76 MELIDID.'E. 



Other animals placed in this family, but classed in a separate sub- 

 family, ProcyonincB by Gray, are the Racoons of North America, Procyon ; 

 the Coatimondis {Nasua), from the warmer parts of the same continent, 

 and the Kinkajou or Potto, Cercoleptes, from South America. This last 

 very curious animal has a long prehensile tail, an extensile tongue, and 

 the flesh-tooth tuberculated. The Racoons have three pointed false molars 

 above, and three tuberculated molars. They have a moderately long tail, 

 and live chiefly on animal food, eggs, &c. The Coatimondis have longer 

 tails and sharper snouts than Racoons, and their feet are semi-palmate, 

 but they have similar dentition, and live on worms, slugs, small animals, 

 and birds' eggs, &c. 



The animals next in succession do not quite bring the heel to the 

 ground in walking, though they often rest on it, and they constitute the 



Tribe Semi-plantigrada, of Blyth. 



They form part of the Plantigrada of Cuvier, and part also of his 

 Digitigrada, and may be divided into Melidce or Badgers, and their affines ; 

 and JIustelidce or Weasels and Martens ; with a sub-family for the Otters, 

 Lutrince. Blyth, in his Catalogue, classes them in three sub-families of 

 one gi-eat family, Mustelidce. None of them have more than one true molar 

 above, and another below, which, however, vaiy miich in development, 

 and the flesh-tooth is most marked in those in which the tuberculate is 

 least developed, and vice versd. The great and small intestines differ little 

 in calibre, and many of them can diSvise at will a disgusting stench. 



Melidid^, Badger-like animals. 



Molars 4, or sometimes 5 above, 4, 5, or G in each side in the lower 

 jaw, only one true tuberculated tooth on each side in the upper jaw; 

 prajmolars compressed and cutting ; the flesh-tooth usually with a large 

 blunt tubercle on the inside ; ears small, or rudimentary ; anterior feet 

 with large claws, fossorial in some. 



The Badgers and their affines differ from the Weasels and Martens by 

 their heavy form, stout limbs, and more inactive gait, by their decidedly 

 fossorial claws (in some), and their harsh coarse hair ; and in this group are 

 comprised most of those animals that have the power of diff'using a fetid 

 stench. They are, moreover, entirely ground animals. They ordinarily 

 erect their tail, and most of them are more or less striped longitudinally. 



