122 MELINID^. 



A. Plantigrade. Hind feet hroad, depressed; soles bald, callous nearly to 

 the heel; toes short, ' thick ; claws thick. Body heavy ; tailshoH; ears 

 short, rounded. 



Melina, Gray, Ann. Phil. 182.5. 



Tribe I. MELINA. 



Tubercular grinder large, oblong, elongate; palate produced 

 behind ; flesh-tooth with two more or less distinct tubercles on the 

 inner lobe. 



Melina, Gray, P. Z. S. 186.5, p. 1.37. 



a. Palate much jiroduced behind; hinder opening rather behind, on a line 

 level xoith the condyles. Nose of shull rather produced. 



1. AECTONYX. 



Arctonyx, F. Cuvier, 3Iam7n. Lithogr. p. 51 ; Gray, List Mamm. B. M. 



xxi. p. 70 ; P. Z. S. 1865, p. 137. 

 Synarchus, Gloger, 1842. 



Skull elongate, broad and truncated behind. Nose elongate, 

 rather compressed, rounded above. Forehead elongate, rounded on 

 the sides. Orbits small, oblong, very incomplete behind ; zygomatic 

 arch strong, wider behind ; the suborbital foramen circular ; the 

 palate concave in front, much produced behind, concave below, pro- 

 minent and keeled on the sides ; hinder opening far back, in a line 

 with the condyles of the lower jaw ; opening angular, acute in front ; 

 the bulla of the ear obloug, scarcely raised ; the tube of the inner 

 nostril vesicular and very thin at the sides. The cutting-teeth un- 

 equal, truncated, worn ; the two middle ones smallest ; the second 

 on each side rather larger ; the lateral pair much larger, very oblique. 

 Canines conical, compressed, nearly straight, worn on the front edge, 

 bent out at the end. False grinders 4 ; the fii'st very small, sub- 

 cylindiical, separated by a long diastema ; the second compressed, 

 trigonal. The flesh-tooth moderate, triangular, nearly as wide in 

 front as the outer side ; the outer edge with a compressed tubercle ; 

 inner lobe with two small compressed marginal ridges. Tubercular 

 tooth four-sided, massive, rather longer than broad, truncated in 

 front, and obliquely truncated at the outer hinder side ; outer edge 

 with two compressed tubercles. Lower jaw elongate, produced and 

 flattened in front. Cutting-teeth unequal, much worn, rather pro- 

 duced in front. Canines compressed, curved, worn on the front 

 edge. False grinders 2, separated from the canines by a large 

 diastema, compressed. The flesh-tooth large, elongate, oblong-ovate, 

 with two conical tubercles in front, and two pairs of tubercles behind. 

 Tubercular grinder circular. 



Arctonyx coUaris. (Balisoar.) B,M. 



Yellowish, black-washed ; throat yellow ; feet and a double streak 



