AND AFFINITIES OF POTAMOGALE, 9) 
extends over it from the septum, and by which it may be completely closed; the two 
valves form together a heart-shaped, naked shield by which the muzzle is terminated. 
The ears (fig. 4) are inserted about half an inch behind the eyes, and project for about 
the same distance from the head. They are rounded, Fig. 4. 
the breadth being about two-thirds of the height ; 
and at about one-fourth from the summit they have 
a deep notch on their posterior edge: the upper 
fourth is quite naked, but the rest is clothed with 
silky hairs. The helix is distinct anteriorly and 
posteriorly, but is obsolete towards the tip; the 
anthelix is represented by a short, nearly trans- 
verse ridge; the tragus is indistinct, but the anti- 
tragus is well developed. 
The eyes are very small. The opening of the 
eyelids, when fully expanded, is one-tenth of an 
inch in its antero-posterior, and a little less in its 
vertical diameter; it leads into an oval palpebral 
chamber, which extends for some distance beneath the anterior and posterior margins, 
somewhat further posteriorly than anteriorly. In the specimen, the globe of the eye was 
retracted into this cavity, and thus rendered difficult to detect ; it is about one-twelfth of 
an inch in diameter, and, so far as could be determined from the state of the specimen, 
is completely developed, and receives an optic nerve fully proportioned to its size. 
The fore limbs, as far as the wrist, are clothed with moderately long hair, which on the 
back of the metacarpal bones becomes very short and appressed, and is thus continued 
over the back of the fingers as far as the claws ; the whole of the palm, with the under- 
side of the fingers, is naked (fig. 5 a). The fingers are five in number, and are connected 
at their bases by a very narrow extension of the skin, but nothing like a distinct web is 
developed ; they gradually increase in length from the outer finger to the middle, which is 
the longest of all; the index is a very little shorter than the Fig. 5. 
annularis; and the pollex, which is inserted a little further 
back than the index, is the shortest. The claws are of mo- 
derate size, nearly equal on all the fingers, compressed, curved, 
and with a furrow on the underside. 
The hind limbs are clothed, as far as the tarsus, with 
moderately long hair, which becomes short and appressed 
upon the entire back of the foot as far as the claws ; the entire 
sole of the foot is naked (fig. 58). The toes are five in 
Right ear, enlarged. 
. Feet, plantar surface.— 
number; the outer and inner toes are the shortest, the A. Right anterior. 
inner being a little shorter than the outer; the second, B. Right posterior. 
third, and fourth are nearly equal to one another in length; the second and third are 
