326 Dr. Eiiiar Loniiberg — Notes on Arctonyx. 



pads is naked. The lafcfer are irregular in shape, but quite 

 well defined all round, and thus exhibiting a condition 

 different from that in Meles and other genera of badgers (vide 

 Pocock). The plantar pad behind the pollex is the smallest, 

 and the one on the outer side the largest. Behind the 

 plantar pads follow after an interspace two carpal pads (ns in 

 Meles^ but unlike Taxidea), the outer of which is much the 

 larger, and also more pronounced. Thevvholeplantarsuifr.ee 

 is naked ; thus the characteristic tuft of hair found in the 

 interspace between the plantar and carpal pads of Meles is 



missing *. 



The hind foot (fig. 4) is in every dimension smaller than 

 the fore foot, and has also smaller claws, although they appear 

 to be comparatively rather larger and more fossorlal in shape 

 than those of Meles. Digits 3 and 4 sit on a level, then 

 follows the second, while the fifth is somewhat behind those 

 mentioned, and the hallux still more so. Unlike the con- 

 dition in Meles, the pads of digits 3 and 4 are fully separated, 

 even if the toes themselves sit a little closer together than 

 the others. The space between the digital and the plantar 

 pads is naked, and the Latter are four in number, quite well 

 defined, unlike in Meles, etc. The plantar pad on the 

 hallucal side is the smallest, and that on the opposite side the 

 largest. Behind these pads is a naked space, and then two 

 metacarpal pads are found which are quite well defined, but 

 the one on the outer side is much the larger. With regard 

 to the metacarpal pads as well Arctonyx thus differs from 

 Meles, and still more so from Taxidea and Mellivora, which 

 two latter genera, as Pocock has shown, only have a single 

 metacarpal pad. 



The author just quoted shortly mentions (P. Z. S. 1920, i. 

 p. 426) unpublished sketches of the feet of Arctonyx^ which 

 have been drawn by Hodgson, and which are said to " re- 

 semble the feet of Meles in general features." The descrip- 

 tion, above may prove that the differences are rather 

 important, and that Arctonyx^ as well by the structure of its 

 feet as with regard to its skull, is very well defined from 

 Meles and the other genera mentioned above. The structure 

 of the feet of Arctonyx may be considered to be less 

 specialized, as its pads are hardly ever fused, but retain a 

 more primitive condition. In this it resembles to some 

 degree Idelictis, 



* I have stated the presence of this tuft also on the fore feet of 

 M. leptorhi/nchiis from China, so that it is certainly a generic character. 



