8/0 DR. J. E. GKAY ON THE FOSSANE OF d'aUBENTON. [DeC. 3, 



The soles of the feet are entirely covered with hair, as in the true 

 ViverrincB ; and therefore it should be placed in that tribe, and not, 

 as I have placed it in the Catalogue, in the tribe Genettince. 



Fossa. 



Head long, tapering ; muzzle acute. Lower side of the nose with a 

 central furrow. Body elongate, back not crested. Throat pale, 

 without any lunate bands. Back spotted. Tail about as long as 

 the back, covered with uniform hair, subcylindrical, and marked 

 with dark spots on each side of the upper surface, which are closer 

 and give it the appearance of being ringed at the end. Legs equal, 

 slender ; the soles of the hind feet covered with uniform short hair. 

 Toes short, webbed at the base ; claws 5 . 5, conical, compressed, 

 partly retractile, elevated from the ground and acute. 



Skull slender, elongate ; brain-case ovate, much contracted in 

 front of the forehead. Forehead flat. Nose elongate, slender, 

 tapering in front, twice as long as the diameter of the orbit, rather 

 convex on the sides over the canines. Orbit very incomplete behind 

 for two thirds of its diameter. Zygomatic arch slender, flattened on 

 the sides. Auditory bullae vesicular, well developed. Palate very 

 narrow in front, dilated behind. Internal nostrils with a rounded 

 front edge. Lower jaw elongate, slender, regularly arched below ; 

 hinder angle produced into an elongate cylindrical lobe, extending 

 beyond the condyle. 



Teeth : — Cutting jt^, the upper in a close arched series nearly equal, 

 the hinder on each side being the longest, the lower uniform in an 

 arched series, the outer ones, which are quite close to the canines, 

 the longest. Canines ^, elongate, cylindrical, gradually tapering, 

 acute, and slightly curved. Grinders |^|, the three front upper 

 compressed, the front simple, subcorneal, the second and third with 

 a triangular centre and a slight lobe on the front and hind collaret. 

 The fourth or carnivorous tooth triangular, placed obliquely ; front 

 edge broad, with a small lobe on the outer and a large conical lobe 

 on the inner side ; central lobe most prominent, triangular, hinder 

 end compressed. Fifth and sixth, or tubercular teeth, oblong, 

 angular, transverse, broader than long on the front edge ; outer side 

 with two pair of small tubercles, inner side rounded at the end, with 

 a high central conical tubercle. 



The cutting-teeth of the lower jaw all compressed ; first small, 

 conical, recurved, the second, third, and fourth triangular, erect, 

 with one lobe on the front and two on the hinder edge, which are 

 most distinct in the hinder teeth, the fifth tooth much the largest 

 and broadest, with three large conical tubercles, the outer being the 

 largest, and one smaller tubercle on the outer side of the hinder 

 edge. The sixth or last tooth similar, but much smaller, with 

 three higher tubercles in the front half and two small tubercles 

 behind. 



This skull differs from that of the Civets and Genets in being much 



