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Show 66 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE [-Jan. 3, 2. HERPESTES CAFFER. Viverra cafra, Gmel. Linn. S. N. i. p. 85 (1789). H. griseus, Smuts, Enum. Mamm. Cap. p. 19 (nee Desm.) (1832). H. madagascariensis, Smith, S.Afr. Quart. Journ. n. p. 114 (1835). 1 Herpestes bennettii, Gray, Loudon's Mag. N. H. l. p. 5/8 (1837). Hab. Africa south of the Sahara. Somewhat larger than 77. ichneumon, about 23 inches. Colours as in that species, with the following exceptions :-The annulations on the longer hairs are somewhat narrower, and consist of deep shining black and pure white rings, instead of brown or yellow ones, thus causing the general colour to be a much clearer grey ; audthe underfur is dark and dull (not bright) rufous, and sometimes simply dark grey-brown. Underside of hind feet always naked. Skull, compared with that of H. ichneumon, longer and narrower, the breadth always less than half the length (46 to 48 per cent.). Teeth and other characters as in //. ichneumon. Dimensions. Head and body. a. Ku)gm\\ieLmsto\\n (Trevelyaii) .. 22*0 b. S. Africa ..' 23*0 c 3> 23*0 d. „ 23*0 Tail. 18*0 19*0 19*0 19*0 Hind foot. 3*7 3*9 4*0 4*0 of the muzzle, a dimension not satisfactorily shown by merely taking the "palate-lengtb," because the amount to which the bony palate extends behind the molars varies considerably, both between different individuals and different species. With regard to the " basicranial axis," I have been compelled, with some hesitation, to use a different measurement from that given by Prof. Huxley, because, first, his anterior point, easy enough to take in a bisected skull, cannot be found with any exactitude in a whole one; and, secondly, in many genera of Carnivora, for instance in the group at present under discussion, this spot as defined by him for anon-bisected skull ("a point opposite the middle of the distance between the optic and ethmoidal foramina") falls considerably inside the posterior nares, and does not by any means " lie a little behind the posterior extremity of the vomer," as it does in the Dogs. The axis I propose, however, is easily measured in all states of the skull; and a similar and corresponding axis may be readily obtained, not only in all the different genera of Carnivora, but also throughout almost the whole of the Mammalian class. I have, for example, long used this same axis in m y notes on Eodents' skulls, where it is always very readily observable. This axis, moreover, equally shows, in a horizontal line, what Prof. Huxley's axis shows in an oblique one, namely the combined lengths of the basioccipital, basisphenoid, and prasphenoid bones, which, according to that author, " represent the foundation around and upon which the other parts are built." The measurements throughout are in English inches and tenths, except in the case of the tables of dimensions of teeth, where, a very small unit being required, they are given in millimetres. |