1897.] MYOLOGY OF THE TBIUIESTBIAL CAENIVORA. 371 



through the generosity of tliis Society, partly from other sources. 

 "We have therefore thought it advisable to collaborate in working 

 through this material and in comparing our results with the 

 numerous published records on the myology of Oarnivora which 

 are scattered through zoological literature. We are also greatly 

 indebted to Prof. Macalister for several unpublished records of 

 dissections. Altogether we find that we have more or less 

 complete accounts of 79 animals, a number which, we think, 

 justifies us in making an attempt at a comprehensive review of the 

 order- — a review which, though it cannot be final, may indicate the 

 present state of our knowledge of the subject, aud may serve to 

 direct the attention of future observers towards points which they 

 might otherwise overlook. The great difficulty in a work of this 

 kind is to avoid recording twice observations made by one observer 

 and quoted by another, and thus giving a false idea of the 

 frequency of variations : for instance, it is easy to find a great 

 many statements about the muscles of the Dog and Cat scattered 

 about, but it is often impossible to make out whether the writer 

 really dissected the animal or is relying on the description of 

 someone else. Tor this reason we have decided to err on the side 

 of safety, and have excluded a good many statements about the 

 originality of which we were doubtful. 



With a view to prevent any confusion between the facts which 

 we have observed ourselves and those quoted from others, we 

 commence our paper with a numbered list of all the animals refeiTed 

 to. When a Eoman numeral follows an animal's name it refers to 

 the bibliograph}'- at the end of the paper ; when no such numeral 

 follows, the animal has been dissected by ourselves. 



In the text, whenever an animal is mentioned, an ordinary 

 numeral is placed after it to show which specimen in our list is 

 referred to ; when more than one numeral is present it shows that 

 the statement holds good for more than one animal. 



This first part of the paper is devoted to statements of facts ; 

 we propose to reserve all conclusions and generalizations until 

 the whole of the muscles have been described and compared. 



List of Specimens of Animals referred to. 

 Fjelid^. 



1. Lion {F. leo). Macalister (unpublished). 

 la. Ihon {F. leo). Cuvier & Laurillard. (Y.) 



2. Lion {F. leo). Haughton. (III.) 



3. Tiger {F. tigris). Macalister (unpubHshed). 



4. Jjeo^ard (F. jmi-dus^ Macalister (unpublished). 



5. Leopard (F. pardus). Cuvier & Laurillard. (VI.) 



6. Cat {F. catus). Mivart. (I.) 



7. Cat {F. catus). Straus-Durckheim. (II.) 

 7a. Cat (F. catus). Meckel. (XXXIX.) 



8. Caracal {F. caracal). Perrin. (XXIX.) 



9. Cheetah (Cyncelurus jubatus). Ross. (IV.) 



