low the bulla, on the hinder surface of which, in
adult animals, it is spread out and completely lost. The toes are
straight, with long, unsheathed, non-retractile claws.

In the typical mongooses or ichneumons, _Herpestes_, the dental
formula is i. 3/3, c. 1/1, p. (4 or 3)/(4 or 3), m. 2/2; total 40 or
36; the molars having generally strongly-developed, sharply-pointed
cusps. The skull is elongated and constricted behind the orbits. The
face is short and compressed, with the frontal region broad and
arched. Post-orbital processes of frontal and jugal bones well
developed, generally meeting so as to complete the circle of the orbit
behind. Vertebrae: C. 7, D. 13, L. 7, S. 3, Ca. 21-26. Head pointed in
front. Ears short and rounded. Body long and slender. Extremities
short. Five toes on each foot, the first, especially that on the
hind-foot, very short. Toes free, or but slightly palmated. Soles of
fore-feet and terminal portion of those of hind-pair naked; under
surface of metatarsus clothed with hair. Tail long or moderate,
generally thick at the base, and sometimes covered with more or less
elongated hair. The longer hairs covering the body and tail almost
always ringed. The genus is common to the warmer parts of Asia and
Africa, and while many of the species, like the Egyptian _H.
ichneumon_ and the ordinary Indian mongoose, _H. mungo_, are
pepper-and-salt coloured, the large African _H. albicauda_ has the
terminal two-thirds of the tail clothed with long white hairs (see
ICHNEUMON).

The following distinct African and Malagasy generic representatives of
the subfamily are recognized, viz. _Helogale_, with 3/3 premolars, and
containing the small South African _H. parvula _and a variety of the
same. _Bdeogale crassicauda_ and two allied tropical African species
differ from _Herpestes_ in having only four toes on each foot. The
orbit is nearly complete, and the tail of moderate length and rather
bushy. In _Cynictis_, which has the orbit completely closed, there are
five front and four hind toes; and the skull is shorter and broader
than in _Herpestes_, rather contracted behind the orbits, the face
short, and the anterior chamber of the auditory bulla very large. The
front claws are elongated. Includes only _C. penicillata_ from South
Africa.

All the foregoing herpestines have the nose short, with its under
surface flat, bald, and with a median