374 OR. ST. G. MIVART ON THE ARCTOIDEA. [Apr- -^'j 



within than without. There are two minute external cusps, a con- 

 siderably larger internal cusp, and an internal cingulura. 



The fourth inferior premolar is much like that of Hycena, but 

 with two minute cusps in front of and two behind the large single 

 median cusp. The first lower true molar is sectorial, a good deal 

 like that of the Civets, but with no internal cusp and but a very 

 small talon. 



The brain ^ presents a long oblique Sylvian fissure and a Sylvian 

 gyrus, the anterior hmb of which is exceedingly narrow. The 

 sagittal gyrus expands very much anteriorly. There is an Ursine 

 lozenge of a rather elongated shape. 



Helictis'. — This genus contains four species of small more or 

 less arboreal Arctoids from Eastern Asia. The body is elongated 

 and the limbs siiort, the tail being either short or of moderate 

 length and bushy. The ears are small. The snout is elongated, 

 obliquely truncated, and naked at the tip, which bears a distinct 

 nasal groove, whieh extends down the upper lip. The palmar sur- 

 faces are naked, but the plantar surfaces are clothed with hair on 

 the hinder half; yet the habit is said to be plantigrade. 



There are 14 dorsal, 6 lumbar, 3 sacral, and 1« caudal vertebrae. 



The cranial characters other than those given by Professor Flower ^ 

 are that the skull has a rather long muzzle, somewhat like that of 

 Nasua. The occiput shows a marked cerebellar prominence. 

 There are marked postorbital processes from the frontals, but hardly 

 any from the malar bones. The zygomata do not arch strongly 

 outwards. The uiastoid process does not descend quite to the level 

 of the floor of the meatus auditorius exteruus. The palate extends 

 back but little behind the last molars. There is a large infraorbital 

 foramen. The angle of the mandible is formed as in Meles. 



Molar formula = P. J, M. g- 



The fourth upper premolar is quite like that of Taxidea *. The 

 first upper true molar diverges from the form metwathinthe Badger 

 group (i. e. Meles, Taxidea, Arctonyx, and Mydaus), and approaches 

 that found in Proeyon. It is like the first upper true molar of 

 Procyon, with the postero-external and postero-internal cusps (espe- 

 cially the latter) reduced in size and with an enlarged internal cingu- 

 lum^ There is also a distinct external cingulum, which tends to 

 develop two small cusps just outside the two external principal 

 cusps. The fourth lower premolar, has one principal cusp with a 

 minute accessory cusp in front of it and two larger ones behind it. 

 The first lower true molar has two external cusps, the hinder one of 

 which shghtly predominates. There is also a large internal cusp as 



1 See I. c. p. 14. figs. 2 and 3. 



^ See Is. Geoff. Voy. de Eelang. Zool. p. 129, pi. 6 ; Giieriii, Mag. Zool. 1835, 

 vol. 1. pi. 14 ; Horsfield, Zool. Research. ; Desm. Mainm. p. 537 ; Cuv. Rech. iv. 

 p. 474 ; Temminck's MoiKigrapb, i. ]3. xs ; Hodgson, Journ. Asiatic Soc. of Bengal, 

 v. p. 237, vi. 2, p. 560 ; Wagner, Supp. ii. p. 201 ; P. Gervais, Mamm. ii. p. 105 ; 

 Gray, Pr. Zool. Soc. 1833, p. 1)4, lb63, p. 191 . 1865, p. 1.52 ; Oat. Carnivora Brit. 

 Mus' p. 141 ; De BlainviUe, Osteographie, Mustela. 



^ P. Z. S. 1869, p. 12. 



* See above, p. 278. 



