THE ANNALS 



MAGAZINE OF NAT[JRAL HISTORY. 



[EIGHTH SERIES.] 

 No. 102. JUNE 1916. 



XL VI II. — On some of the External Characters of 

 Cryptoprocta. By R. I. Pocock, F.R.S. 



The personal observations recorded in this paper are based 

 upon an adult male example of Cryptoprocta ferox that died 

 in the Zoological Gardens on Jan. 2, 1914. 



Although the Fossa {Cryptoprocta), as befits its im- 

 portance, has probably received more anatomical attention 

 than any single genus of Carnivora, no pretext is needed 

 for publishing an account of its external characters, because 

 the too brief account of some of its organs by previous 

 writers has led to the omission of records of interest and 

 the current descriptions of a few require explanation or 

 correction. 



Second-hand accounts of the animal^ such as are contained 

 in zoological text-books and natural histories, have not been 

 quoted in the following pages ; but to avoid repetition of 

 titles in the text, I subjoin a list of the principal original 

 memoirs dealing with its external features : — 



Bennett, Tr. Zool. Soc. London, i. pp. 137-140 (1835). 

 Mihie-Edwards and Grandidier, Ann, Sci. Nat. Zool. (5) 



vii. pp. 314-336 (1867). 

 Schlegel and Pollen in Pollen and Van der Dam, ' Faune 



de Madagascar/ ii. p. 13 (1868). 

 Mivart, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1882, pp. 193-196 and 519-520. 

 Filhol, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, cxviii. p. 1060 (1894). 

 Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 8. Vol. xvii. 2b 



