Chmsificatiou of the Mongoosen. T)!? 



expressed liin views regarding the true athnitieaof the genera, 

 or whether the arrangemenf, in its entir«»ty or in part, was 

 merely n matter of convenience for the determination of the 

 genera, I am not Hure. 



Mivarl's clasHilication was puhlishcd in the same year us 

 that of Thoma.s (P. Z. S. 1882, p. l^fj). He poitited out 

 that the genera may ho arranged in various ways, »'. c, 

 according to the number of anal glands, the number of digits, 

 the number of teeth, and the presence or absence of the sub- 

 nasal groove ; and it is quite clear, I think, that Mivart had 

 no preference for one category over another. The use he 

 made of the anal glands has already been discussed (P. Z. S. 

 p. iJtJd, HUG). With regard to the other groups, by the 

 number of toes Suricata is ranged alongside lideopale, by the 

 character of the upper lip it falls with Rhinogale and Cros- 

 sarchus, by the number of premolar teeth it is associated with 

 Uelognls and C'rossarchus. 



iSuticatn has been selected here as a test of Mivarl's proposed 

 classification, because, in in}- opinion, the simple struotuie of 

 the ear in that genus shows that it cannot be closely affiliated 

 with any other genera of mongooses, all of which have com- 

 plicated highly specialized ears ; and this conclusion further 

 suggests that the suppression of the divisional line of the 

 upper lip may be an intlependently acquired resemblance 

 between Suricata and C'rossarchus or Rhynchogale. 



From a comparison of the genera, admitted in my pa])er in 

 11)16, both mutually and with those of the subfamilies of the 

 Viverridse, it may be assumed as a working hypothesis that 

 the immediate ancestor of the mongooses possessed the 

 following characters: — 



1. The snout was of moderate length, and a naked grooved 

 strip of skin (philtrum) extended from the ihinariunj, which 

 had a deep infranarial portion, to the edge of the upper lip. 



2. The cheek-teeth, consisting of four premolars and two 

 molars above and below on each side, were of a crushing and 

 cuspidate rather than of a shearing and piercing t\ pe, with the 

 upper earnassial ( jnn*) set well in front of the posterior angle 

 ot the cheek where the interior edge of the zygoma rises, 

 thus leaving space behind tur two well-develo|ied molars, the 

 liist molar of tlie uiandiblc being also well developed *. 



* If it he claimed, aa it may be claimed, thnt the ancestral form had 

 tlie Bperialized carnivorous dentition of tlie kind t>een in Muiujaf, tLi-ii 

 tliRt j.'fmi!», hetting a.^ide the ear, differs but little from the hvjxjthetical 

 progenitor of the group, and the more generalized onuiivonms dentition 

 of auch form." as Ichnfumia and Crotsaichui hn^ been .HocondHrilv acquired. 

 A similar argument applied to the subfamilies of Viverrid.'e will involve 



Auii. tO May. N. Hist, fcjer. 9. Vol. iii. \\\. 



