11)4 Mr. O. Tlioniag 0)i Ferret- Dailgers. 



to the otlior two fjjroups and more or less near sonic common 

 ancestor of theirs *. 



The following synopsis gives a brii^f indication of the 

 clianicters by which the three genera may be distinguished : — 



A. Outer edge of/)* distinctly convex. 



a. Tit'th large and heavy. Z^ disproportioually 

 larger than p^, Biculuni bifid, the ter- 

 minal prongs luiich thickened, and one of 

 theiu forming a carved crest 1. A/doi/nfe. 



Jianijc. Mainland area from Nepal to Cochin Cliiua, and Java. 



Genotype. MeUuiale persunata, Geoll. 

 h. Teeth small. P^ not disproportionnlly larger 

 than px. Brtculuni bitid, but the pronijs 

 simple, scarcely thickened, and not crested. 2. Nesiclis, gen. nov. 



Hange. North Borneo. 



Genotype. N. everctti (Helictis everefti, Thos.). 



B. Outer edge of p^ straight or faintly concave 



niet-ially. 

 c. Teeth small, i'a not disproportionally larger 

 than ;)i. Baculum trilid, with three 

 slightly thickened terminal prongs set in a 



triangle 3. Helictis. 



liange. Assam, China from Canton toShanghui, Hainan, Formosa. 

 Genotype. Helictis vwschata, Gray. 



Tiuee new forms of the group appear to need description : — 



]\JeIo(/ale personata laotum, subsp. n. 



Size averaging a little less than in ivwc personata of Pegu. 

 General colour slightly greyer, less brown, and w ith more 

 grey suffusion on the sides of the lower surface. 



Teeth smaller, the molar especially sm;iller than in ;)^/'- 

 sonata. In three specimens of personata i\\Q carnassial has 

 a greatest diameter of 10*3, 10'2, 9*3 mm., while in five of 

 laolum this dimension is 9-2, 9*0, 90, 9-0, 8-6. The differ- 

 ence is more marked in the molar, its greatest diameter in 

 ^j^ersonata 9-0, 8-9, 8*7, and in laotum 8-2, 8-2, 8-1, S'l, 7-7, 

 with its internal antero-posterior diameter 5*5, 5'5, 5*2, as 



* A specimen of M. personata from Kangoon, which lived in the 

 Zoological Gardens, and has been kindly lent to me by ^tr. Pocock, 

 pre.-ents the difficulty that its baculum is ahnost exactly like that of 

 Nesictis everetti. But the specimen is immature, with its bones and 

 teeth in poor condition, and the penis-bone itself not of the hard glossy 

 substance that i.s u.sual in well-grown bacula. 1 believe that this is a 

 case of arrested deveh'pmeut due to continemcut and immaturity, the 

 arrest having taken place at the same stage of growth as that shown in 

 the adult by the annectaut and perhaps ancestral Nesivtis. 



