308 Mr. R. I. Pocock on the Baculum or 



described in a great many genera of Canidse, Ursidse, Pro- 

 cyonidse, and Mustelidse; and in the case of the Mustelidse 

 it was made the subject of a special paper by Pohl (Jena. 

 Zeitschr. xlv. pp. 381-394, 1909), who figured and described 

 the bone in the following genera and species : — Oalera 

 bnrbara } Lutra lutra, Gul > lussus, Meles meles, Zorilla zorilla, 

 Martes foina, Martes martes, Mustela erminea, Mustela ?iivalis, 

 and Putorius putorius *. 



During the past lew years I have collected the bacula of 

 a considerable number of Mustelidae that have died in the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society, and have verified the 

 observations published by Pohl and others on the following 

 species : — Lutra lutra\, Meles meles, Galera Barbara, Zorilla 

 striata, Martes foina and M. marten, Mustela erminea and 

 M. nivalis,- Putorius putorius, and Qulo gulo. To these I 

 am now able to add Grison furax and Charronia flavigula, of 

 which the bacula have not been previously described appa- 

 rently, and I have taken the opportunity of figuring and 

 describing it in Mellivora, because it was very indifferently 

 described and left unfigured by Gilbert. 



Attention may again be drawn to the singular differences 

 between the bacula of Mustela erminea and M. nivalis. By 

 the shape of the bone the latter falls into the same category 

 as Mustela (Putorius) putorius and fur o. In M. ofricana the 

 bone is shaped substantially as in M. nivalis. 



I may add that the tip of the glans penis in the Mustelida3 

 is composed of highly vascular erectile tissue, which, when 

 distended with blood, fills the concavity of the bone formed 

 by the upcurvatuie of its distal end. 



Genus Charronia, Gray. 



Martes, section c, Charronia, Gray, Cat. Carn. Brit. Mus. 18G9, p. 80 ; 

 type, flav iff ul-a, Bennett. 



The characters embodied by Gray in his definition of 

 Charronia were of little or no systematic value. Down to 

 the present time therefore the large Oriental marten (M.flavi- 

 gula) has been invariably assigned to the genus Martes. It 

 appears to me, however, that the structure of the baculum, 



* Pohl, it should be explained, referred foina and martes to the genus 

 Mustela and erminea and nivalis to the genus Ictis. I have here altered 

 his terminology to bring the names into accord with recent usage. Since 

 the memoir contains references to previously published works upon the 

 subject in hand, I have not troubled to cite them in this paper. 



t Lonnberg has figured and described the baculum of the sea-otter 

 Letax lutris (Anat. Anz. xxxviii. p. 231, 1911). 



