194 Mr. O. Thomas on Ferret- Badgers. 
to the other two groups and more or less near some common 
ancestor of theirs *. 
The following synopsis gives a brief indication of the . 
characters by which the three genera may be distinguished :— 
A. Outer edge of p* distinctly convex. _ 
a. Teeth largeand heavy. P2 disproportionally 
larger than p,. Baculum bifid, the ter- 
minal prongs much thickened, and one of 
them forming a curved crest........+... 1. Melogale. 
Range. Mainland area from Nepal to Cochin China, and Java. 
Genotype. Melogale personata, Geoff. 
b. Teeth small. P, not disproportionally larger 
than p,. Baculum bifid, but the prongs 
simple, scarcely thickened, and not crested. 2. WNesictis, gen. nov. 
Range. North Borneo. 
Genotype. WN. everett (Helictis everettr, Thos.). 
B. Outer edge of p' straight or faintly concave 
mesially. 
ce. Teeth small. P, not disproportionally larger 
than p,. Baculum trifid, with three 
slightly thickened terminal prongs set in a 
UTTANONGH eeu hie ice cue eaeke Ge teeter Chased 3. Helictis. 
Range. Assam, China from Canton to Shanghai, Hainan, Formosa. 
Genotype. Helictis moschata, Gray. 
Three new forms of the group appear to need description :— 
Melogale personata laotum, subsp. n. 
Size averaging a little less than in true personata of Pegu. 
General colour slightly greyer, less brown, and with more 
grey suffusion on the sides of the lower surface. 
Teeth smaller, the molar especially smaller than in per- 
sonata. In three specimens of personata the carnassial has 
a greatest diameter of 10:3, 10:2, 9°3 mm., while in five of 
laotum this dimension is 9°2, 9:0, 9:0, 9:0, 8°6. The differ- 
ence is more marked in the molar, its greatest diameter in 
personata 9:0, 8:9, 8°7, and in factum 82, 8:2, 8:1, 8-1, 7°7, 
with its internal antero-posterior diameter 5°5, 5°d, 5°2, as 
* A specimen of M. personata from Rangoon, which lived in the 
Zoological Gardens, and has been kindly lent to me by Mr. Pocock, 
presents the difficulty that its baculum is almost exactly like that of 
Nesictis everett?. But the specimen is immature, with its bones and 
teeth in poor condition, and the penis-bone itself not of the hard glossy 
substance that is usual in well-grown bacula. I believe that this is a 
case of arrested development due to confinement and immaturity, the 
arrest having taken place at the same stage of growth as that shown in 
the adult by the annectant and perhaps ancestral Nesictis. 
