MR. T. BELL ON THE GENUS GALICTIS, 203 
them. I wish however to be understood as offering this suggestion respecting the ana- 
logical relation between Galictis and Ratellus as still doubtful ; for I cannot but feel it 
to be a far more difficult matter to decide upon these relations than some naturalists of 
the present day appear to consider it. That relations of analogy between the members 
of different groups do exist, there cannot perhaps be any reasonable doubt ; that such 
analogies do in many instances, and would in all, were our information less limited, 
assist us in the determination of the affinities of correlative groups, may also possibly 
be true; but that these relations are to be perceived at a single glance, that they are 
to be picked up, as it were, by every careless passer-by, and forced with all the confi- 
dence of undisputed authority into the service of every fabricator of systems, is incon- 
sistent with the modesty of true science, derogatory from its dignity, and calculated 
only to bring the study of zoology itself into contempt. 
Fam. Mustexip2. 
Genus GALictIis. 
Dentes molares spurii.— 
Rostrum breve ; 
Palme atque plante nudz subplantigrade ; 
Ungues breviusculi, curvi, acuti ; 
Corpus elongatum, depressum. 
1. GauicrTis vITTATA. 
Tas. XXXV. 
Gal. vertice, collo, dorso, atque caudé flavescenti-griseis ; rostro, guld et pectore fuscescenti- 
nigris ; fascia a fronte usque ad humeros flavescenti-albidd ; pilis longis laxis. 
Viverra vittata. Scuresers, Saugth. p. 447, t. cxxiv. Gmel. Syst. Nat. Linn. i. p. 89. 
Ursus Brasiliensis. 'Tauns. Mem. Acad. Petersb. vi. p. 401, t. xiii. 
Lutra vittata. Traitt, Mem. Wern. Soc. iii. p. 437, t. xix. 
Gulo vittatus. Dresmar. Mammal. pp. 175, sp. 268; Isip. Gzorrr. in Dict. Class. vii. 
p. 384; Frep. Cuv. in Dict. des Sc. Nat. xix. p. 79. 
Galictis vittata. Brxx, Zool. Journ. ii. p. 552. 
Petit furet. D’Azara, Essai sur l’Hist. Nat. de Parag. (Trad. Franc.) i. p. 190. 
Fouine de la Guyane. Burron, Suppl. iii. p. 161, t. xxiii. 
Grison. Suaw, Gen. Zool. i, p. 392; Cuv. Reg. An. i. p. 146; Frep. Cuv. Mam. i. 
Habitat in Guyana, Paraguay, Brazilia. 
The general form, attitudes, and movements of this animal resemble those of the com- 
mon Polecat. The head is depressed ; the muzzle moderately acute, but not attenuated, 
projecting beyond the lower jaw; the eyes are moderately large, the iris dark brown, or 
nearly black ; the ears short, broad, and rounded ; the teeth are almost exactly similar 
