CHARACTERS OF THE PARADOXURIN^E. 393 



digit, which is considerably shorter than in Paradoxurus and a 

 little shorter than in Arctogcdidia, being connected with the 

 poUical lobe of the plantar pad by a bare strip of integument. 



The claws are retractile but are not guarded by small skin- 

 lobes as in Genetta. The pads are in the main quite smooth, but 

 the central depression behind the plantar pad is somewhat 

 coarsely sculptured. 



The hind foot, so far as the webbing and the structure of the 

 plantar pad are concerned, resembles and differs from that of the 

 other genera described in this paper in the same respects as those 

 mentioned in connection with the fore foot. The digital pads, 

 however, of the third and fourth digits are widely separated, 

 even more so than in Arcto'ialidia, and resemble in this respect 

 the homologous pads of Genetta and other Yiverrines. The whole 

 of the posterior area of the naked metatarsal space is coarsely 

 ridged transversely, and this ridging is replaced in the elongated 

 depression behind the plantar pad by coarse polygonal sculp- 

 tui'ing. This depression is bounded on each side by a thick, 

 elongated, metatarsal pad, sculptured internally, but these pads 

 are not so long as in Faradoxiirus and Arctogalidia*. 



The characters of the feet of the four genera of Paradoxurines 

 above described may be systematically epitomised as follows : — 



a. Pads of 3rd and. 4th digits of hind foot pvosimallj' united in 

 the middle line; fore paws broad, their plantar and carpal 

 pads combined only a little longer than wide ; pads of fore 

 and hind feet with coarse tessellated sculpturing. 



a'. Sole of hind foot not naked to heel Faradoxuriis. 



h'. Sole of hind foot naked to heel ArcUctis. 



h. Pads of 3rd and 4th digits of hind foot senarated ; fore paws 

 narrower, their plantar and carpal pads combined much 

 longer than wide ; pads of fore and hind feet smooth or 

 nearly so ; [heel of hind foot hairj^ as in Paradoxurus]. 



a". Area between plantar and digital pads smooth Arctogalidia. 



b". Area between plantar and digital pads, except of digit 1, 



thickly hairy Nandhiia. 



The tessellated sculpturing of the pads observed in Arctictis 

 and the species of Paradoxurus examined must be verified for 

 other species of the latter genus, before it can be definitely 

 regarded as a generic feature. The fusion of the pads of the 

 3rd and 4th digits of the hind feet in these two genera — 

 obviously a specialised feature — may be regarded as evidence of 

 affinity between them ; but the separation of these same pads in 

 Nandinia and Arctogalidia is a case of the mutual inheritance 

 of a primitive character*, and cannot be considered as evidence of 

 relationship. 



* From the foregoing account of the hind feet ot Paradoxt<rus, Arctogalidia. and 

 Nandinia it will be seen that Mivart's description of the tarsus as " half-bald " in 

 these genera is untrue, since by the term tarsus he meant the whole area between 

 the plantar pad and the heel (P. Z. S. 1892, p. 206). He also included Semigalus 

 {Hemigalea) in the category of genera with "half bald" tarsus, although his own 

 figure of the hind foot of this genus {op. cit. p. 166) shows correctly that the greater 

 part of the sole behind the plantar pad is covered with hair. 



