1865.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE MUSTELID&. 139 
* Skull larger ; nose compressed. 'Taxus. 
1. Mees Taxus. Badger. B.M. 
Yellowish grey, black-washed; limbs and beneath black ; face 
white, with a streak enclosing the eyes and ears black. 
Ursus taxus, Blumenb. Handl. 10. 
U. meles, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 70; Schreb. Siugeth. 516. 
Meles taxus, Boddaert, Elench. i. 80; Retz. Fauna, 23; Schreb. 
Saugeth. t. 142; Fischer, Syn. Mamm. 151; Gerrard, Cat. Bones 
B. M. 99; Nilsson, Skand. Faun. 183; Owen, Brit. Foss. Mamm. 
109, f. 27 (jaw) ; Odont. i. 129. 61. 6 (see a. 465); Middendorf, 
N. und O. Sibir. Saugeth. 2; Gray, List Mamm. B. M.; Blainv. 
Ostéogr. Subursus, t. 2 (skeleton), 6 (skull), 9 (teeth). 
M. europeus, Desm. N. Dict. Hist. Nat. iii. 465. 
M. vulgaris, Desm. Mamm. 173. 
Taxus vulgaris, Tiedm. Zool. i. 376. 
Blaireau, Buffon, H. N. vii. 104, t. 7, 8. 
Blaireau d’ Europe, Cuvier, R. A. i. 145. 
Common Badger, Penn. Brit. Zool. 30; Bell, Brit. Quad. 122. 
Hab. North Europe; North Asia. 
Skull ovate-elongate ; face large; forehead flat ; nose broad, flat 
above ; orbits incomplete ; supraorbital hole large, subquadrangular ; 
brain-case ovate, narrow behind, obliquely truncated ; palate rather 
concave, flat and produced behind, with a sharp keeled ridge ox each 
side behind ; the hinder aperture angular in front, in a line with the 
middle of the zygomatic arch. Cutting-teeth large, subequal, trun- 
cated. Canine conical, slightly curved. False grinders 2; front small, 
conical; second larger, compressed. Flesh-tooth moderate, trigonal, 
sides subequal, outer edge with two conical tubercles, outer lobe with 
two indistinct minute tubercles on the edges. The tubercular grinder 
large, massive, rather longer than broad, front edge concave, hinder 
rounded, obscurely truncated on the outer hinder margin, outer 
margin with three unequal slightly raised tubercles. Lower jaw 
strong; chin arched ; cutting-teeth truncated, unequal, the middle 
one on each side rather behind the others; canines conical, short, 
curved ; false grinders 3, first very small, deciduous; second and 
third compressed, conical; flesh-tooth oblong, elongate, with three 
tubercles in front and two pairs of tubercles behind; tubercular 
grinder small, ovate. 
Length of skull 5! 3!’, of nose 9!’, of palate 2! 11!", of lower jaw 
3!' 9!" ; width over ears 2! 3!"', of nose in front of orbits 1! 4!"’, 
2. Mewes LeEucurus. The Tumpha. B.M. 
Taxidea leucurus, Hodgs. Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng. xvi. 763, 
tab. 31, 1847; Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853, p. 190; 1856, p. 398; Gray, 
Ann. and Mag. N. Hist. xii. 221, 1853. 
Pseudomeles leucurus, Hodgson, MS. 1850. 
Meles leucurus, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1853, p.191; 1857, p- 768 ; 
1858, p.190; Ann. and Mag. N.H.; Horsf. Ann. and Mag. N. H. xvi. 
