1907.] STRUCTURE OF THE MAMMAL GALIDICTIS. 807 



long, narrow pyloric portion. It also contrasts in other pai'ticulars 

 with the stomach of the also Madagascar genera Eupleres * and 

 the archaic type of existing Viverrid (as some think it) Nandinia 

 hinotata t. In both of these latter the stomach approximates 

 very closely in its characters to that of Arctictis, as described by 

 the late Prof. Garrod. 



The Intestines of Galidictis have in their convolutions the 

 simple character of those of other members of this group, as is 

 shown in the figures of Dr. Mitchell %. It is noteworthy that 

 the duodenal loop of Galidictis approaches more to a square with 

 rounded angles than in Genetta vtdgaris, where the first section 

 of the duodenum forms a more slight and C-shaped curve ; that 

 is to say, in the latter type the lower end of the duodenal loop 

 does not run so parallel with, and so exactly in the opposite 

 direction to, the upper limb of the loop as it does in Galidictis. 

 Both these types, however, show one difierence from the intestine 

 in Genetta pardina and Arctictis hinturong. In the two latter 

 the whole of the intestine forms a simple coil with no secondary 

 mesenteric connections between its coils. The whole canal forms 

 a simple though convoluted tube supported throughout by a 

 continuous mesentery. In Galidictis and Genetta vulgaris the 

 lower end of the duodenum, where it bends over to the left side 

 of the body, is attached by a mesentery to the mesocolon. It is 

 perhaps remarkable to find a difference in this matter between 

 two species of the same genus. But it will be recollected that 

 while Genetta vulgaris is Palsearctic, G. pardina is Ethiopian. 



The proportion between the large and small intestines are in 

 Galidictis as they are in other Yiverrines ; i. e.. the large intestine 

 is very short, both actually and relatively. There is, however, a 

 difference between Galidictis and Genetta vulgaris. For in the 

 latter, which is a larger animal, the large intestine is 4| inches in 

 length and is actually, and therefo]:'e much more so relatively, 

 shorter than it is in Galidictis where it measures 5^ inches. In 

 Genetta in fact the whole of the short large intestine is perfectly 

 straight ; there is no bend from its origin to the anus. In Galidictis, 

 on the other hand, the upjjer extremity of the large intestine is bent 

 round to the right, thus forming a rudimentary transverse colon. 

 Indeed, it could not lie straight ; for if artificially so placed it 

 reaches the diaphragm. The attachment of the duodenum where 

 it bends to the left of the mesocolon is by no means a character- 

 istic of the ^luroidea as opposed to the Arctoidea. For of the 

 Kinkajou [Cercoleptes caudivolvulios) Owen wrote § :■ — "The duo- 

 •denimi made a large semicircular SM^eep downwards, backwards, 

 and to the left, being loosely connected by a wide duplicature of 

 peritoneum for the greater part of its course ; it was also 



■ * Carlsson, Zool. Jalirb., Abtli. f. Syst. xvi. p. 217. 



t Id. ibid. xiii. p. 509. 



X " The Intestinal Coils in Mammals," Trans. Zool. See. vol. xvii. p. 494 &c. 

 -figs. 33 &c. 



§ P. Z. S. 1835, p. 119. 



