External Characters o/Cynogale beiinettil. 357 



more webbed than in related genera. But if Cynogale were 

 known only from its feet, the amphibious habits of the genus 

 could not Ije safely inferred from their structure. 



Tlie oft-repeated statement that the digits are short is 

 not true, if by that is meant that they are shorter than in 

 allied forms. The pollex and the iiallux are relatively longer, 

 and the remaining digits are certainly not shorter, than in 

 other genera of this group. 



As regards the nakedness of the soles of the feet, there is 

 little, if anything, to choose between those of Ct/no(/a!e and of 

 Pugunia or Paradoxurus. Broadly speaking, the feet are 

 essentially Paradoxurine, as opposed to Viverrine, in the 

 matter of nakedness — that is to say, in the hind foot the 

 heel (tarsus) only is hairy, the whole of the underside of tiie 

 metatarsus and the area surrounding the plantar pads being 

 naked. Similarly, in the fore foot the naked area of the 

 carpal ])ads is as wide and nearly as long as the plantar pad, 

 and there is no hair anywhere between the edges of the webs 

 and the posterior border of the carpal pads. In both fore 

 and hind feet the lobes of the plantar pads are well developed 

 and well defined by grooves from each other, the poUical and 

 hallucal lobes being large. On the fore foot the external or 

 ulnar carpal pad forms a large prominent upstanding ridge. 

 The inner or radial element lying behind the pollical lobe 

 of the plantar pad is, on the contrary, scarcely detectable. 

 On the hind feet there are only very indistinct and broken 

 ridges lying on each side of the metatarsus behind the 

 plantar pad. On both foi'e and hind feet the pads themselves, 

 as well as the adjacent naked integument, are, comparatively 

 speaking, smooth. 



The claws are not nearly so strongly curved as in the 

 typically arboreal Paradoxurines, are imperfectly retractile, 

 and are unguarded by skin-lobes or hairs at the base. 



As in most Garni vora, the fore foot is broader than the 

 liind foot. 



The scent-gland (PI. XIV. figs. 6, 7, 8),— With regard to 

 this organ, Mivart wrote in 188.2 : — " I can find no record 

 as to the existence of any prescrotal gland or as to the con- 

 dition of its anal region.^'' I am not aware that the gland 

 has been described, but it is unmistakably present in the 

 adult female example above mentioned. 



The region of the anus and the vulva is covered by a 

 continuous area of naked skin, irregularly piriform in outline. 

 The vulva is at its anterior and the arms at its posterior end. 

 The former orifice is considerably closer to the latter than 



Ann. cD Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 8. Vol. xv. 24 



