EXTERNAL CHARACTERS OF THE RATEL AND WOLVERENE. 179 



14. On the External Characters o£ the Ratol {Mellivora) 

 and the Wolverene [Gulo] *. By R. I. PococK, F.R.S., 

 F.Z.S. 



[Received April 13, 1920 : Read April 13, 1920.] 



(Text-figures 14-18.) 



Contents. Page 



Introduction 179 



External form 181 



The Head 181 



The Feet 182 



The Anus and the External Genitalia 184 



Conclusion 187 



Introduction. 



Writing on Mellivora in 1902 (Zool. of Egypt, Mammalia, 

 p. 245), de Winton remarked : — " A glance at the generic names 

 mentioned in the synonymy of the African species will show that 

 great uncertainty has existed as to the true relationship of the 

 animal. Even in the latest text-books it has been placed among 

 the badgers, while in truth it is nothing but a giant weasel 

 modified for digging and quite closely related to Ictonyx." 



Without admitting the truth of the last proposition, it is 

 unquestionably the case that the majority of authors, judging 

 from the structure of the feet and the general form of the body, 

 followed Gray in classifying Mellivora in the group, family, or 

 subfamily, as the case may be, typified hy Meles. De Winton, on 

 the contrary, rejecting the external characters and relying upon 

 the teeth and skull, j)laced it in the subfamily Mustelinje, Avhich 

 comprised the following genera : — Mephitis, Conepatus, Galera, 

 Galictis, Mellivora, Ictonyx, Mustela (now Martes), Putorius (now 

 Mustela), Pcecilogale, Lyncodon, and Gidof. It would have been 

 very dilficult to define the Mustelinse, as thus constituted, and 

 de Winton, perhaps wisely, made no attempt to do so. That 

 question does not concern me now. The point to which attention 

 may be drawn is the placing of Mellivora in the same group as 

 (xido. 



Although no authors appear to be very clear about the precise 

 position of Gzdo, its kinship with Mustela and Martes has been 

 generally admitted. The latest opinion on the subject is that of 

 Mr. G. S. Miller, who proposed to make it the type of a distinct 

 subfamily, Gulonina^, equivalent to the Mustelinfe, Melinse, and 

 Lutrinje, these four subfamilies comprising the genera of 

 Mustelidfe of Western Europe (Cat. Mamm. Western Europe, 

 pp. 341 aiid 432, 1912). 



* The facts recorded were based upon the examination of fresh. material in the 

 Society's Prosectorium. 



t Weber (Die Siiug. p. 537, 1904) followed de Winton in classifying Mellivora, 

 and Gulo in the Mustelinse. 



12* 



