28 MR. W. H. FLOWER ON THE [Jan. 14, 
placed by Dr. Gray, in his “ Revision of the Viverride” (P. Z. 8. 
1864), close to the genus Viverra. De Blainville included it in the 
genus Canis, where it is also placed, in the Catalogue of the Osteo- 
logical Series in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, by Professor 
Owen. Many other authors have placed it in the Hyenide, as Dr. 
Gray in 1868 (P. Z.S. p. 525). The visceral anatomy of this 
animal appears at present to be quite unknown ; and the rudimentary 
molar teeth afford no indication of its affinities. Both in external 
appearance and in the general characters of the skeleton it closely 
resembles the Hyzenas*. 
The examination of the base of the cranium in this genus is there- 
fore of great interest, as it affords in the present state of our 
knowledge the only true guide to its position. 
Its characters (see fig. 14) are as follows :— 
The auditory bulla is very large, pyriform, and everted posteriorly, 
almost exactly as in the larger forms of Herpestes. A septum divides 
it into two chambers, the meatal or true tympanic chamber being 
quite in front of the other ; externally the two are completely fused. 
Fig. 14. 
Proteles lalandit. From a specimen in the British Museum. 
(The letters as in the preceding figures.) 
* The Skeleton of Proéedes in the Leyden Museum has 15 rib-bearing vertebra : 
Wagner gives 14. 
