186 PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ^LUROIDEA. [Feb. 7, 



(3) Hinder chamber of auditory bulla always everted. 



(4) Anterior margin of opening of external auditory meatus more 



projecting than the posterior margin. 



(5) Floor of external meatus or adjacent part of bulla with a fora- 



men and fissure in a deep pit. 



(6) Angle of mandible sometimes everted. 



(7) Mastoid always prominent. 



(8) Paroccipital processes depending below bulla. 



(9) Aperture of auditory meatus small and triangular. 



(10) Alisphenoid canal always very short. 



(11) Carotid artery perforating or notching the sphenoid, there 

 being a conspicuous carotid foramen in the basis cranii. 



(12) Never any prescrotal glands^ 



(13) Anus very generally not opening on the surface of the body, 



but in a sac or cutaneous invagination. 



(14) Anal glands sometimes in several pairs. 



(15) A supracondyloid foramen to humerus. 



(l(i) An alisphenoid canal, in rare instances not completely enclosed 

 by bone, but then its place indicated by bony processes. 



(17) Pollex alone, or both poUex and hallux sometimes absent. 



(18) Caecum always present, but small or moderately long. 

 (ID) Tarsus and metatarsus hairy or bald. 



A very different animal from any hitherto here reviewed is that 

 to which the generic name Galidkiis was given in 1837 by Isid. 

 Geoff. St.-Hilaire^ and again by him in the Magasin de ZooL 183U- 

 1841, where the external form and skull, including the basis cranii, 

 are well represented, and a full description given in a long note 

 beginning on page 32. It is also the Mustela striata of (3-eoffroy 

 St.-Hilaire (Cat. des Mamm. p. 98), and the Putorius striatus of 

 Cuvier (Regue &c. 2nd edit. p. 144). The external form has been 

 figured in our P. Z. S., 1848, pi. 1, with a short description and notes 

 as to habits on page 21. The skull is also given by De Blainville 

 (Osteog., Viverras) on pi. 5, and the dentition on pi. 12, under the 

 name Mangusta {Galictis) striata. There are two species, both from 

 Madagascar — one the original G. striata of Isid. G. St.-Hiliare, and 

 the other G. vittata, described and figured by Gray (P. Z. S. 1848, 

 p. 21, pi. 1) the skin and the (immature) skull of which are in the 

 national collection, where are also four skins and two skulls of the 

 former species. The length of the head and body of the latter is about 

 35" "5, of the tail 33". In each species the body bears longitudinal dark 

 stripes on a lighter ground. The claws are long, but considerably 

 curved {cf. fig. 14, i, p. 192). The claw of the pollex reaches to 

 the end of the proximal phalanx of the index, and that of the fifth 

 digit to the end of the proximal phalanx of the fourth digit, which 

 is slightly longer than the index, the median being the longest. The 

 claw of the hallux reaches nearly to the end of the proximal phalanx 

 of the index, and that of the fifth digit of the pes nearly to the 



' The nature of the proiijiuence in Surieaia has to be seen. 

 ^ Comptes Eendus, 2ud. semestre de 1837, p. 578. 



