394 MR. R. I. POCOCK ON EXTERNAL 



Comparisoii between the Paradoxurine and Viverrine 

 types of feet. 



The feet of the Paradoxurine genera above described, and those 

 of the Viverrine genera described in roy previous paper (P. Z. S. 

 1915, pp. 132-140), may be briefly compared as follows : — 



Viverrince. — The pollical and hallucal elements of the plantar 

 pads are either suppressed or small, and when present lie 

 altogether behind the internal lateral lobe of the plantar 

 pads so as to contribute nothing to the width of the latter. 

 The carpal pads whether single or double are much shorter 

 and narrower than the plantar pad, occupy only a small 

 part of the underside of the carpo-metacarpal area, and are 

 separated from the plantar pad by a tolerably long space, 

 of which the median portion at least is covered with hair. 

 The underside of the metatarsus is for the most part covered 

 with hair ; when the metatarsal pads persist, they are 

 reduced to a small bilobed pad some distance away from 

 the plantar pad (Civettictis), or to two narrow median ridges 

 of integument in contact throughout the greater part of 

 their length, slightly sepa.rated towards the heel and more 

 strongly divergent inferiorly where they extend to right and 

 left to meet the postero-lateral angles of the plantar pad, 

 leaving a hairy space between [Genetta). 



Paradoxurince. — The pollical and hallucal elements of the 

 plantar pads are large and comparable in size to the three 

 remaining lobes of this pad individually, thus adding con- 

 siderably to its width. The carpal pads are long and wide, 

 occupy nearly the whole of the width of the underside of 

 the carpo-metacarpal area, and conjointly equal or approxi- 

 mately equal the plantar pad in area ; they are defined from 

 it by a transverse groove which expands mesially into a 

 depression, but this depression is never hairy. The meta- 

 tarsal ai-ea is naked throughout the greater part of its 

 length and width ; when the metatarsal pads are retained 

 they form two thick ridges of integument separated by a 

 wide depressed ai'ea. 



From this it is clear that the differences between the feet of 

 these two groups are considerable. The differences in the case 

 of the Viverrinse have arisen, as I have already pointed out 

 (P. Z. S. 1915, p. 139), by the srippression or reduction in size of 

 the pollical and hallucal elements of the plantar pads, by the 

 reduction in size of the carpal pads, the growth of hair between 

 them and the plantar pad, and by the suppression or reduction 

 in size of the metatarsal pads and their replacement by normal 

 hairy integument. In the case of Genetta, which of all the 

 Yiverrinse has the least specialised feet, it is clear that the two 

 juxtaposed narrow ridges of skin extending along the middle 

 line of the metatarsus are the homologues of the two thick ridges 

 or pads, separated by a median depression, in Paradoxtcrus or 

 Arciogalidia. 



