EXTERNAL CJlAEACTEllS OF THE MUSTELID^. 827 



the plantar pad, from which they are separated by a sliort space, 

 and there is an area of naked skin above them. In the hind foot 

 the metatarsal a.rea is naked to the heel and is provided with 

 two long pads a.s wide as the foot, the inner being the wider of 

 the two. (Text-fig. 37, 0, D.) 



The Carpal Vihrissce. — The occurrence of these tactile hairs in 

 many different orders of Mammals suggests that they are a 

 primitive mammalian character. I have not mentioned them 

 under the separate generic headings because they are present in 

 most of the forms discussed. They ai-e especially well developed 

 in the active predaceous forms like Mustela, Maries, Tayra, 

 Orison, and the Lutrinse. In the fossorial forms they appear to 

 be of less importance, judging from the frequent difficulty there is 

 in distinguishing them amongst the long hairs of the leg. They 

 are present, however, in Lyncodon and in Ictonyx. In the latter 

 they are not always to be de ected with certainty, and the tuft 

 may be reduced to one bristle. But the sense of touch locates 

 their position by the perception of a small wart-like swelling on 

 the skin, where, as pointed out by Beddard, the nerve supplying 

 the vibrissse ends. This swelling is present in such highly 

 specialised diggers as Mellivora and Taxidea, although I failed to 

 difierentiate the vibrissa themselves. In Meles, IlepJiitis, and 

 Conepatus I could find neither swelling nor vibrissa;. 



The Anus and, External Genitalia. 



So far as is known, the normal pair of anal glands is present in 

 all genera of the family, but they vaiy greatly in development. 

 In many cases, i. e. in Maries, Gulo, Tayra, Lutra, Taandea *, 

 Meles, the glands are not enlarged and the secretion is not par- 

 ticularly offensive in scent to Mail, and is not apparently used by 

 the animal itself for defensive purposes. But in other genera, 

 like Mellivora, Grison, Ictonyx, Mephitis, Conepatus, the glands 

 are enlarged, the secretion is copious, n.nd is ejected at an enemy 

 in case of attack or when two individuals of the same species fight 

 together. And these genera are unusually coloured, being either 

 grey above and black below or striped with white along the 

 dorsal areaf. Puiorius also is accredited with the same habit, 

 although the scent of the secretion is not so pungent and lasting 

 as in the other genera mentioned. Nor is the coloration so 

 striking; but the underfur is creamy white when the coat is 

 lifted and this pallid hue often pervades nearly the ^vhole body J. 



* At least in the single female example I examined. 



f Si'O my paper, " The Warning Characters of Musteline Carnivora" (Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1908, p. 955). In this paper I threw out the suggestion that the similarity in 

 colour between Taijra and the Canine genus SpeotJios might he an instance of 

 mimicry, on the supposition that the secretion of the anal glands in Tayra might 

 turn out to be oflFensivc as it is in Grison. Since subsequent observation has shown 

 this not the case, the suggestion must be withdrawn. It does not seem likelj' that 

 8-peotlios is the offensive model mimicked by Tayra. 



J See my paper on the warning coloration of P. nigripes ;Proc. Zool. Soc. 1911, 

 pp. 559-560). 



