80 MELIDIDJE. 



belongs to this last group, which has a much finer fur than the Badger 

 and Ratels, and a more carnivorous dentition. 



The next animal has a less heavy and more lengthened form. 



Gen. HELICTIS, Gray. 



5 5 



Char. Molars , the upper flesh-tooth three-lobed, with a wide 



6 6 



two-pointed inner process ; upper tuberculate tooth moderate, transverse ', 

 the lower one small. Head and body somewhat lengthened ; feet short ; 

 soles naked almost to the heel ; nails strong, the anterior ones long, 

 compressed, fossorial ; tail moderate, cylindric. 



This genus was founded on the Gulo orientalis of Horsfield, and appears 

 to be a sort of link between the Badgers and Martens. It is stated to be 

 rather carnivorous in its habits, and to exhale a musky odour. It is not 

 unlike, in general appearance, the Mydaus meliceps, figured by Horsfield, 

 of which it has the colouring, viz., pale-brownish with a white dorsal 

 stripe, but it is more slender in its habit and a different dentition, nearly 

 indeed that of Gulo. 



95. Helictis nipalensis. 



Gulo, apud HODGSON, J. A. S., V. 237, and YI. 560. BLYTH, Cat- 

 208. Oker of the Nepalese. 



THE NEPAL WOLVERINE. 



Descr. Above earthy-brown, below with the edge of the upper lip, 

 and insides of the limbs, and terminal half of the tail yellowish ; a white 

 mesial stripe from the nape to the hips ; and a white band across the 

 forehead, spreading on the cheeks, and confluent with the paler colour of 

 the lower surface ; tail cylindric, tapering, about half the length of the 

 animal ; half the planta naked ; fur of two sorts, long, not harsh. 



Length, head and body 16 inches; tail 7|, 9 with the hair. 



The form of this animal, says Hodgson, is decidedly musteline from 

 snout to the tail, with, however, fossorial fore-feet, and sub-plantigrade, 

 and therefore unsuited either for raptatory or scansorial habits. 



There is no account of its habits or food, but Horsfield states of its 

 Malayan representative, Helictis orientalis, to which the Nepal animal 

 appears very closely allied, that it is more carnivorous than Mydaus, living 



