1882] PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE vELUROIDEA. 175 



(1) Auditory bulla ossified and in one piece. 



(2) Bulla narrowing and much flattened anteriorly, 

 (b) Palate not much prolonged behind last molars. 



(4) Mastoid rather prominent. 



(5) (Caecum very small. 



(6) Teeth suited for catching fish ; anterior premolars very long. 



(7) Margins of palate nearly parallel. 



(8) No supracondyloid foramen to humerus. 



(9) No median groove on upper lip. 



(10) Tarsus hairy; metatarsus naked. 



(11) Tail short. 



The following characters are common to the Vioerrina : — 



(1) Claws strongly curved, sharply pointed, and more or less 



deeply retractile. 



(2) Orbits never enclosed bj' bone. 



(3) Hinder chamber of auditory bulla never everted outwards. 



(4) Posterior margin of the external auditory meatus as pro- 



minent as, or more so than, the anterior or inferior margin. 



(5) Floor of external auditory meatus and adjacent part of bulla 



neither fissured nor with a foramen ora deep pit on its surface. 



(6) Angle of mandible never everted. 



(7) Mastoid rarely prominent. 



(8) Paroccipital processes almost always depending. 



(9) Aperture of external auditory meatus not triangular. 



(10) Alisphenoid canal generally elongated. 



(11) Carotid canal notching the sphenoid, and not showing as a 



conspicuous foramen in the basis cranii. 



(12) Prescrotal scent-glands generally present. 



(13) A.nus opening on the surface, aud not into a cutaneous in vagi- 

 nation \ 



(14) Only a pair of anal glands. 



(15) A supracondyloid foramen to humerus, save in Cynogale. 



(16) An alisphenoid canal present, save generally in Viverricula, 



where, when absent, its place is not indicated by bony 

 processes. 



(17) Both pollex and hallux present. 



(18) Caecum sometimes absent. 



(19) Tarsus and metatarsus hairy or bald. 



The very large and polymorphic genus Herpestes was divided by 

 Dr. Gray (P. Z. S. 1864, and Cat. Carnivora, p. 154) into the 

 genera Athylax, Calogale, Galerella, Calictis, Ariela, Ichneumia, 

 Una, Tteniogale, Onychogale, and Helogale. Not one of these, save 

 possibly the last, can be maintained as a distinct genus. Mr. Oldfield 

 Thomas, who has been working with great care at these animals, 

 told me he had come to this conclusion ; and my examination of the 

 skins and skulls in the British Museum has only served to confirm 

 the justice of this view. 



' I give this character with hesitation, from what I have (as before said) 

 observed in a, living Paradu.vurus. 



