178 MUSTELID.?:. 



several individuals being trapped whilst committing depredations 

 in fowl-honses, and this is confirmed by McMaster. 



Notliing aj)pears to be known of the ratel's breeding-habits. In 

 confinement it is very tame, quiet, and playful, and frequently 

 acquires a habit of tumbling head over heels, for this practice has 

 been noticed in diiierent individuals by Hardwicke, Sterndale, and 

 others. 



Genus ARCTONYX, F. Cuvier (1825). 



Body and limbs stout, tail short. Snout long, mobile, naked 

 towards the end, and truncated, the terminal disk containing the 

 nostrils being much like that of a pig. Ears very short and rounded. 

 Eyes small. Eeet naked below, the naked sole not extending to 

 the heel in the hind foot. Claws of all feet much lengthened, 

 those of the fore feet longest, all sbghtly curved and blunt. Hair 

 coarse and long, with woolly underfur. Mamma; (J. 



Infraorbital foramen in the skull very large. Bullae very small. 

 The bony palate extends back to the glenoid fossie, and is deeply 

 indented behind in the middle. The posterior portion of the 

 palate is formed by processes from the pterygoid bones. This 

 form of palate is peculiar to Arctonyx amongst lissipede Carnivora. 



Dentition: i. j., c. j^^, pm. ^^, m. r^.,. The anterior premolars 

 in both jaws often rudimentary or absent. The upper incisors are 

 arranged in a semicircle. The canines are greatly compressed. 

 Upper sectorial furnished with a large median inner lobe, divided 

 by a transverse groove, but without cusps. Upper tubercular 

 molar much larger than upper sectorial, longer than bi'oad, sub- 

 trapezoidal, almost lozenge -shaped, with the heel rounded; this 

 heel becomes worn away in old skulls. Lower sectorial with a 

 large low tuberculated heel. Vertebrae: C. 7, D. 10, L. 4, S. 4, 

 C. 20. 



The hog-badgers, as Jerdon very appropriately names them, have 

 a singular resemblance to a pig, owing to the form of the snout. 

 But liltle is known of their habits. Two forms, one of which is 

 very imperfectly known, are recorded from North-eastern India 

 and Burma. 



Sif))02>su of Indian and Burmese Species. 



Larpre ; skull from orciput over fi inches long A. volUiris, p. 178. 



Small ; skull from occiput less than o inchns long. . A. iaxoidi-s, p. 180. 



Some details of the anatomy are described by Dr. G. Evans, 

 J.A.S. B. viii, p. 408. 



iio. Arctonyx coUaris. The J/o(j-had(/er. 



Arctonyx collaris, F. Cnv. Hist. Nal. Minn. pi. 220 (1825) ; Evans, 

 J. A. 8. li. vii, p. 782, ])]. xliii; viii, p. 408; Tiljith, Cat. p. 71 ; id. 

 3faiii. liiids llii) ma, p. 2!»; Jerdon, Mam. p. 77. 



