Zoological Society. 415 



of the external characters of Bassaris astuta, it appears to me that it 

 belongs to this (the subursine) group ;" and Mr. Blyth, in the trans- 

 lation of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, mentions the Bassaris imme- 

 diately after the Cercoleptes, and in a note very justly observes, 

 " Strong presumptive evidence that the Basset (Bassaris) does not 

 appertain to the Viverrine group is afforded by the restriction of 

 the geographic range of the latter to the eastern hemisphere in every 

 other instance. The presence or absence of a csecum vv^ould decide 

 the question." I am not aware whether this last-mentioned point 

 has ever been ascertained, but from the characters presented by the 

 cranium, I do not feel the slightest hesitation in referring this animal 

 to the subursine group. It is true that the teeth have some resem- 

 blance to those of the Vivcrree, but this only results from the greater 

 or less development of different cusps, being an adaptation to a more 

 carnivorous diet. The bony palate terminates more anteriorly than 

 is usual in the Weasels, but this circumstance only depends upon the 

 greater or less extension of a bony lamina, and I think is of but 

 little moment : the pterygoid appendages are rather feebly developed. 

 If then we constitute the Bears and Weasels one family, Ursida, 

 which I think the essential characters, however small they may ap- 

 pear, will readily warrant us in doing, we can then avail ourselves 

 of the ali- sphenoid canal and the adaptive modifications of dentition 

 to subdivide it into four subfamilies, namely Ursina, including only 

 the true Bears, and characterized by the presence of the ali-sphenoid 

 canal, and of two true molars on each side above and three below ; 

 the very remarkable genus Ailmnis, of India, will of itself constitute 

 a second subfamily Ailurina, having also the ali-sphenoid canal, but 

 onlj'^ two true molars below. In the third subfamily, Procyonina, I 

 would include Procyon, Nasua, Cercoleptes, and Bassaris, an entirely 

 American group, distinguished by the absence of the ali-sphenoid 

 canal and the same number of true molars as Ailurus ; and lastly, 

 the extensive group of Mustelina, characterized also by the absence 

 of the ali sphenoid canal, and having only one true molar on each 

 side above and two below. 



Of the remaining groups, I have already expressed my opinion that 

 the Cats and the Civets are the most nearly allied to each other. 

 Among the characters which I have assigned to them will be found 

 differences by which they may be distinguished from each other ; but 

 in the most remarkable and the greatest number of characters they 

 differ chiefly in degree. To each of these has been referred in turn 

 the group of Hyeenas, usually considered as allied to the Cats ; but 

 Mr. Waterhouse urges that the Viverrce have the stronger claim to 

 this aberrant genus. From the characters of the cranium, I should 

 consider it as rather more approaching to the Cats. In all skulls of 

 theHy^nathat I have seen,the ali-sphenoid canal is wanting, although 

 in the second edition of Cuvier's ' Lemons d' Anatomic Comparee' it is 

 affirmed that this canal (there called the vidian canal) is present, and 

 that the author possessed a skull in which it existed on one side but not 

 on the other. The roundness and want of division of the auditory bulla 

 and the minuteness of the canalis caroticus approximate the Hyaena 



