1898.] ON THE ANATOMY OF THE CCTNNING BASSARISC. 129 



1. On certain Points in tlie Anatomy of the Cunning 

 Bassarisc, Bassariscus astutus. By Frank E. Beddard, 

 M.A., F.B.S.^ Prosector to the Society, Examiner in 

 Zoology in the University of London. 



[Received March 1, 1898.] 



The opportunity of dissecting this imperfectly known Carnivore 

 was afforded me by the death of a specimen acquired by the 

 Society some two years since, the second example which has been 

 exhibited alive at the Gardens. The abdominal viscera of the 

 animal at its death were healthy to all appearance : but the skin 

 in the neighbourhood of the anus had been macerated away — 

 perhaps by diarrhoea, as the intestines were nearly empty and the 

 animal had not taken food for a week. The tongue and palate 

 were also diseased. Its body was, however, enormously fat, inter- 

 nally as well as externally. 



So far as I am aware, the only accounts of the soft parts of this 

 animal are by M. Gervais ' and Sir W. H. Flower ". The paper of 

 the last-named naturalist is his well-known memoir upon the 

 classification of the Carnivora, and deals chiefly with the skull ; 

 bnt in it he confirms M. Gervais's statement of the absence of a 

 cfficum, which is so important a classificatory point. This paper 

 established beyond question the association of Bassariscus with the 

 Arctoid division of the Carnivora. Such new facts as I have to 

 describe in the present communication are purely confirmatoi'y of 

 that conclusion. 



§ Brain. 



The brain conforms in every respect to the Arctoid type as 

 defined by Sir W. Flower ^, and, as is the ease with smaller brains, 

 it is less convoluted than is, for instance, the larger brain of Gulo * 

 figured by myself. 



The hemispheres are divergent posteriorly, displaymg most of 

 the cerebellum. The fissure dividing the sagittal from the parietal 

 gyrus does not reach the posterior margin of the cerebrum ; it does 

 so more nearly on the right side than the left. On the right side 

 also there is a bridging convolution imiting the sagittal with the 

 parietal gyrus ; there are faint indications of this on the left side. 

 As is usual in Carnivorous (not merely Arctoid) brains, the sagittal 

 gyrus is sharply folded upon itself anteriorly, the sulcus which 

 divides this region from the middle portion of the gyrus reachuag 

 the rhinal fissure below. The sagittal gyrus winds round the 



' In 'Voyage dela Bonite,' 1841. 



^ " On the Value of the Characters of the Base of the Cranium, &c.," P. Z. S. 

 1869, p. 34. 



3 " On the Anatomy of the Proteles," P. Z. S. 1869, p. 482. 

 * " On the Brain of ffwfo," P. Z. S. 1895, p. 140, fig. 1. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1898, No. IX. 9 



