Mat 7, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



691 



Witli regard to v. Korosy's supposition (pp. 

 172 and 173) that my preparations of frog's 

 stomacli muscle were contaminated with acid, 

 I can only say that it is incorrect. I took 

 particular pains to avoid contamination of the 

 muscle with the stomach contents; the prep- 

 arations were decidedly alkaline to litmus at 

 the beginnings of the experiments and re- 

 mained so for at least twenty-four hours. 



It seems to me that any further attempt to 

 show that the smooth and striated muscle of 

 the frog and the adductor muscle of the clam 

 are all equally subject to the "law of Ato- 

 gadro-van't Hoff " should be based on experi- 

 ments on all three kinds of muscle and on 

 careful consideration of the data already at 

 hand, rather than on experiments confined to 

 striated muscle and backed up only by experi- 

 mentally unfounded suppositions. 



Edward B. Meigs 

 The Wistar Institute of 

 Anatomy and Biology 



on the taxonomy of the procyonid^ 

 Within recent time I have, through the 

 courtesy of the United States National Mu- 

 seum and the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia, enjoyed the opportunity of 

 making a comparative study of the skeletons 

 of the procyonine mammals of America, and 

 that of the panda of the Old World. These 

 researches have resulted in the production of 

 a memoir setting forth in full complete and 

 comparative accounts of the osteology of all 

 these species and genera, as well as thorough 

 studies of their several dental armatures. 

 This memoir carries with it thirteen quarto 

 plates, upon which are to be found eighty- 

 seven photographic figures, giving all the 

 skulls and many other bones of the skeletons 

 of these procyonine species, together with the 

 skull of Ailurus fulgens. In all cases the fig- 

 ures are given natural size. 



As there is usually some little delay in the 

 publication of memoirs of this class, I have 

 thought best to publish here an advance ab- 

 stract, setting forth some of my findings 

 with respect to this group in the matter of 



their classification. All descriptive details, 

 as well as the large number of osteological 

 figures of the Procyonidse, will be available to 

 mammalogists later on — that is, at such 

 time as I can arrange for the publication of 

 this work in its entirety. 



As to the panda, I have said : " Judging 

 from the characters presented on the part of 

 its teeth; its skull, with the presence of the 

 alisphenoid canal, and its Asiatic habitat, it 

 is clear that Ailurus fulgens, the panda, is 

 but remotely related to such forms as the rac- 

 coons, the coatis, or the kinkajous. Wherever 

 it belongs, it does not belong in there. Hav- 

 ing studied only the teeth and skull of a single 

 individual, I am not prepared to say much in 

 regard to its affinities; but I am of the opin- 

 ion that it belongs, as a superfamily, Ailu- 

 roidea, between the bears and the procyonine 

 forms. Possibly Ailuropus may be the con- 

 necting type here — that is, with the ursine 

 series. 



Apart from their special character diSer- 

 ences, which have been given in detail above, 

 the dental formula agree in Bassariscus, 

 Nasua and Bassaricyon, while in Potos the 

 formula is different. This fact alone is suffi- 

 cient evidence to convince a mammalogist 

 that the Kinkajous are, at least to this extent, 

 more or less removed frora the more typical 

 raccoon group. In Bassaricyon, although the 

 formula is the same as in a raccoon, the teeth 

 differ markedly in their special characters. 

 Especially is this the case with respect to 

 their morphology and extremely feeble tuber- 

 culation. 



In not a few particulars its cranium and 

 mandible agree with that part of the skeleton 

 in Bassariscus, though the curvature of the 

 superior cranial line is more as we find it in 

 Procyon — that is, in Bassaricyon it is not so 

 flat andl straight as it is in the ring-tailed 



Not having examined the entire skeleton, 

 my opinion is given tentatively in so far as 

 the taxonomical position of Bassaricyon is 

 concerned; but with the morphology of its 

 teeth and skull before us, it is clear that it 

 possesses characters common to both the true 



