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Show 1870.J MR. R. SWINHOE ON CHINESE MAMMALS. 631 fifth, the third and fourth subequal; a basal membrane attaches the second and third, and a membrane reaching to end of first joint the third and fourth. Hind foot: first toe diminutive, and placed well behind ; third toe longer than the fourth, and united to it by a membrane to the first joint; second attached to the third, and fourth to the fifth, by short membranes. Head and feet clothed with short hair; rest of the body with long coarse and thick woolly under-fur; tail long and bushy, with long very coarse hair. Nose and edge of lips brownish flesh-colour; iris deep brown. Hair of muzzle brown ; upper lips, chin, throat, and a ridge of longish hairs extending from under the ears to the shoulder white. Head with light reddish-brown under-fur, the short hairs of the upper-fur being individually banded with black and white. Ear with short close-set whitey-brown hair, partly hidden by the hair of the cheeks. Upper parts of body with the under-fur brown at roots, buff above, the long hairs of the upper-fur having each a broad central black band and white tip, giving a hoary appearance to the coat; underparts with less black. Fore and hind legs blackish brown, sprinkled about humeral and femoral parts with buff specks. Tail buff white, with a few black-banded hairs intermingled. Length from snout to root of tail 20 inches; tail 12, with an extra inch of hair at tip. Head 4*75; between ears 2. Palm to nail-tips 2*50 ; breadth of palm *75. Sole to nail-tips 2*50 ; breadth of sole *80. This species has an extensive range in India, being found from Afghanistan through the Himalayas to Aracan; and we find it also occurring in South China. No typical Herpestes seems to occur in China north of Hainan. .45. NYCTEREUTES PROCYONOIDES. (The Raccoon-like Wild Dog.) Nyctereutes procyonoides, Gray, P. Z.S. 1868, p. 522. Canis (Nyctereutes) viverrinus, Temm. Faun. Jap. ; v. Schrenck, Amoorland, i. p. 63. The "Raccoon or Civet D o g " ranges from Canton into Amoorland, and is also found in Japan. I have specimens of it from the Fokien hills, from Hankow, and from Shanghai; but I have not met with it in Formosa. 46. VULPES HOOLE, sp. nov. (South-China Fox.) Vulpes vulgaris, Swinhoe, Zoologist, 1858, p. 6223. The Fox of the plains and lower hills of South China is in form and size very similar to that of Europe; but it is paler, wants the black spot on the sides of the snout, and has the colours of its coat differently arranged. I have placed in the British Museum an adult female and two cubs ; but as their skulls are within the skins, I have not been able to remark on them. Throat, along upper lip, and under neck white, washed with black on chin, with dusky-grey under-fur. Moustache-bristles black, P R O C . Z O O L . Soc-1870, No. XLIII. |
