External Characters o/Galidiaj &c. 353 



of CynogaJe benrieltn\]\ave recently described (Ann. & Map^. 

 Nat. Hist. (8) XV. p. 358, pl.xiv. fig-. 8, 1915) ; and, second, 

 that the organ is present only in the female. This must be 

 admitted as quite possible, despite tlie better develo|)nietit of 

 the gland in the males than in the females of the Viverrinse 

 and Paradoxurinse. If tliis |nove to be so the fact will l)e 

 one of very great interest, for, taken in conjunction with 

 certain archaic characters of Galidia and h'afidtcti's, it 

 suggests that this organ may originally have been a sexual 

 character acquired first by the female to help the male find 

 her and, subsequently, by the male for the opposite purpose. 

 However that may be, the present state of our knowledge 

 only justifies the statement that the gland is present in the 

 females of the two genera under discussion. 



It may be added that Miss Carlsson's figure of the gland in 

 the female Galidia eletjans (PI. XIV. fig. 3) shows that it is a 

 perineal pocket, the labia of which pass forwards in front of the 

 vulva and clitoris, foresliadowing the condition seen in Para- 

 doxurus and Faguma, as I have recently pointed out (P. Z. S. 

 11)1 5, pp. 401-405) ; but, as in the Viverrines, the walls of the 

 space are covered with short hair. It is also interesting to 

 note that an examination of dried skins of Galidia and 

 Galidictis shows that the prepuce is situated far in advance 

 of the scrotum, as in Fossa and Cryptoprocta, imd that this 

 character alone serves to separate the genera concerned from 

 the n)ongooses. The absence of the anal pouch and the 

 structure of the ear, which has a well-developed marginal 

 bursa and a long and strong tragus-bearing crest, further 

 distinguish Galidia and Gahaictis from the mongooses. 



Nothing is known a[)parently about the presence or absence 

 of scent-glands in Mungotictis and Salanoia. The provisional 

 inference as to their presence — at all events, in the female — • 

 is justified by the many likenesses and few unlikenesses 

 between those genera and Galidia and Galidictis. 



The Vibrissce, Rkinarium, and Ear. — Tiie tutts of facial 

 vibrissse are normal in number and situation, consisting of 

 niystacial, supraocular, and two genal on each side and ot an 

 interramal in the middle line ot the throat. The individual 

 vibrissae are mostly long. 



The rhinarium, judging from dried skins, is small, as in 

 the genets and mongooses. The upper lip is cleft and the 

 groove marking it extends at least up to the sunmiit of the 

 anterior surface. The infranarial portion is deep, but not 

 laterally extended as a broad band beneath the slit of the 

 nostril. Seen from above, the anterior edge of the upper 



