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



external form and part of the skull of an adult have been figured by 

 Dr. Gray from a specimen now in the national collection'; and 

 the whole adult skeleton, skull (though not the basis cranii), and 

 dentition have been described and figured by Paul Gervais^. 



It has been abundantly' shown that this animal is not, as was at first 

 supposed, an Insectivore, but really a Viverrine Carnivore. 



Externally Eirpleres is remarkable for its small head, very long, 

 slender, and pointed snout ; but its dentition is the most anomalous 

 part of its organization so far as yet known. 



The body is clothed with woolly annulated fur of a uniform 

 general olive tint above, minutely punctulated with yellow. It appears, 

 from Doyere, that the young has black bands across the shoulders, 

 which are wanting in the adult. The ears are large ; the pollex and 

 hallux are well developed ; the tail is rather short, but bushy ; the 

 feet are very slender ; the tarsus and metatarsus are covered with 

 short hair beneath. The length of the head and body is about 52", 

 that of the tail \7"'7 ■ The nose and upper lip have a median groove 

 beneath. The claws are elongated and Herpestiform {cf. fig. 14, l, 

 p. 192). 



There are two skins, several skulls, and one good skeleton in the 

 British Museum ; and there is a good skeleton in that of the College 

 of Surgeons. 



The skull is remarkable for its extraordinary length and slender- 

 ness. The shape of the auditory bulla is intermediate between that 

 of the Herpestine and that of the Viverrine sections of the Viverridce : 

 its most prominent portion is at its postero-external part ; and so far 

 it inclines towards Herpestes. There is no pterygoid fossa. The 

 opening of the external auditory meatus is generally rather small 

 and more or less oval ; it is the hinder portion of its margin which 

 projects slightl}' the more. There is no fissure or foramen in the 

 floor of the auditory meatus ; nor is there a depression in the adjacent 

 part of the bulla as in Galidia and Hemigalidia. The anterior part 

 of the bulla, however, is well marked off by a groove from the pos- 

 terior part. There is no alisphenoid canal, nor any postorbital 

 processes. Cranial ridges are very faintly marked, save the lan)b- 

 doidal ridge. The paroccipital is long, but does not depend. The 

 mastoid is not more prominent tiian in Genetta. The condyloid 

 foramen is exposed. The carotid canal is as in Herpestes ; and the 

 artery enters the cranial cavity through a foramen or deep notch in 

 the sphenoid. The zygomata are very slender ; and there is a very 

 small glenoid cavity and postglenoid process. The palate is very 

 little prolonged behind the last molars. There is a very conspicuous 

 and exceptional prominence in the middle occipital region to shelter 

 the middle part of the cerebellum. 



The dentition is especially remarkable for the small size of the 

 canines, the canine-like character of the anterior premolars, the resem- 

 blance of the true molars to the premolars, and the wide diastemata 

 between the three most anterior premolars both above and below. 



1 P. Z. S. 1870, p. 824. pi. 51. 



= Journal de Zoologie, vol. iii. (1874), p. 237. 



