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Show 86 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE [Jan- 3i Dr. Kirk has done so much to make the zoology of Zanzibar^ known to us, it seems on the whole more probable that this species does not occur there, but that the Zambesi is its proper habitat, especially as Dr. Meller was there considerably longer than he was at Zanzibar. , , c „n However, it is not very likely that it can be much longer before such a large and well-marked animal is again discovered ; and then the question of locality will be satisfactorily settled. Molars of Rhinogale. Upper Per- Lower Per- P.M4. M2. centage M1. Ma. centage. R. melleri .... a. 7*5 5*5 73 6*4 6*4 100 VI. CROSSARCHUS. rjypg. Crossarchus, F. Cuv. Hist. Nat. M a m m . ii. livr. 47 (1825) '-'• obscurus. Ariela, Gray, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 565 (1864). . . . C.fasciatus. Mungos, Gray, P.Z.S. 1864, p. 575 (1864) (nee Ogilby1).. * • °- 9amhianus- Range. Africa south of the Sahara. Toes 5-5. Teeth, 1.1, C. ±, P.M. -§-, M . f x 2=36. No naked central line on nose. Hind soles naked. Skull depressed, as in Herpestes. Teeth rounded, without sharp cutting-edges. Vacuity in floor of auditory meatus oblong, in filling up often forming a row of small holes, as in Suricata. Last lower molar with an extra cusp in the centre of the outer edge, as in Bdeogale and the subgenus Ichneumia 2. This genus includes four species, scattered over the continent of Africa. It is a matter of considerable interest to find that the three species placed by Gray under " Mungos," in a separate subfamily from Crossarchus, are not really generically distinct from tbe single species hitherto supposed to be the only member of this genus3. I can find no differences of importance whatever between these various forms ; in fact C. obscurus resembles, at least in dentition, C. zebra and C.gambianus more than either of these do C.fasciatus. It is true that in our only skeleton of C. obscurus there is a certain amount of difference in the length of the hallux as compared with that of the other species ; but an examination of a considerable number of skins does not show any constancy in this character, 1 Ogilby's genus was founded solely on the Cinghalese species H. vitticollis, Benn.; H. gambianus and fasciatus happening to be mentioned in the same paper, Gray took it as founded on them, and made another genus, " Tceniogale," to contain the Ceylon form. 2 See p. 76. 3 Since the above was written, Prof. Mivart has pointed out to m e that the researches of Chatin into the structure of the anal glands of the Carnivora (Ann. Sci. Nat. 5th series, xix. p. 89, n., 1874) fully confirm the opinion here expressed as to the generic relationship of the striped Mungoose (C.fasciatus) with C. obscurus. |