External Characters of GaWiWvk, d^c. 355 



backwards from the ratlier short, naked, depressed area 

 between the carpal and the plantar pads. 



The hind foot (PL XIV. fig. 1) is naked back to the heel. The 

 digits and plantar pad resemble in a general way those of the 

 fore foot. Two metatarsal pads are retained. The inner, the 

 thicker of the two, is separated from the hallucal lobe of the 

 plantar pad. The outer, which is thinner and subfusiform, is 

 set lower down. Its proximal end is in contact, or nearly so, 

 witii the middle of the admedian edi-e of the inner lobe ; its 

 distal end runs downwards and ceases before reaching the 

 plantar pad, the interval between the two being a little less 

 than that which separates the inner metatarsal pad from the 

 hallucal lobe of the plantar pad. 



None of the examples of Galidia which I have seen bear 

 out Mivart's statement (P. Z. S. 1882, p. 188) that " the 

 tarsus and metatarsus are covered beneath with sparse short 

 hairs, or are more or less inclined to be bald.'^ The feet 

 appear to me to be quite naked beneath. 



From an examination of dried skins it appears that the 

 feet of Galidictis differ in the main from those of Galidia in 

 having tiie digits longer, less fully webbed, and provided with 

 longer claws, those of the fore feet being especially elongated. 

 lu these respects they recall the feet of the true mongooses, 

 but, as is also the case in Galidia, the pollex and hallux are 

 lower down than in those animals, thus attesting a more 

 primitive type of foot. The fore foot, moreover, is more 

 markedly asymmetrical than in Galidia, the third digit being 

 considerably longer than the fourth and the tifth being 

 set far back so as to be only a little in advance of the pollex 

 and considerably behind the second digit. Tlie loot, in fact, 

 approaches the " perissodactyl '^ type more closely than in 

 any living carnivore I have seen, in the sense that the long 

 thud digit lies nearly in the n)iddle line and is flanked by the 

 second and fourtli, which are not very unequal in length, 

 with the first and the tilth much shorter and higher up. 

 This arrangement is not noticeable on the hind foot (PI. XV. 

 fig. 3), which is artiodactyl, the middle line passing between 

 the third and fourth, which are subequal, the second on the 

 inner side of the foot balancing the fifth on the outer side. 



The feet of Mungotictis are similar to those of Galidictis, 

 except that the heel is naked and not hairy (PI. XV. tigs. 1, 2). 



The Pattern. — Apart from the annulalion of the tail in 

 Galidia, this genus and Salanoia show no trace of pattern. 

 Galidictis and Mungotictis, on the other hand, have a definite 

 pattern of longitudinal stripes on the body, and Galidictis, in 

 addition, shows spots or stripes on the base of the tail. 



