OF THE MAMMALIAN OSSICULA AUD1TUS. 393 



effaced ; then the articular surface appears precisely as in Proteles. The neck is always 

 thin, and much curved towards the manubrium, which latter process is very long and 

 slender in all directions, even near the root ; the angle corresponding to the processus 

 brevis is blunt ; the outer surface, though well bordered, is extremely narrow throughout, 

 the terminal dilatation being almost imperceptible; and the point is little recurved. 

 The whole manubrium is very straight, as in the Cats, never forming the curve seen in 

 the Dogs and, to a less degree, in Sycena and Proteles. The processus muscularis is a 

 small mammillary projection, never quite absent. The processus gracilis forms a wide 

 angle with the neck, so that the lamina is extensive. 



The incus (PI. LVIII. fig. 45) is a small bone with a shallow body, bearing a pro- 

 portionally deep articular surface. Both crura are well developed ; the posterior diverges 

 little from the body. 



The stapes (PI. LVIII. fig. 60) has always very slender crura, with a large space between 

 them, and a thin, broad base ; the former are inserted close to each extremity of the latter. 



The Yiverrine malleus strikingly resembles that of certain ruminants ; but the articular 

 region in those ungulates is of a different character, and the other two ossicles are 

 unlike those of the Carnivora. 



Viverra civetta exhibits all these characters. The processus muscularis of the malleus 

 is well developed, and, in a small way, approaches the straight conical type seen in Sycena 

 and in Proteles. In Y. malaeeensis that process is very short, and the manubrium is 

 very slender and almost styliform at the tip. In Genetta vulgaris the processus muscu- 

 laris is short, but still prominent ; otherwise the malleus is as in Viverra ; but the crura 

 of the stapes, though very thin, are not so extremely slender in this animal and in the 

 remaining Viverridse as in the true Civet Cat. In Nandinia binotata and Paguma 

 grayii, as well as in Cy nog ale bennettii (PL LIX. fig. 13 a), the processus muscularis is 

 still short ; but in Paradoxurus bondar and musanga it is reduced to a conical tubercle. 

 In Eupleres goudotii (PL LIX. fig. 10) the head of the malleus is proportionally larger 

 than in the Civet ; but the processus muscularis is as long, and the neck as well deve- 

 loped, as in that animal. The incus has a slender and well-developed processus brevis, 

 as in most of the Cats, Dogs, and Viverridse. The stapes is larger in proportion to the 

 incus than even in Herpestes. In Arctictis binturong (PL LIX. fig. 2) the malleus is 

 much more distinct. The neck makes a very short curve before joining the root of the 

 manubrium, so that the whole bone appears " hog-backed." The manubrium is much 

 broader at the base and more recurved at the tip than in any of the preceding genera 

 — a distinct approach to Herpestes ; but the processus muscularis, a mere tubercle, as in 

 Paradoxurus, still arises from the neck, and the lamina is well developed*. 



One cannot fail to be struck by the great difference between the malleus of Herpestes 

 (PL LVIII. fig. 38) and that of the preceding Viverridse. The Ichneumons are the only 

 Carnivora where that auditory ossicle approaches the somewhat central type seen in 

 Man. The head is large, with a free orbicular surface ; it bears an articular surface 

 similar to that of the Civets. The neck is short and stout ; the manubrium is much 

 broader at the base, and more recurved at the extremity, than in any of the past genera 



* The figure is from a specimen -where the lamina was mutilated. 



