32 : MR. W. H. FLOWER ON THE (Jan. 14, 
cision does not appear to have affected the judgment of any subse- 
quent author. On the contrary, of late years, Bassaris seems to have 
completely subsided into a settled position among the Viverride, as 
all the undermentioned systematic authors place it there, with scarcely 
a qualifying remark, further than that in its American habitat it 
forms an exception to the remainder of the group :— 
Wagner, in Schreber’s ‘ Saugethiere’ (1841); Giebel, ‘ Dic SAnge- 
thiere’ (1859); Van der Hoeven, ‘ Handbuch der Zoologie’ (1856) ; 
Baird, ‘Mammals of North America’ (1859); Gray, “ Revision of 
the Viverride” (P. Z. 8. 1864); Carus, ‘ Handbuch der Zoologie’ 
(1868). 
The external characters of Bassaris are too well known to require 
further description*. They really afford no satisfactory solution of 
its affinities, simply because in each of the great families of the Car- 
nivora there is considerable variation in such characters. Either 
Viverride, Mustelide, or Procyonide allow of sufficient latitude 
in structure of feet, ears, fur, and tail, to admit of this genus being 
ranged among them. If coloration counts for anything, except in 
closely affined forms, it may be noted that it approaches Procyon as 
much as any other known Carnivore, certainly more than Galidia, 
with which Gervais compared it in this respect. 
In placing Bassaris among the Viverride zoologists have chiefly 
relied upon the characters of the teeth. The dental formula is pre- 
cisely identical with the prevalent one in that group, viz. I. , C. , 
PB. ra M. 5: total 40. The presence of a second upper molar dis- 
tinguishes it from all the known Mustelide. But on the other hand 
the dental formula of Procyon and Nasua is exactly the same. Indeed 
it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find any substantial 
character which would exclude these two genera, and at the same 
time comprehend all the range of modifications among the Viverride, 
from the slender sharply cusped teeth of the Genettes and smaller Ich- 
neumons to the massive teeth of the African Civet, the blunt rounded 
molars of the Paradoxures and Binturong, or the square tubercular 
hinder teeth of Cynogale. In the sole distinctive character that I 
have been able to find (the presence of a second cusp on the inner 
lobe of the upper sectorial) Bassaris agrees with the Procyonide. 
The Procyonide as hitherto established, being a very limited group 
as to numbers, offer less range of dental characters; Bassaris, how- 
ever, if included among them, will hold precisely the same relation to 
Procyon and Nasua as the smaller Genettes and Ichneumons do to 
the Civets and Paradoxures, the teeth, though formed on the same 
type, having a slenderer form and sharper cusps, being, in fact, merely 
adapted to more strictly carnivorous habits (see figs. 3 & 3a, p. 10). 
Cercoleptes deviates in its dentition from the more typical members 
of the group far more than Bassaris, though ii a precisely opposite 
direction. 
Gervais gives the number of vertebree of his specimen as C. 7, 
* A good figure from life is given in Wolf and Sclater’s ‘ Zoological Sketches,’ 
vol. i. pl. 14. 
