576 CARNIVORA 



need description, but it may be mentioned that a full-grown 

 individual stands about a foot in height at the shoulder, and 

 measures from 2J to 3 feet in length. The young are born in 

 a naked and blind condition, usually in litters of three or four. 

 It appears that the usual period of gestation is about eleven 

 and a half months, but instances are recorded where the period 

 has been protracted to upwards of fifteen months. 



Fossil remains of the common Badger are found in the 

 Pleistocene deposits of Europe, while extinct species have been 

 described from the Lower Pliocene beds of Maragha, in Persia. 



Taxidea. 1 Dental formula as in Meles, except that the rudi- 

 mentary anterior premolar appears to be always wanting in the 

 upper jaw. The upper carnassial much larger in proportion to the 

 other teeth. Upper molar about the same size as the carnassial, 

 triangular, with the apex turned backwards. Talon of lower car- 

 nassial less than half the length of the tooth. Skull very wide in 

 the occipital region ; the lambdoidal crest very greatly developed, 

 and the sagittal but slightly, contrary to what obtains in Meles. 

 Vertebrae: C 7, D 15, L 5, S 3, C 16. Body very stoutly 

 built and depressed. Tail short. The animals of this genus are 

 peculiar to North America, where they represent the Badgers of 

 the Old World, resembling them much in appearance and habits. 

 T. americaiia is the common American Badger of the United States ; 

 T. berlandieri, the Mexican Badger, is perhaps only a local variety. 



Mellivwa.' 2 Dentition : if, c y, _p -, m \; total 32. Upper 

 carnassial large, with its inner tubercle quite at the anterior end 

 of the blade, as in the following genera ; molar much smaller and 

 transversely extended, having a very small outer and a larger 

 rounded inner lobe. Talon of lower carnassial very small, scarcely 

 one-fourth of the whole length of the tooth, and with but one cusp ; 

 lower tubercular molar absent. Vertebrae : C 7, D 14, L 4, S 4, C 15. 

 Body stout, depressed. Limbs short, strong. Head depressed, nose 

 rather pointed. External ears rudimentary. Tail short. The 

 animals of this genus are commonly called Ratels. M. indica from 

 India, and M. ratel (Fig. 264) from South and West Africa, have 

 nearly the same general appearance and size, being rather larger 

 than a common Badger. Their coloration is peculiar, all the upper 

 surface of the body, head, and tail being ashy gray, while the lower 

 parts, separated by a distinct longitudinal boundary line, are black. 

 The two species may be distinguished by the circumstance that 

 the African one has a distinct white line round the body at the 

 junction of the gray of the upper side with the black of the lower, 

 while in the Indian form this line is absent ; the teeth also of the 

 former are, on the whole, larger, rounder, and heavier than those of 



1 Waterhouse, Proc. Zool Soc. 1838, p. 154. 

 2 Storr, Prodromus Meth. Mamm. p. 34 (1780). 



