482 



THE CAT. 



[CHAP. xni. 



the large, arboreal, and in many respects exceptional Viverrine the 

 Binturong (Arctitis). 



The ViverridcB have a rather elongated head and muzzle, and they 

 have almost always two tubercular molars in the upper jaw and one 

 in the lower. Of true molars (as distinguished from premolars) 

 there are two above and two below on each side of each jaw. The 

 teeth may vary in shape, from largely sectorial though never as in 

 the cats to mainly tubercular. The csecum is small and simple, or 

 may be, by very rare exception, absent. Cowper's glands are 

 present, and the prostate gland is salient and lobed. The penis 

 may be devoid of any bone, or if there is one it is small and 

 irregular in shape. Often, as in the civet, there are largely 

 developed scent-glands. 



In the cranial characters the whole of the Yiverrines show great 



Fig. 201. THE ICHNETTMON (Herpestes ichneumon) (Flower). 



a. Posterior end of all-sphenoid canal. 

 a'. Its anterior termination. 

 am. Meatus atiditorius externus. 

 c. Condyloid foramen. 

 car. Carotid foramen. 



e. Eustachian canal. 



1. Foramen lacerum postering. 



m. Mastoid. 



o. Foramen pvale. 



p. Par-occipital process. 



uniformity. There is generally a distinct ali-sphenoid canal. The 

 auditory bulla is large, smooth and rounded, and consists of two 

 portions separated by a nearly complete septum, much as in the cat, 

 except that the chamber which corresponds with the inner chamber 

 of the cat's bulla, is posterior in situation. The carotid canal is 

 larger than in the cat, and may run through a canal in the petrosal 

 (as in Herpestes), or may be merely represented by a groove on 

 the inner side of the auditory bulla. In Herpestes and allied forms, 

 the artery, after emerging, runs along for a short distance before 

 re-entering the cranium. The par-occipital process is widened, 

 spread out, and closely applied to the posterior surface of the 



