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Show 92 MR. O. THOMAS ON THE AFRICAN MUNGOOSES. [Jan. 3, those of Crossarchus. First upper premolar absent, with no diastema in its place ; first lower either present or, if absent, there is a distinct diastema. Auditory meatus somewhat prolonged, with the imperfection of the floor well marked, consisting of a line of minute holes, quite different from the large round hole found in this position in Cynictisl. 1. SURICATA TETRADACTYLA. Viverra suricatta, Erxl. Syst. Regn. An. p. 488 (1777). V. tetradactyla, Schreb. Saug. iii. p. 434, tab. cxvii. (1778). Mus zenik, Scopoli, Delic. Flor. et Faun. ii. p. 84 (1786). Viverra zenik et tetradactyla, Gmel. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 85 (1789). Suricata capensis, Desm. Tabl. Meth. Mamm. (p. 15) in Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. 1st edit. xxiv. (1804). Rhyzama tetradactyla, 111. Prodr. Syst. M a m m . p. 134 (1811). Suricata viverrina, Desm. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. 2nd edit. xxxii. p. 297 (1819). Rhyzana typicus, Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii. p. 117 (1835). Hab. Cape Colony (Algoa Bay, Cape, & c ). Size small; form slender. Tail about half the length of the head and body together. Fur long and soft. General colour light grizzled grey, with black transverse bands across the posterior part of the back. Longer hairs broadly ringed with black and white, the white on the whole predominating; the transverse bands formed by the regular arrangement of the hairs, by which the white and black rings come opposite to each other on adjacent hairs. Underfur dark rufous. Head nearly white, except a distinct oblong black mark round the eyes. Ears black. Tail yellowish, with a well-marked black tip. Feet like body. Skull as described above. Dental percentage 70-79. a. (In spirit) . b. S. Africa . . . c. ,, . . . Length. Breadth. 0..2-42 1*79 b.. 2*38 1*75 Dimensions. Head and body. 14*0 15*0 14*0 Skulls. Palate- Palate-length, breadth 1*37 *90 1*36 *84 Tail. 7*0 7*5 8*0 Inc. to . cross line •88 •84 Hind foot. 2'4 2*5 2-5 Basi- . cranial axis •74 •70 This animal is a well-known Cape species : it seems to be confined 1 Prof. Flower, in his paper on the Classification of the Carnivora (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 20), says of this genus:-" Here, and here alone among the Viverridae, there is a prolonged auditory meatus; but it presents the peculiarity of being fissured along the whole extent of the middle of its floor." It should, however, be noted that Crossarchus has a somewhat produced meatus, and that all the genera of this group have constantly a more or less fissured meatus-floor, individual skulls often exceeding Suricata in this respect. |