380 DR. ST G. MIVART ON THE ARCTOIDEA. [Apr. 21, 



The angle of the mandible is hardly more marked than in 

 Arctonyx. 



Molar formula=P. % M. \. 



The cusps are somewhat sharper than in Mustfla. The upper 

 sectorial has its inner cusps less anteriorly placed and the lower sec- 

 torial has its inner cusp more rudimentary. 



The brain \ though very little convoluted, as is the rule in the 

 smallest mammals of" each group, shows a distinct, though minu'e, 

 Ursine lozenge. The crucial and calloso-marginal sulci run into 

 one another. The sulcus separating the sagittal and parietal gyri 

 is less produced posteriorly than in other Carnivora. The Sylvian 

 fissure is oblique and relatively long. 



Poecilogale. — This small South-African genus, coloured like 

 the Zorilla, has been founded by Mr. O. Thomas^ on the Mustela 

 albinucha of Gray ^ Its molar formula : P. |, M. ^, rarely ^. It 

 has the smaller number in all the British Museum specimens 

 examined by Mr. Thomas, but the second minute lower true molar 

 is present in the specimens in the Paris Museum. The auditory 

 bullfe are perfectly flattened. 



Lyncodon \ — This and the last genus are the Arctoids with the 

 smallest number of teeth and most feUne dentition, whence the name 

 of this genus. The animal comes from Patagonia. Mr. O.Thomas 

 considers that it may merely be an aberrant soutiiern furm of 

 Patorius hrasiliensis. Its skull is quite like that of Puiorius, but 

 the bullae are vinusually inflated. 



Molar formula = P. |, M. p 



Its external form has been unknown till recently. C. Vogt 

 describes as follows skins from Patagonia preserved in the Museum of 

 Geneva : — " L'animal est une vraie belette un peu plus grande que 

 Thermine. Le corps a 30 cent, de long, la queue 'J cent. La fourrure 

 est rude, grossifere, formee de longs poils clairsemes d'un brun 

 rouge clair avec des pointes blanchatres sur le dos, les flancs et la 

 queue. Le dessus de la tete est d'un blanc jaunatre sale, et cette 

 teinte se continue en arriere des deux cotes par-dessus les oreilies 

 en deux pinceaux-pointus, formes de poils tres longs couches sur les 

 cotes du cou. L'animal a I'air de porter un baschlik a coins rejetes 

 en arriere. La nuque et le dessus du cou sont, com me la gorge et 

 les pattes, d'une teinte brune assez foncee. La queue porte des 

 poils tres longs reunis au bout en pinceau. 



" La tete est courte, ie nuiseau tronque, les oreilies tres petites, 

 arrondies et larges, les pieds peutadactyles, a courtes griffes tres 



1 L. e. p. 17. 



2 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1883) p. 370, where see the wooclcuts of skull and 

 dentition. 



3 See Cat. Cuvier, B. Mus. p. 91 ; also P. Z. S. 1864, p. 69, pi. 10 ; and 

 P.Z.S. 1865, p. 114. 



* See d'Orbigny, Ainer. Merid. ; also P. Gervais, Mus. ii. p. 11.5; A. Doenng, 

 Zoologia, Buenos Ajres, 1881 ; O. Tbomas, Ann. & Mag. Kat. Hist. (1883) 

 p. 370 ; and Carl Vogt, Mammiferes (1884), p. 244. 



