1885.] DR. ST. G. MIVART ON THE ARCTOIDEA. 371 



The lumbar transverse processes are very small indeed, and the 

 humerus has no intercondyloid canal. 



The more important cranial characters have been described by 

 Prof. Flower \ It may here be noted in addition that the mastoid 

 process does not descend below the meatus auditorius externus, but 

 a ridge continues on from it to the paroccipital process and tends 

 to form a wall around a depressed surface as in Arctonyx. There 

 is a peculiar and marked bony canal which is posterior and internal 

 to the conspicuous carotid foramen extending from within the latter 

 backwards towards the foramen lacerum posterius. The palate does 

 not extend back beyond, or hardly beyond, the last molars. The bulla 

 develops an anteriorly extending pointed process, which approxi- 

 mates to, but does not join, the pterygoid. The zygomata arch rather 

 strongly outwards, but do not develop a postorbital process, and 

 there is hardly any such process from the frontal. The muzzle is 

 short and there is a sagittal ridge. The infraorbital foramen is rather 

 or very small and may be double or triple ; the palate hardly extends 

 back beyond the last molars. The angle of the mandible is rather 

 marked and is not pressed towards the condyle. 



Molar formula = P. |, M. \. 



The fourth upper premolar is rather sectorial and much like that 

 of the Civet and of Grisonia, but the internal and postero-external 

 cusps are rather smaller than in the latter. The first true molar is 

 large and nearly square, a little broader than long, on the type of 

 that oi Meles. The two cusps of the external cingulum blend with the 

 two principal external cusps, and there are two internal cusps and an 

 internal cingulum. The first inferior true molar has one anterior 

 cusp, behind which are two cusps, one external, the other internal, of 

 about equal size, followed by a talon with two or three cusps, but 

 which does not form half of the tooth. The second inferior true 

 molar has a rather triangular grinding surface, with three tubercles 

 developed as it were on a ridge surrounding a central depression. 



Conepatus '. — This more southern form extends from the south- 

 western United States and Texas through all Central and South 

 America. It has no median groove on nose or upper lip. The 



1 P. Z. S. 1869, p. 11. 



- See Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. (1788) p. 88. uo. 15 ; Shaw, Gen. Zool. (1800) 

 p. 392; Humboldt, Rec. Obs. Zool. i. p. 350; Lesson, Mam. (1827) p. 151, 

 u. 407 ; Fischer, Syn. (1829) p. 161 ; Licht. Abh. Ak. W. BerUn (1837), p. 270; 

 Tschudi, F. Peruana (1844-6), p. 113; Baii-d, N. A. Mam. p. 192, and Eeport 

 U. S. B. S. ii. Mam. p. 19 ; Tomes, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 280 ; Audubon and Bachman, 

 Q. N. A. ii. (1851) p. 18, pi. 53 ; Bennett, P. Z. S. 1833, p. 39 ; Gray, Cat. Cam. 

 Brit. Mus. p. 134 ; Coues, Fur-bearing An. p. 249 ; Biologia, p. 84 ; De Saussure, 

 Eev. et Mag. de Zool. 1860, xii. p. 6 ; Frantzius, Arch. f. Natur. xxxv. ] , p. 289 ; 

 Chatin, Ann. Sc. Nat. 5^ serie, xis. (1874) p. 100, pi. 6. figs. 59-63, showing 

 aspect of anus and extraordinarily large anal glands. Audubon remarks that 

 this animal "is found in the brown, broomy, sedgy plains, as well as in the woods 

 and cultivated districts of Texas and Mexico," and that it " eats grubs and insects, 

 small beasts and birds' eggs, and all it can." It " dwells in burrows and the 

 roots of trees, or in fallen trunks, or in cavities imder rocks. It is easily 

 caught going to its burrow and there remaining till worried out. It is noc- 

 turnal and a destroyer of poultry." 



