inch in length, and of the usual thickness, adhering to the entocuneiform bone. s 8ee below, p. 77. 3 Op. cit, p. 107. |