578 



CARNIVORA 



Helictis. 1 Dentition : i f , c |, p -, m total 38. Upper 

 carnassial with a large bicuspid inner tubercle ; upper molar 

 smaller, wider transversely than in the antero-posterior direction. 

 Lower carnassial with talon about one-third the length of the tooth. 



Skull elongated, 



^ rather narrow 



and depressed. 

 Facial portion 



^IIS^V "^ especially nar- 



row. Infra- 

 orbital foramen 

 very large. 

 Head rather 

 small and pro- 

 duced in front, 

 with an elon- 

 gated, obliquely 

 truncated, naked 

 snout. Ears 

 small. Body 



elongated. Limbs short. Tail short or moderate, bushy. Several 

 species are described (H. orientalis, personata [Fig. 265], moscJmta, 

 subaurantiaca), all from Eastern Asia ; they are all small animals 

 compared with the other members of the subfamily, climbing trees 

 with agility and living much on fruit and berries as well as on 

 small mammals and birds. The two first named species occur in 

 British India, H. mientalis also ranging into Java ; the Chinese 

 H. subaurantiaca is brilliantly coloured in the region of the throat. 2 



FIG. 265. Helictis personata. (From Blanford, Mammalia of British 

 India, p. 175.) 



FIG. 266. Left lateral and superior aspect of the brain of Helictis sabaurantiam. (From 

 Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879, p. 307.) 



The brain of Helictis, represented in the accompanying figure, 

 shows the general type of cerebral structure characteristic of the 

 Mustelidce. The brain of this genus differs, however, from that 

 of every other Carnivore in that the hippocampal gyrus rises to 

 the surface on either side of the great longitudinal fissure, in 

 1 Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1831, p. 94. 2 Garrod, ibid. 1879, pi. xxix. 



