178 CANID.E. 



Viverra tetradactyla, Pallas; Schrcb. Saiit/eth. t. 117 (from Buffon). 



Suricata viverrina, Desm. N. Diet. H. N. xxxii. p. 297. 



Suricata capensis, Desm. Mamm. p. 214. 



Viverra zenick, Gtnd. S. N. i. p. 02 (from Smin.). 



Mangusta (Sm'icata) tetradactyla, De Blauiv. Osteogr. p. 28, t 5. 



f. 12. 

 Hyzffina typicus, A. Smith, S. A. Q. Journ. i. p. 53. 

 Ryzfeua capensis, Lesson, 3Iamm. p. 178. 

 Ryzsena tetradactyla, Schiiiz, Syn. Mamm. i. p. 380. 

 Ryzjena .suricata, Fischer, Syn. Mamm. p. 167. 

 Siirikate, Buffon, H. N. xiii. t. 8. 

 Zenic, Sonnerat, Voy. t. 92 ; Miller, Cim. Phys. t. 2. 



Hah. South Africa (called " Meer Kat " at the Cape). 



Skull short and broad, the width three-fourths the length ; the 

 brain-case broad, half the length of the skull ; orbit eomi)lete be- 

 hind ; forehead .shelving, arched ; crown convex. The first upper 

 false grinder compressed ; the second suhtrigonal, with a lobe on the 

 middle of the inner side. The flesh-tooth subtrigonal, broader than 

 long in front. The tubercular grinders transverse ; the front with 

 the inner nearly twice as broad as the outer edge ; the hinder similar, 

 but much smaller. Hinder palate-opening contracted. 



Fam. 10. CANIDiE. 



Tubercular grinders two on each side of the upper and lower 

 jaws ; false grinders 2 or 3 on each side of each jaw ; molars ^ . ^ 

 or more. Feet produced ; toes 5 . 5, straight, free, with blunt, ex- 

 posed, worn -tipped claws ; the front inner toe high up, rarely want- 

 ing. The upper sectorial grinder compressed, three-lobed, "nith a 

 small tubercle on the front of the inner edge. Head elongate ; nose 

 more or less produced, flat and bald, beneath with a central longitu- 

 dinal groove, 



Canida>, Baird, 3fam. N. Amer. p. 103, 1859; Gray, P. Z. S. 1868, 

 p. 493. 



The Canidfe have been separated by general consent into three 

 natural groups, according to the length and form of the tail, — the 

 Wolves having a short and straight tail, the Dogs a more or less 

 elongated tail bent to the left and more or less curled, the Foxes an 

 elongated bushy tail. In South America there is found a group with 

 the skull like the Wolves', but with a long slender tail, which maj- 

 be called long-tailed Wolves. The Foxes are generally nocturnal, 

 and have the pupil of the eye elliptical and erect when contracted. 



The form of the contracted pupil of the eye has yet to be observed 

 in a large number of species. Mr. Bartlett, in reply to my inquiry, 

 states that " the females of the Long-eared Fox, the Arctic, and the 

 Common Fox have oblong erect pupils. The Black-backed and 



