104 



CABNIVOBA. 



Genus HERPESTES, Illiger 1 . 



Dentition:-!. J, C. \, Pm. g^' M. f. In existing forms the inner 

 cusp of the lower carnassial is well developed and its talon short. 

 S~2 is short, with three main cusps ; pm . 4 has a cusp on its poste- 

 rior cutting-edge. Fossil forms seem to indicate a complete tran- 

 sition from Viverra to Herpestes. 



Herpestes miniums (Filhol 2 ). 

 Syn. Viverra minima, Filhol 3 . 

 Hob. France. 



M. 1372. The greater portion of the right ramus of the mandible, 



(Fig.} containing all the cheek-teeth, and showing the broken 



base of the canine ; from the Upper Eocene of Caylux 



(Tarn-et-Garonne), France. This specimen, which is 



represented in the accompanying woodcut (fig. 13), on an 



Fig. 13. 



Herpestes minimus. Part of the right ramus of the mandible ; 

 from the Upper Eocene of Caylux. f. 



enlarged scale, appears to agree exactly with the less per- 

 fect specimen figured by Filhol in the Ann. Sci. Geol. 

 vol. viii. pi. xx. figs. 334, 336, under the name of Viverra 

 minima. The first premolar is present, and of compara- 

 tively large size ; and there is a large inner cusp to the 

 carnassial. The space occupied by the six cheek-teeth 

 measures 0,022, or the same as in the type specimen. 

 The present specimen is very slightly larger than the 

 mandible of the existing Indian Herpestes nipalensis, but is 

 otherwise very similar. The only points of difference, 

 indeed, between the two are that m7~2 is relatively larger in 

 the fossil, that the cusp on the posterior cutting-edge of 

 pm. 4 is placed on the median line, instead of to the outer 



1 Prodromus Syst. Mamm. p. 135 (1811). 



a Ann. Sci. Geol. vol. vii. art. 7, p. 150 (1876), Viverra. 



1 Loc. tit. 



