6oo 



NA rURE 



{^April 24, 1884 



Vertebral ■. Both these volumes, it may be remarked, 

 treat of mammalian forms, and, with the exception of a 

 memoir 0:1 Rhiiinccrfls dcccaiu^nsis, by Mr. R. B. Foote, 

 are fr im tie pen of Mr. Lydekker. Each volume con- 

 tains about y>o pages and forty-five plates. 



No traces of niimmals have yet, it would appear, been 

 detected below the Eocene in India, and even in this 

 lor nation only some very frac;mentary bones have been 

 obtained from the Punjab. From the Miocene the re- 

 miins of a rhinocero:^ have been found. In the Pliocene 

 mammalian remains begin to be pretty numerous. Thirty- 

 t'lree species of Carnivora from Siwalik are described in 

 the present memoir ; they belong to the following families : 

 Mu;telid;e, Ursidae, Viverrids, Hysenida;, Felidse, and 

 Hysenodontida;. Of the first of these families, two species 

 of the genus Mellivora are described ; one of these, M. 

 sivalcnsis, was first noticed in the supplemental plates of 

 the " Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis," and the original is in 

 the British Museum. A second skull and the ramus of a 

 mandible are in the Science and Art Museum, Dublin. 

 The annexed woodcut shows the right side (Fig. I,«) of 

 the pal ite of this latter. The original describers of these 



Fig. 1.— Mellivora sivalensis (F. and C ). The right half cf the pal.ile {a) 

 and the left ramus of the maniible (l>). Natural size. 



specimens. Colonels Sir W. Baker and Sir H. Durand, 

 remark on their close affinity to the recent Mellivora 

 indica, and Mr. Lydekker says that in most respects the 

 forms of the recent and fossil jaws are exceedingly alike. 

 In the fossils the pin.2 and pm.^ are slightly larger in 

 the upper jaw than in the recent form, and the true molar 

 (iiiA) of the former differs from that of the latter by 

 being much less expanded at its inner extremity. In the 

 mandible (Fig. \,b) there is not much difference between 

 the fossil and recent forms. The difference, however, 

 between the extinct and recent Indian ratel may be 

 summed up as being about the same in degree as between 

 the recent Indian and African forms, leaving it probable 

 that India may have been the original home of the genus. 

 A second species is described as new, M. puiijabiensis. 

 A new genus (Mellivorodon) is formed for a form interme- 

 diate in size between the ratel and the glutton, while the 

 form and relative proportions of its teeth indicate that it 

 was more nearly allied to the former than to the latter. 

 Two species of Lutra, L. palav'/idica, F. and C, and Z. 

 sii'ale/isis, F. and C, are described frotii the region of 

 he typical Siwalik Hilis in the neighbourhood of the 



( langes and J umna Valleys, and one, Z. baihygnathus, Lyd., 

 from the Siwaliks of the Punjab ; this last is of extreme 

 interest, as, while presenting no sort of affinity to any of 

 the existing Indian species, it is most closely allied to 

 the recent South African otter (/.. lalandi), and thus 

 affords another well-marked example of the intimate 

 connection of the Tertiary mammalim fauna of India 

 with the present African fauna. 



The evidence of the close relationship of the bears and 

 the dogs appears to Mr. Lydekker too strong to refer 

 them, at all events for pakeontological purposes, to 

 separate families. We therefore have the Ursidae com- 

 prehending the two modern families Urs.da and Canidae, 

 these being formed into groups as Ursinae and Caninae. 

 The author does not, however, attempt to form a defini- 

 tion of the family as thus extended, nor is he even quite 

 certain as to the limits of the sub-groups. ( f the species 

 described, one, U. iiamadkus, F. and C, is from the Pleis- 

 tocene Narbada beds ; the other, U. thcobaldi, Lyd., was 

 obtained by Mr. Theobald from the Siwaliks of the 

 Kangra district. It would seem to be nearly related 

 to the recent U. labiatiis, which itself seems to stand 

 quite isolated from all the other recent bears, its strangely 



utleyi (Bose). Part of the left r 

 aud the left side of the palate (u). 



f the mandible (a) 



modified molar dentition being the result of the nature of 

 its food. Three species of Hya;narctos are mentioned: H. 

 sii'ulc/isls, F. and C, H. puiijabiensis, Lyd., and //. palce- 

 indici/s, Lyd. The line of descent of the genus is thought 

 to be from the bears, through Dinocyon, to the true dogs. 

 Aiiiphicyon pala:itidicus, L^d., is redescribed and re- 

 figured ; it approaches A. intenncdius, Myr., described 

 I'rom the Miocene of Bohemia on the eastern side of 

 Europe. Of the genus Canis the following are de- 

 scribed : — C. ^jirvipalaiiis, Bose, and C. caiitleyi, Bose. 

 The occurrence of this latter species in the .Siwaliks is one 

 '• of extreme iinportance in regard to the Pliocene age of 

 at least a large portion of tho^e deposits, for in the 

 Tertiaries of Europe, with which the Siwaliks are in 

 many respects closely allied, true wolves are unknown 

 before the Pliocene." Among the Siwalik fossils in the 

 Science and .\x^ Museum, Dublin, there is an associated 

 portion of the skull and two fragments of the mandible of 

 this wolf, portions of which are represented in the wood- 

 cut (Fig. 2). In A are shown w.i and w.2 in a very per- 

 fect and almost unworn condition, and also the broken 

 fang of OT.3. In B the left side of the palate shows the 

 canine and the earlier premolars. 



