78 . MELIDID^J. 



as food, and refused all kinds of meat. Another would eat meat, fish, 

 and used to burrow and grope under the walls of the bungalow for worms 

 and shells.* 



Evans found on dissection, the tongue large, broad, and soft; the stomach 

 simple, no caecum, 5 lobes to the liver. There was a caudal pouch directly 

 under the origin of the tail (as in the Badger) secreting a brown unctuous 

 matter like the wax of the ear. Blyth described a second species, 

 A. taxoides, from Sylhet and Assam ,much smaller than the last, and 

 with a longer and finer coat. 



One of the earliest figures of this animal is to be found in the well- 

 known Bewick's Quadrupeds. 



Gen. MELLIVORA, Storr. 



Syn. Ratelus, BENNETT. Ursitaxus, HODGSON. 



4. 



Char. Molars ; 2 false molars above and 3 below ; the tuber- 



5 5 

 culate tooth in the upper jaw transverse, smaller than the flesh-tooth ; 



the lower flesh-tooth with the edge sharp, tricuspidate ; the upper one 

 has the anterior and inner tubercles conical ; no external ear j only a 

 cutaneous border round the external auditory meatus ; head rather short ; 

 feet short ; tail very short ; hair long, rigid ; anterior claws very strong. 

 This is another form very nearly allied to the Badgers in general appear- 

 ance, but still more ursine in its short tail and habit. It was founded on 

 an African animal, the Cape or Honey Ratel, so very similar that it is 

 only lately that they have been allowed to be distinct. The female has 

 four teats. The male genital organ is bony and spirally annulated. On each 

 side of the anus there is a hollow gland with a distinct tubular canal 

 opening by a round pore on the caudal margin. Each gland is large 

 enough to contain a walnut, and the secretion is dark, thick, and fetid. 



94. Mellivora indica* 



Ursus apud SHAW. HARDWICKE, Linn. Tran. IX. 115, with figure. 

 Ursitaxus inauritus, HODGSON, As. Res. XIX. 60, with figure. Ratelus 

 indicus, SCHINZ. M. ratel, apud BLYTH, Cat. 207. Biju, H., Biyu 

 khatvar, Tel., in the Hyderabad country. Tava karadi, Tarn. Bajru 

 bhdl, at Bhagulpore. 



* Journal As. Soc., IX. 732. 



