No. 242 Herpestes Ferrugineus
Habitat.—Sind.
Description.—Resembles rufous specimens of H. pallidus, but the skull shows differences in the greater breadth of the post-orbital contraction of the frontals, and a shorter, broader muzzle, more particularly with posterior or nasal part of the palate.
The next species, which is included in Gray’s genus Tæniogale, has the bony orbit always perfect, and the molars are 6—6/7—7.
No. 243. HERPESTES VITTICOLLIS.
The Stripe-necked Mungoose (Jerdon’s No. 133).
Native Name.—Loco-moogatea, Singhalese.
Habitat.—Southern India, Ceylon, Burmah?
Description.—Grizzled grey, more or less ferruginous, especially on the rump and tail; a dark stripe from the ear to the shoulder; tail rufous black at the tip; skull characteristics: large, with flattened and expanded frontal region, projected narrow muzzle and powerful teeth, larger than other Asiatic Herpestes, the last molar being proportionately greater.
Size.—Head and body 21 inches; tail 15 inches.
I have put Burmah in the list of places where this mungoose is found, having lately been shown by Mr. Davison the skin of a stripe-necked mungoose obtained by him in Burmah, which seemed to be of this species.
The next has been formed into a separate genus, Urva; the teeth are blunter than in Herpestes.
No. 244. URVA CANCRIVORA.
The Crab-eating Mungoose (Jerdon’s No. 134).
Habitat.—South-east Himalayas, Assam, and Burmah.
Description.—“General colour fulvous iron-grey, inner fur woolly, outer of long straggling lax hairs, generally ringed with black, white, and fulvous; in some the coat has a variegated aspect; in others a uniform tawny tint prevails, and in a few dark rusty brown mixed with grey is the prevalent hue; abdomen brown; limbs blackish-brown; a white stripe on either side of the neck from the ear to the shoulder; tail rufous or brown, with the terminal half rufous” (Jerdon). Gray’s account is: “black grizzled hairs with a very broad white sub-terminal ring; a white streak on the side of the neck; legs and feet black; tail ashy red at the end.”
Size.—Head and body, 18 inches; tail, 11 inches.
Somewhat aquatic in its habits, living on frogs and crabs. It has two anal glands, from which it can squirt a foetid secretion. It is the only mungoose mentioned in Blyth’s ‘Catalogue of the Mammals of Burmah,’ but there are at least two more, and probably some of the Malayan species are yet to be found in Tenasserim.
← Back to Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon