"88 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON THE [NoV. 3, 



various writers to forms that are, or have been, recognized as belong- 

 ing to the genus Paradoxurus. Of these no less than sixteen have 

 been invented by Dr. J. E. Gray, and five by Mr. B. H. Hodgson. 

 A considerable proportion of the nominal species have been made 

 upon drawings (some of them very bad, to judge by the copies pub- 

 lished) and immature specimens, and it is not always possible to 

 identify such names satisfactorily. 



A few of the names enumerated, however, are no longer included 

 in the genus Paradoxurus. Besides such instances as P. ulbifrons, 

 of F. Cuvier, a synonym of Arctictis binturong, several species for- 

 merly included in Paradoxurus are now separated by most naturalists. 

 To Hemigale (variously spelt Hemigalus and Himigalea') belong P. 

 derbianiis. Gray, and P. zebra, Gray, both of which names appear 

 to have been given to the same species, now known by an older 

 specific name, H. hardwicMi, also bestowed by Dr. Gray. Similarly, 

 , P. binofatus and P. hamiltonii, two more of Dr. Gray's names, are 

 now recognized as identical, and are distinguished as Nandinia, the 

 African representative of the Oriental Paradoxuri. A third generic 

 type, Arctogale, has, like the preceding, been admitted by Flower' 

 and Mivart^; and although it is more nearly allied than the other 

 two genera just mentioned to true Paradoxurus, the much smaller 

 teeth, the very narrow and peculiarly formed mesopterygoid fossa, 

 and, apparently, the absence of any conspicuous naked space corre- 

 sponding to the genital glandular area^, show an amount of distinc- 

 tion that may perhaps be accepted as generic. It is true that as 

 regards the teeth and the characters of the mesopterygoid fossa, a 

 decided approach to Arctogale is made by the group of Paradoxuri 

 distinguished by Gray as Paguma*, and by Jourdan as Ambbjodon ; 

 but the difference from typical Paradoxurus is much smaller. I do 

 not think the matter of much importance ; and as the genus Para- 

 doxurus, when the nominal species are weeded out, is not so large as 

 to require division, and as all the species are similar in external 

 appearance and habits, it appears to me better to retain this generic 

 group to the extent generally admitted by the naturalists of the 

 present day. 



The genus Arctogale was proposed in IMS. by Peters, and adopted 

 and published by Gray\ The type is said to' be Paradoxurus tri- 

 virgatus ; but after examining the type of that species, which is in 

 the Leyden Museum, I am disposed to believe that two forms have 

 been confounded under that name. Unfortunately I omitted, when 

 on a visit to Berlin recently, to examine Peters's type ; but the 

 specimens described as A. trivirgata by Gray in the ' Proceedings ' 

 of the Society for 1864, and again in the ' Catalogue of Carnivorous 



' ' Encxclopaedia Britannica,' vol. xv., Art. Mammalia, p. 436. 



2 P. Z. S. 1882, pp. 163, 159. 



^ This was noticed by Dr. Gray, P.Z. S. 18(>4, p. 543. 



* Proposed P. Z.S. 1831, p. 95, for P. larvafa. The description related 

 chiefly to the dentition. Subsequently, P. Z. S. 1832, p. fi5, Dr. Gray stated 

 that this genus was first established on an animal that had not completely 

 shed its milk-teeth, although its true molars were partly developed. 



= P. Z. S. 1864, p. 542. 



