828 



MR. R. J. POCOCK ON THE 



The anus itself is typically exposed as a button -shaped convex 

 disc, everywhere surrounded by hair as in Martes, Mustela, Gulo, 

 Lutra, Ictonyx, and others ; but in some cases, as in MeUivora, 

 it is sunk in a circular thickening of corrugated integument, 

 Avhereas in Meles there is a nioi'e definite thinner-walled pouch 

 round it. In Tayra, a^g^in, there is above the anus a shallow^ 

 depressed arjea, bounded on each side and posteriorly towards the 



Text- figure 38. 



A. Anal region of Tayra harbara $ , showing the naked skin around the 



anus and the depression ahove it. 



B. The same of MelogaU personata i , showing the scrotum close beneath 



the aniTS. 



C. The same of GrisoveUa sp. from Cordova, Argentine. 



root of the tail by a low ridge of skin. Possibly some modi- 

 fication similar to this was the origin of the deep subcaudal 

 glandular pouch present in Meles and, accoi'ding to accounts, in 

 Arctonyx. (Text-fig. 38, A-C.) 



The perineal region between the anus and vulva or scrotum is 

 thickly overgrown with hair in GuJo, Martes, Mustela, Ictonyx, 



