CHARACTERS OF THE PROCYONID.E. 411 



Nothing is known of Ailuropoda with respect to specialized 

 cutaneous or anal glands. The latter are probably present and 

 the former absent. No specialized cutaneous glands have been 

 discovered in the Ursidse; but the anal glands are present or 

 absent. Owen declared them to be absent, and I failed to find a 

 trace of them in Ursus arctos, the type he probably examined. 

 In an example of Euarctos americanus, however, I detected the 

 normal pair, though relatively much reduced in size. The anus 

 in this family resembles that of the typical Procyonidae. 



External Genitalia. 



In Procyon, JVasua, Potos, and Bassariscus, and presumably in 

 Bassaricyon, the prepuce is abdominal and far in front of the 

 scrotum, as in the Canidae, Ursidse, and Mustelidse, and the penis, 

 which is supported by a long bone (baculum), is susceptible of 

 protrusion from the preputial orifice for the entire length of the 

 bone. The aperture of the urethra is on the ventral side of the 

 bone in some vascular tissue which can be stretched to a certain 

 extent beyond the apex of the bone. 



In Ailurus, however, as recorded by Flower, the penis is com- 

 paratively quite short, the prepuce being close to the scrotum as 

 in the Felicia? and Mungotidae, although the penis is longer than 

 in those families and structurally resembles that of the genera 

 referred to the Procyonidse. 



Hodgson declared that Ailurus has no scrotum ; and in the 

 male examined by Flower that sac was represented by a pair of 

 swellings between the anus and prepuce, the testes being internal. 

 But in the male seen by me the testes had descended into the 

 scrotum, which formed a quite distinct swelling below the anus, 

 though not so constricted at the neck as in the examples of 

 Procyon, JVasua, and Potos examined by me *. 



The baculum of Procyon lotor has long been known. It was 

 figured by Blainville (Ost. des Mamm., Atlas i., Subursus, pi. viii.), 

 and refigured and described by Gilbert (Morph. Jahrb. xviii. 

 p. 818, pi. xxvii. fig. 8, 1892). It is relatively longer than in 

 any other species referred to the Procyonidee, surpassing 100 mm. 

 along the upper curvature, the distal third of the bone being 

 bent downwards. The apex is expanded both transversely and 

 vertically, and forms a pair of condyle-like lobes separated by a 

 deep notch. 



According to Hollister, the baculum of Procyon cancrivorus 

 (referred to the subgenus Ev.procyon) is less curved than in the 

 typical form, P. lotor ; but the curvature is subject to a great 

 deal of variation in the latter, i. e. from an angle of 135° to 90°. 



In Nasua the baculum, as shown in Blainville's figure (loc.cit.), 



* It may be added that Flower appeared to be quite unaware of the interest of 

 the fact when he published the discovery of the proximity of the prepuce to the 

 scrotum — a peculiarity in which Ailurus differs from all other Arctoid Carnivora. 



Proc Zool. Soc.— 1921, No. XXVIII. 28 



