204 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY, 
first Family, and by others ifthe second. «It may be observed 
that the AZustelide, together with the Urside (Bears), differ 
from the /edide and Vizerride, in the absence of a partition in 
the auditory bulla of the skull, as well as in certain other struc- 
tural features of the same region. In consequence ‘of these 
essential differences, the /elide and Viverride, together with the 
allied Families of the Hyanide and Proteleide, have been bri- 
gaded together in one primary group with the designation of 
A®luroidea ; while the Mustelide and Urside have been linked 
as the Arctoidea. The intimate connection-shown to exist by 
fossil forms between the Civets and Weasels on the one. hand, 
and betwixt Dogs and Bears-on the other, indicates, however, 
that such associations are altogether erroneous, and that the 
absence of the partition in the auditory bullz of the Weasels 
and Bears is in all probability. an acquired character which 
has arisen independently in the two groups. : 
Whether the two genera now under consideration-should be 
placed in the Viverride or in the Mustelide is a matter ‘of -but 
comparatively little moment, seeing that when we’ come ta 
primitive annectant types classification, as adopted in thé°case 
of recent animals, becomes a practical impossibility. Since) 
however, in the second of the two genera there is, atleast, a 
trace of the partition in the auditory bulla, the writer considers 
it preferable that they should be placed here. Wat Oi Be 
Palaoprionodon is characterised by usually having ‘Liat a 
single pair of upper molar teeth, although there are two pairs 
in the lower jaw, and its dentition corresponds, therefore, 
numerically with that of the Linsangs in the present Family, as 
well as with the majority of Weasels. In the general characters 
of the base of the skull, and especially in the presence of an 
alisphenoid eanal, the genus resembles ‘the more typical. Vzzer- 
ride, although the position of the so-called condylar foramen 
at the hinder part of the base of the skull, as well as the pres- 
