April 24, 1884] 



NA TURE 



601 



Of the V^iverrida: we find the following : — Vlvcrra bahcri, 

 Hose, and V. ditrandi, Lyd. Of the Hyasnidse four species of 

 Hyaena are described, based on specimens in the collections 

 of the British, Indian, and Dublin Museums, and there are 

 not wanting evidences of a fifth form. It is remarkable to 

 find sominy species of hyiena existing contemporaneously 

 in India ; but, when the large number of Proboscidia and 

 other ungulate forms that existed at the same time is 

 recalled to memory, to fini the genera of Carnivora 

 equally strongly represented in species is perhaps only 

 what might have been expected. The earliest notice of 

 the remains of Hyrena from the Siwali!<s appeared in 

 1S35 in \.\ii Journal of the Asiatic Society 0/ Bengal, 

 wliere Sir \V. L. Baker described a specimen as " the 

 most perfect fossil we have yet been so fortunate as to 

 meet with." This specimen is figured in the annexed 

 woodcut (Fig. 3), and is at present in the Dublin 

 Museum. The species has been described by Mr. Bose as 

 H.felina. Its affinities are towards the recent H. crocata 



of South Africa, a species common in Europe during the 

 Pleistocene period ; and this fact points, Mr. Lydekker 

 thinks, to the con^-lusion that Asia rather than Africa 

 may be regarded as the cradle of the race of hyaenas. 

 H. colvini, Lyd., H. niacr. stoma, L)d , the latter a 

 species that seems to constitute an important link between 

 the more typical members of the genus and the viverroid 

 and canoid Carnivora. H. sivalcnsis, Bose, is rede- 

 scribed and figured. A new genus, Lepthyrena, is made 

 for a species previously recorded as Iitit/uriuin sivalense. 

 The Siwalik FelidiC embrace .-Elii: opsis aiincctans, 

 Lyd., a new genus and species of which but little is 

 known ; .E/uroga/e sii'a/cnsis, Lyd., for a carnivore 

 intermediate in size between the Thibetan lynx and the 

 leopard. Six species of Felis are either described or 

 indicated ; of those described are F. cristata, F. and C, 

 F. brachygnathus, Lyd., and F. sublUmalayana, Bronn. 

 Of the genus Machaerodus two species are included in 

 the list of Siwalik forms. M. sivalensis, F. and C. : a 



nearly co.iiplete left ra nu; of the mandible of this species 

 is in the Dublin Museum, and is represented in Fig. 4 ; 

 posteriorly it is complete, with the exception of the coronoid 

 process, while anteriorly it is broken through the sym- 

 physis ; it shows part of the alveolus of the canine and 

 the greater portion of the descending expansion. The 

 three cheek teeth are preserved, but in a more or less 

 broke.i condition ; a large part of the outer surfaces of 

 //•//. 4. and m.\ have been chipped away. These teeth 

 agree with the lyps specimen in the British Museum, 

 with the exception that /w.3, though still small, is 

 inserted by two distinct fangs. The la^t family, that of 

 HyxnodontidK, is one considered by Prof. Huxley as 

 occupying a position connecting the Carnivora with the 

 Insectivora. Only one species belonging to the genus 

 Hyaenodon has been found. This genus has hitherto 

 only been recorded from Europe and Nor.h America. 

 The species H. iiuiicus, Lyd., is represented by teeth 

 from the Siwaliks of Ki'ishalghar and the Punjab. 



Perhaps the most striking feature in this list of extinct 



forms is the fact that by the side of ratels, bears, jackals, 

 and civets, some hardly to be distinguished from living 

 specie=, there are to be found essentially primitive forms, 



Fi::. 4 — Macharodi 



proving the survival in India of old types long after they 

 had disappeared from other parts of the world. Equally 

 noteworthy is the apparently contemporaneous existence 



