LIFE OF FLOWER 127 



paper by Flower in the volume for 1870 on the anatomy 

 of the Himalayan panda (JElurus fulgens.) 



The specimen on which the paper was based was the 

 first example of this remarkable animal which had ever 

 been dissected ; and the brain and viscera were described 

 at considerable length. The result of the dissection 

 was to confirm the author's previous opinion based on 

 the external characters and skeleton as to the near 

 affinity of JElurus to the American Procyonidte ; and it 

 was left somewhat an open question, whether it should 

 be included in that group, or regarded as the repre- 

 sentative of a family (JEhtrida) by itself. In after 

 years Mr. W. T. Blanford adopted the former view. In 

 the following year (1871) Flower contributed a note to 

 the Proceedings, recording the occurrence of a specimen 

 of the ringed seal (Phoca hispida) on the Norfolk coast 

 in 1846 ; and he also wrote a paper in the same 

 volume on the skeleton of one of the cassowaries. 

 The somewhat remarkable fact that the two-spotted 

 palm-civet (Nandinia binotata) differs from the other 

 genera of the same group by the absence of a blind 

 appendage, or caecum, to the intestine, was recorded by 

 Flower in the same serial for 1872. 



Of much more importance than either of the fore- 

 going were two contributions to mammalian anatomy 

 made by Sir William during the year last mentioned. 

 The one, which appeared in the Medical Times and 

 Gazette, was the report of " Lectures on the Comparative 

 Anatomy of the Organs of Digestion in the Mammalia, 

 delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons in February 

 and March, 1872." In this article, which is well 

 illustrated, will be found descriptions of the various 



