340 DR. Sr. G. MIVART ON THE ARCTOIDEA. [Apr. 21, 



3. On the Anatomy^ Classification^ and Distribution of the 

 Arctoidea. By St. George Mivart. 



[Eeceiyed April 1,5, 1885.] 



In 1882 I had the honour of laying before this Society some notes 

 on the Classification and Distribution ^ as also on the Anatomy, ^ 

 of the iEluroidea. 



The homogeneous group of the Cynoidea has been pretty ex- 

 haustively treated of in successive papers in the ' Proceedings ' of this 

 Society by Mr. Waterhouse ^ Mr. Turner ■*, Professor Floveer °, and 

 Professor Huxley ^ 



It remains to offer some supplementary remarks upon the remain- 

 ing and third Suborder of Fissiped Carnivora, that is the Arctoidea. 

 It was my intention that my notes on this suborder should have 

 followed quickly upon my papers above referred to, but the carrying 

 out of that intention was unavoidably delayed by illness. 



The animals comprised under the designation Arctoidea were not 

 regarded by Mr. Waterhouse as forming a single group in that paper 

 of his, on the Crania of the Carnivora, which formed the starting-point 

 of the subsequent papers on the classification of the Carnivora in 

 tlie ' Proceedings ' of the Zoological Society. In that paper ^ he 

 divides the Carnivora into the six famihes Ganidce, Viverridce, Felidce, 

 MusteMte, Ursidm, and Phocida, and about the fourth and fifth of 

 these (which make up the Arctoidea) he makes the following 

 remarks : — 



" The MustelidcB, like the Felidcp, have the muzzle short and 

 obtuse ; the skull, however, is more elongated. They may be di- 

 stinguished by there being one true molar on either side of each 

 jaw ; that in the upper jaw is well developed and generally trans- 

 verse, but in some, such as the Badger, it is longer than broad ; in 

 the Otters, Skunks, and American Badger {Taxidea labradorica), the 

 true molar is intermediate in form between that of the Common Bad- 

 ger (Meles vulgaris) and the typical Mustelidce. The false molars in 



the Weasels (Mustela) are typically ^_^, but in some species they 



are reduced to 3^. As in the Felidw, the angle of the lower jaw, 

 in the greater portion of the Mustelidce, is on the same plane as the 

 lower edge of the horizontal ramus ; it other Carnivora it is raised. 

 In this family there is a tendency in the glenoid cavity of the tem- 

 poral bone to enclose the condyle of the lower jaw. The condyle is 



1 See P. Z. S. 1882, p. 135. 



2 L. c. p. 459. 



3 P. Z. S. 1839, pp. 135-137. 

 * L. c. 1848, pp. 82-87. 



5 P. Z. S. 18K9, pp. 23-26, and also 35 & 37 ; figs. 11 & 12, p. 25. 

 " "On the Cranial and Dental Characters of the Canidffi," P. Z. S. 1880 

 pp. 238-288. A very elaborate paper, illustrated by sixteen woodcuts. 

 ? P.Z.S. 1839, p. 135. 



