120 



adclltional facts contributed in consequence to tlie science which 

 it is our object to advance. 



" It is not in my province to enter upon an external description 

 of the Kinkajou, nor is such an account no\v reąuired, since it has 

 already beeii given, vvith raore or less of detail, by the best syste- 

 matic zoologists of the lašt half century. Its interest, as an 

 osculant form, may be gathered by a simple reference to the modes 

 in which it has been considered and classified by difterent authors, 

 and to the synonyms indicative of the different degrees of import- 

 ance attributed by them to its outvvard peculiarities. Classed 

 among the Viverridce by Shaw, under the name of the prehensile 

 Weasel, and raised to the Qiiadrumana by Pennant, as the yellovo 

 Macauco, it holds a somenhat intermediate station in the system of 

 Cuvier, who places it in the Platitigrade family of Carnivora, under 

 the generic name Cercoleptes, applied to it by Illiger. 



" In the follovving description of the anatomy of the Cercoleptes, 

 I shall therefore consider it with reference more especially to the 

 Lemures and the Plantigrade Carnivora. 



" The specimen measured in length, from the end of the nose to 

 the root of the tail, 1 foot 4- inches ; and the length of the tail was 

 1 foot 5 inches. 



" There were no clavicles, not even in a rudimentary statė. The 

 clavicular portion of the sterno-mastoideiis arose from the cartilage 

 of the firšt rib, and the corresponding portion of the deltoid from the 

 transverse processes of the lower cervical vertebra. 



*• The abdominal viscera were protected by a large omentum 

 streaked vvith fat. The cesopkagus vvas continued about an inch 

 into the abdomen, and entered the stomach about an inch from the 

 left extremity. The pyloric extremity of the stomach vvas bent up- 

 wards abruptly, and suddenly became narrovv. 



" The duodenum made a large semicircular sweep dovvnvvards, 

 backwards, and to the left, being loosely connected by a wide du- 

 plicature ofperitoneum for the greater part of its course ; it was also 

 connected vvith the colon by a fold of peritoneum continued from it. 

 The remainder of the intestinal canal vvas disposed in rather large 

 folds, connected to a mesentery about 2 inches broad, in vvhich the 

 mesenteric vessels formed only a single series of arches. The dia- 

 meter of the small intestine vvas about half an inch, becoming 

 somevvhat less tovvards the colon. There vvas a slight constriction 

 indicating exteriorly the commencement of the large intestine, and 

 better marked vvithin by a sudden thickening of the muscular coat, 

 and the commencement of a fevv narrovv longitudinal folds of the mu- 

 cous membrane, but there vvas no ceccum. 



" The vvhole length of the intestinal canal was 6 feet 6 inches ; 

 the length of the large intestine vvas only 5 inches. At its termi- 

 nation it became very muscular, and the lining membrane vvas 

 thrown into irregularly transverse rug(E. In the ręst of the intes- 

 tinal canal, vvith the exception of the longitudinal folds above men- 

 tioned, the mucous membrane vvas smooth and uniform. 



