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\L. On Ihe Affinities of ^Elui'Ojius uielanoleucus, A. Milne-Edwards. By E. Ray 

 Lankester, M.A., LL.D., F.B.S., F.L.S., Director of the Natural Ristory 

 Departments of the British Museum. 



(Plates 18-20.) 



Read 21st Februiiry. 1901. 



oIX years ago my friend the late Professor Alphouse Milne-Edwards, Director of the 

 Jardin des Plantes and Museum of Natural History in Paris, kindly presented to the 

 Oxford University Museum a cast of the skull of the reraarkabla bear-like animal 

 brought home from Tibet by Pere David, and named by him TJrsus ineluiioleucus. 

 M. Milne-Kdwards in 1875 published a description of this animal and very distinctly stated 

 the conclusion that it must occupy a position intermediate between the Bears {(Jrsinte) 

 and the Panda {^Itirus). He formed for it the genus JEluropus*. But subse- 

 quently the late Sir W. Flower and Mr. Lydc^kker in their book, ' Mammals, Living and 

 Extinct,' 1S91. whilst dividing the section Arctoidea of the Carnivora into three families, 



* Milne-Kdwards ' wrote as follows : — " L'ensemble de faits que je vieiis de passer en rovue, prouvo (|ue TAilurope 

 ne peut-etre rapporte a aucun des types geueriquos preeedemmeiit conniis. 11 appartient indubitablement a la 

 famille des Cariiassiers arotoides, dont les Ours sont !es priiicipau.x representants, et il ressemble beaueoup a ces 

 animaux ; raais ii tient encore plus peut-etre des Pandas, et il prcsentc un singulier melange de earacteres osteolo- 

 giqucs. Ainsi, par le mode d'articulation de la maohoire infcTieure, renorme doveloppement des arcades zygoma- 

 tiques, il ressemble aux Felins les plus robustes, et quebpies naluralistes le eomparent a THyerje ; niais la couforma- 

 lion de ses dents machelieres indique que c'est en realile un animal moins carnivore que ne le eont les Ours .... 

 Par la disposition de la couronne, la penultieme molaire a beaueoup d'analogie avec les molaires de divers Pachyderines 

 fossiles, notamment des Chwropoiiimus pcirisiensis .... Neanmoins e'est entre les Ours el les Pandas que rAiluroj)e 

 doit prendre place dans nos classifications methodiques, et la division qui le renferme ne parait avoir une vaieur 

 zoologique plus considerable que celle de la plupart des genres dont se compose I'ordre des Carnassiers.'' 



From this it appears that Professor Milne-Edwards regarded ^luropus as intermediate between the Bears and the 

 Panda, and therefore probably the representative of a distinct family, although this is not definitely stated. His 

 mention of the Ungulate resemblances of the molar teeth is significant, seeing that this is a feature which has been 

 often noticed as characteristic of those of JUlurus. It may be added that the resemblance of the lower jaw of 

 ^luropus to that oi'.l-jluras is s])ecially noticed by Professor ililno-Edwards. 



Writing at a laU.T date, the late Sir W. II. Flower', who regarded »/i7((r".v as the representative of a family 

 connecting the Procyonidae with the Ursidic, assigned JSIuropus to the last-named family, from the other members of 

 which it differs by the absence of an alisphenoid canal ^ The genus is described as " an interesting anneclant 



' Recherches Hist. Nat. .\Iamm. p. 335 (1808-7")). 



■ .'Vrticle " Mammalia," Enci/clopcedut Britannica, !Hh ed. vol. xv. p. 441 (1883). 



° On the page cited above, in the 8th line from the bottom of the first column, the word " An " should be substituted 

 for " No." 



SECOND SERIES. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. VIII. 26 



