MANGUSTA JAVA NIC A. 



and the Viverra Civetta of Linngeus. It displays strongly the character of an 

 annual devoted to the chace. The sagittal and occipital sutures are in a slight degree 

 more elevated than in Viverra ; the skull is likewise somewhat more distended or 

 inflated posteriorly, and truncated in a more vertical manner. The forehead is 

 rather lengthened, and the posterior portion of the mastoid process of the temporal 

 bone has an oval swelling or enlargement, which is not observed in Viverra, but which 

 exists, according to the observation of M. Geoffroy, in several of the Mustelas. 

 In the interior of the skuU, the osseous tentorium cerebelli is very extensive. 

 The orbit of the eye is complete posteriorly. The lower jaw, at the juncture of 

 the two lateral portions, is much more strong and robust than in the other genera 

 of this family, with which I have compared it. 



The teeth offer the following particvdars. The front teeth in the upper jaw 

 are arranged with perfect regularity, but the outer tooth on each side exceeds the 

 others both in length and breadth, and tends to an oblique point ; on its internal 

 surface, an oblique groove is formed by the attrition of the corresponding tooth in 

 the lower jaw. The canine teeth are long, conical, and erect. There are six grinders, 

 the three anterior of which are greatly compressed, and constitute false grinders. 

 The first tooth is very minute, and often wanting; it has posteriorly an obscure 

 additional heel ; in the second and third the heel appears anteriorly and posteriorly, 

 and the latter is further provided with an interior acuminated tubercle. The fourth 

 tooth is very large, and being broad anteriorly, and narrow behind, it leaves an 

 extensive triangular vacancy, fitted for the reception of the longest point of the 

 fifth grinder of the lower jaw ; along its outer margin is one high projecting point 

 with a small single anterior, and a double posterior tubercle ; it is further provided 

 with a very large heel projecting far internally, and terminated by a sharp point of 

 considerable length. The triangular space remaining between the fourth grinder and 

 the posterior teeth furnishes an example of the peculiar provision in many carnivo- 

 rous animals for most effectual mastication, and also of the propriety of denominating 

 this tooth, the carnivorous tooth, in distinction from the anterior false grinders, and 

 the posterior tuberculous teeth. The fifth and sixth grinders are transversely disposed, 

 narrow, and provided with several tubercles. Their points are, on the whole, more 

 acute and elevated than in the teeth of other animals of this family. 



In the lower jaw the outer front teeth exceed the others in breadth ; the next 

 adjoining teeth diverge internally from the general series, and the intermediate teeth 

 are narrower and shorter. The canine teeth are conical, slightly arched, somewhat 

 swelled at the base, but without any projecting ridge. The four anterior grinders 

 are compressed and successively larger. The first, as in the upper jaw, is sometimes 



