2. MELKS. 125 



Meles taxufi, Buddaeii, Elench. i. p. 80; Schrcb. Sdti(/eth. t. 142; 



Blainv. Ode'<></r. Snbursiis, t. 2 (skeleton), (5 (skuU), 9 (teeth) ; 



Gray, P. Z. S. 1805, p. 139 ; 1808, p. 207. 

 Meles europreus, Desm. N. Diet. Hist. Nat. iii. p. 465. 

 Meles vulgaris, Dcmn. Mainm. p. 173. 

 Taxus Tulg-aris, Tiedin. Zoo/, i. p. 376. 

 Blaireau, Buffon, H. N. rii. p. 104, t. 7, 8. 

 Blaireau d'Europe, Cuvier, B. A. i. p. 145. 

 Common Badger, I'enn. Brit. Zool. p. 30 ; Bell, Brit. Quad. p. 122. 



Hub. North Europe ; North Asia. 



SkiiU ovate-elongate ; face large ; forehead flat ; nose broad, flat 

 above ; orbits incomplete ; supraorbital hole large, subquadi-augiilar ; 

 brain-case ovate, narrow behind, obliquely truncated ; j^alate rather 

 concave, flat and produced behind, with a sharp keeled ridge on each 

 side behind ; the hinder aperture angular in front, in a line with 

 the middle of the zygomatic arch. Cutting-teeth largo, subequal, 

 truncated. Canine conical, slightly curved. False grinders 2 ; front 

 small, conical ; second larger, compressed. Flesh-tooth moderate, 

 trigonal, sides subequal, outer edge with two conical tubercles, outer 

 lobe ■with two indistinct minute tubercles on the edges. The tuber- 

 cular grinder large, massive, rather longer than broad, front edge 

 concave, hinder rounded, obscurely truncated on the outer hinder 

 margin, outer margin Mith three unequal slightly raised tubercles. 

 Lower jaw strong ; chin arched ; cutting-teeth truncated, unequal, 

 the middle one on each side rather behind the others ; canines 

 conical, short, curved ; false grinders 3, first very small, deciduous ; 

 second and third compressed, conical ; flesh- tooth oblong, elongate, 

 with throe tiibercles in front and two pairs of tubercles behind ; 

 tubercular grinder small, ovate. 



Length of skull 5" 3'", of nose 9'", of palate 2" 11'", of lower jaw 

 3" 9'" ; width over ears 2" 3'", of nose iu front of orbits 1" 4'". 



Skull large ; face very broad and rounded in front ; the nasal 

 aperture large, broad, as broad as high, postorbital aperture mo- 

 derate, subcircular .—(?/■«?/, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 206. 



2. Meles anakuma, Temm. 



Skull small ; face broad, tapering, narrow, and rounded in front ; 

 the nasal aperture oblong, moderate, higher than broad ; the post- 

 orbital opening very large, oblong. 



Meles anakuma, Temm. Fauna Jajwnica, t. ; Grai/, Proc. Zool. Soc. 



1853, p. 191 ; I860, p. 139. 

 Meles taxus, var., Middendorff, N. tmd O. Sibir. Sditr/eth. p. 3. 

 Meles taxus, var. amurensis, Sehrenek, Amurland, xvii. 1. 1. f. 1, 4. 



Hah. Japan. 



The skull'ran'ers from that of il. ta.vus and M. leucurus in being 

 much shorter, and with a rather broad nose (Gray, P. Z. S. 1853, 

 p. 191). 



The skiiU is well figured by Temm. & Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, 

 t. 6. The name of this animal is erroneously printed M. anhuma, 

 in P. Z.S. 1865, p. 140. 



