MELES 341 



Premolars — . 



Lower caniassial without metaconid ; skull robust 

 (in European species considerably more than 

 100 mm. in coudylobasal length) ; form robust ; 

 tail short (Wolverenes, sub-family Guloniiuv)... Giilo, p. 433. 



Lower carnassial with evident though small meta- 

 conid ; skull slender (in European species con- 

 siderably less than 100 mm. in coudylobasal 

 length) ; form slender ; tail long (Martens, sub- 

 family Mustdinn) Maries, p. 365. 



Premolars '~^- 



Lower carnassial with evident though small meta- 

 conid ; hamular in contact with bulla ; back and 

 sides spotted and striped (Tiger Polecats, sub- 

 family i^f^/s^eZ^lw^i) Vormela, ]). 428. 



Lower carnassial without metaconid ; tip of hamu- 

 lar widely separated from bulla ; back and sides 

 never spotted, rarely (in certain Asiatic species) 

 with median dorsal stripe (Weasels, Polecats, 

 &c., snh-isiuiilj Musteliritr) Mustela, p. 381. 



Sub-Family MELIN.^. 

 1857. Melinx Baird, Mamm. North Amer., p. 148. 



Geographical distribution. — Temperate an<l tropical portions of 

 both hemispheres ; in Europe west to Ireland and north to 

 central Scandinavia. 



Characters. — Upper carnassial with evident crushing surface, 

 its crown triangular or rhombic in outline ; upper molar large, 

 the length of its outer portion usually equal to or greater than 

 that of carnassial ; skull rather high and long, the rostrum 

 longer than broad ; external form short and heavy, the fur long 

 and loose ; toes not webbed, the claws large, fossorial ; tail 

 variable in length (short in European members of the group), 

 never unusually muscular. 



i^ewirtr/cs-.— About a dozen genera, or nearly one-half of the 

 family, are now^ placed in the sub-family Melinse. Only one 

 occurs in Europe. 



Genus MELES Brisson. 



1762. Melcs Brisson, Regn. Anim. in Classis ix, distrib., 2nd ed., p. 13 



(Meles Brisson = Ursns mcles Linnseus). 

 1780. Mcles Storr, Prodr. Meth. Mamm., p. 34. First use of name by an 



author following the Linnsean system (Ursns meles). 

 1795. Taxus Geott'roy and Cuvier, Magasin Encyclopedique, ii, p. 184 



(Urstis meles Linnaeus). 

 1815. Melesium Ralinesque, Analyse de la Nature, p. 59 (Modification of 



Meles). 

 1857. Meles Blasius, Siiugethiere Deutschlands, p. 202. 



Type species. — Meles * Brisson = XJrsus meles Linnaeus. 



* Not ^^ Meles meles,^' the form in which this and other Brissonian 

 monomial specific names are often cited, apparently with the intention of 

 palliating the absurdity of recognising in nomenclature the terms applied 

 to genera by an author who did not follow the Linntean system. 



