402 



MR. R. I. POCOCK ON THE EXTERNAL 



N~asua, the pads are less well defined and the claws rather smaller; 

 but the great and essential difference lies in the complete 

 absence of interdigital webbing, the digits being entirely free as 

 far back as the plantar pads. This very rare phenomenon in the 

 Carnivora is paralleled only, so far as I know, in the Crab-eating 

 Mongoose Atilax, and in both cases it is probably subservient to 

 delicacy of touch in finding and handling food. 



Text-figure 6. 



V: 



La*, 





A. Right fore foot of Jentiiikia sumiclirasti. 



B. „ hind foot of same. 



C. „ fore foot of Sassariscus astutus ; imraat. 



D. „ hind foot of same. 



(A, B. Sketched from dried skin.) 

 Xi. 



The feet of Potos * differ from those of JSfasua in that the 

 claws are shorter, sharper, and more curved ; approximately the 

 distal two-thirds of the digits are free from webbing, and, in 

 the hind foot, the lower side of the calcaneum is covered with 

 hair, the hair- covered area corresponding to the narrow naked 

 area in Nasua. 



* The feet of Potos were figured by Kidd to illustrate the development of the 

 sensory ridges on the pads. The feet from which these figures were taken closely 

 resemble those examined by me, but the metatarsal pads seem to have been better 

 developed ('The Sense of Touch in Mammals and Birds/ pp. 24-25, figs. 9 & 10, 

 1907). ' li 



