252 PHYSIOLOGICAL si Kl I- 



The object of this lengthy digression is not so much to 

 interpret the individual condition here present :i que-tioii 

 of small moment but to emphasise the variability and 

 morphological instability of the " feline Sylvian fissure" 

 and its compensatory ectosylvian sulci. It is only when 

 the "feline Sylvian " becomes blended with the stable 

 suprasylvian sulcus, as in Myrmecophaga and the Primate-, 

 that the real ** Sylvian fissure " can be said to exist in a 

 really stable condition. 



An irregular horizontal sulcus extends forward from the 

 upper end of the ectosylvian in this specimen and, together 

 with the several pit-like markings, represents the anterior 

 ectosylvian sulcus. [Compare the condition in Felts onca, 

 D. 297.] 



Otherwise this specimen affords an admirable demon- 

 stration of the typical features of the Carnivore brain. Note 

 the prominent tubercle of the olfactory tract in the vallecula 

 Sylvii (the depression between the tuberculum olfactorium 

 and the natiform, caudal part of the pyriform lobe) : the 

 well-defined tractus peduncularis transversus of Gudden 

 (Wilder's cimbia) on the lateral aspect of the crus cerebri: 

 the large auditory nerve inserted into a very prominent ami 

 bulky acoustic tubercle, from which a large trapezium 

 extends as far as the lateral edge of the exceptionally 

 prominent pyramidal tract. 



The features of the cerebellum, which is a simplified form 

 of that of the Cat, are shown exceeding clearly. 



0.0. 1325 1 a. 

 Holl, Arch. f. Anat. u. Entwick. 1899, p. 243. 



D. 302. The brain of an African Civet (Viverra civetta). 



This Specimen even more derisively than the last >upporl> 

 the contention that the larger, deeper and more posterior of 

 the two sulei opening into the bend of the rhinal lissure 

 represents not only the posterior ectosylvian sulcus but also 

 the "feline Sylvian fissure." A comparison with the brain 

 of the Mongoose (victe infra) shows thi< conclusively. It 

 Certainly cannot lie regarded as the posterior ectosylvian 

 only. The lower extremity of the hitter run, in lart. he 



