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Show 1885.] GENUS PARADOXURUS. 791 cranial characters. The following is a key to the species here admitted ::- A. Tne tail considerably more than half the length of the head and body together (usually three quarters or more) ; teeth of moderate size. a. Tail not ringed. a. The bony palate extends less than I inch behind the posterior molars. Vibrissas in general dark-coloured. a'. Colour fulvous, ashy, or black. a". Back unstriped, no pale band across forehead ; inner or proximal side of upper sectorial concave 1. P.niqer. b". Back generally striped, a pale band across forehead; inner side of upper sectorial straight 2. P. hermaphroditus. b . Colour dark brown. a". Fur glossy with black tips. Anterior palatine foramina only extending back as far as canines 3. P. philippinensis. o". Fur grizzled, not glossy, with brown tips. Anterior palatine foramina extending to opposite anterior premolars 5. P. jerdoni. c'. Colour dull rusty red throughout 6. P. aureus. b. Tbe bony palate extends more than I inch behind the posterior molars. Vibrissa;, in part at least, conspicuously white. a'. Colour grey or fulvous, head markings indistinct. Skull 4£ to 4| inches long ... 7. P. grayi. b'. Colour generally greyish brown ; head-markings black and white, distinct; a broad white band down the forehead and nose. Skull about 4 inches long 8. P. larvatus. c'. Colour brown or rufous; head-markings generally distinct, brown and whitish; a broad pale band across forehead, or whole face whitish. Skull about 5 inches long ... 9. P. leucomustax (3. Tail ringed. y a. Colour above brownish red, with white hair3 intermixed 10. P. musschenbroeki. B. Teeth very large. a. Only skull known ; upper sectorial 0*42 inch long 4. P. macrodus. C. Tail about half the length of the head and body. Skull not known 11. p. laniger. Of the species belonging to allied genera, Hemigale hardwickii has broad transverse coloured bands on the back. Nandinia binotata may be recognized by its back and sides being spotted with laro;e dark spots, by a pale spot on each side of the withers, and a sub-annulate tail ; Arctcgale trivirgata and A. leucotis by having three 1 This key will, in most cases, serve to identify specimens of Paradoxurus, but, I fear, not always by means of the external characters. I have, since this' paper was in type, seen three specimens of P. hermaphroditus, obtained by Dr. J. Anderson in the Mergui Archipelago, Tenasserim. One of these is uniformly dark brown, almost black, and resembles in colour some forms of Arctogale leucotis, having none of the markings of P. hermaphroditus. The other two are dark brown, with the vibrissa; in part white, and are externally only distinguishable by size from P. leucomystax. The skull, however, in each case is unmistakably that of P. hermaphroditus. |