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Show 798 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON THE [Nov. 3, other, and have in common the characters above noted as characteristic of P. niger ; and whilst Burmese, Siamese, and Malay individuals have, with few exceptions, the coloration and dentition of P. hermaphroditus (P. musanga), intermediate varieties are found in Bengal and the countries about the head of the Bay of Bengal. Similarly the variety found in Borneo, and which is represented by several skins in the British Museum, may very possibly he a hybrid or an intermediate form between P. hermaphroditus and P. philippensis. Under these circumstances it is, I think, a mere matter of convenience whether the two forms are to be distinguished, as I have done, as P. niger and P. hermaphroditus, whether they are to be called two geographical races or subspecies, or whether, according to the system now in favour with some naturalists, they are to receive trinomial designations, e. g. P. hermaphroditus niger and P. hermaphroditus musanga1. Synonymy. The first question here is the propriety of giving to this species or race the name hermaphroditus rather than to the Indian form, to which the name has been assigned by Gray and others. The reasons for using the name hermaphroditus for the present species are two in number. (1) Viverra hermaphrodita was described as having three black stripes on the back. The presence of distinct longitudinal bands is the rule in the Malay form, whilst it is exceptional in the Indian. The light grey margin in front of the ears, too, noticed in Pallas's description, agrees better with the grey frontal band of the Eastern type. (2) W e may regard hermaphroditus as a name applicable to either form, and therefore as including both. In this case, by the Linnaean rule for genera, the name is retained for that portion of the original species which remains after a defined section has been separated. The first section thus separated from P. hermaphroditus received the specific name of niyer, and consisted of the Indian form, so hermaphroditus should be confined to the Malayan type. Another circumstance in favour of applying Pallas's name to the latter is the greater probability of a specimen in a German collection of the last century having been derived from Java or one of the Malay islands. Several of the synonyms given above may possibly belong to P. niger, or to some of the intermediate varieties. The rule adopted has been to class all distinctly striped forms and all with a well-marked frontal band under P. hermaphroditus. The figure representing the type of Viverra prehensilis is distinctly striped, and is therefore referred here. The tail-tip is white. About V. musanga, the Sumatran form described by Raffles, there can be no question. P. dubius was founded on the skin of a Javanese animal, not half grown, because it did not agree with the young of P. musanga. Both, however, were described (Gray, P. Z. S. 1832, 1 Personally I think this plan has but little to recommend it, and that it must lead to confusion, because it makes no distinction between geographical races and ordinary varieties, to say nothing of mutations or what m a y be termed geological varieties, although all these forms of variation are perfectly distinct |
