189 



Family PROCYONID.E. 



In the classification hitherto followed, that of Professor Flower, 

 the Himalayan genus ^lurus is made into a separate family ; but 

 the differences from the American Procyonidai, comprising the 

 racoons (Procyori), kirikajou (Cercoleptes), and their allies, do not 

 appear sufficient to justify the separation. Hodgson pointed out 

 several characters in which JElurus agrees with the Procyonidw, 

 and others have been recorded by Mower. Blyth, in his Catalogue, 

 placed the genus between Cercoleptes and Procyon^ and the only 

 distinctions especially mentioned by Flower are the presence in 

 '^Elurus of an alisphenoid canal which is wanting in the American 

 "types, and the Asiatic habitat of the former genus. The case of 

 Vwe.rricula already mentioned shows that the presence of an 

 alisphenoid canal is not necessarily a character of importance, 

 whilst to admit geographical distribution as a reason for distin- 

 guishing biological groups appears a mistake, and liable to cause 

 incorrect ideas as to natural affinities and the relations of faunas 

 in different regions. I feel even doubtful whether a separate sub- 

 family is required for the Asiatic representative of the Procyonidce. 



The members of this family are distinguished by having two 

 true molars on each side, both in the upper and lower jaw. 



Genus JELURTJS, F. Cuvier (1825). 



This genus contains but a single species peculiar to the Hima- 

 layan, region. 



The head is round, the face short and broad, the eyes directed 

 forward, the pupil round, the ears well developed ; the limbs stout, 

 plantigrade, densely covered with hair below ; the claws large, 

 curved, sharp, and semiretractile. Tail long. Mammae 8. Ver- 

 tebra : C. 7, D. 14-15, L. 6-5, 8. 3, C. 18. 



Skull high and compressed. The zygomatic arches very strong 

 and much curved upwards. The coronoid process of the mandible 

 remarkably high, and the distance from the condyle to the angle 

 also unusually great, with the result that the ascending ramus of 

 the lower jaw is singularly developed. 



Dentition : i.-J, c. ~, pm. ~, m. |=|. The canines are much 

 compressed. The molar teeth are very peculiar (see figure), and 

 differ widely from those of all other Asiatic Carnivora. They are 

 very broad,' and the crowns are covered with numerous pointed 

 cusps ; these, when worn down, produce a pattern resembling that 

 on the molars of some Ungulates. The upper sectorial is smaller 

 than the first true molar, and semioval in shape, the inner lobe 

 very broad and furnished with three cusps, arranged in a triangle, 

 the inner smaller than the others. The second premolar is very 

 similar to the third or sectorial in shape, and like it has a third 



