MUSTELIDA 567 
and Central America, and NV. rufa of South America from Surinam 
to Paraguay. Remains of this genus, mostly referable to the 
existing species, occur in the cavern-deposits of Brazil. 
Cercoleptes..—Dentition : i 3, ¢ 4, p 3, m 3; total 36. Molars 
with low flat crowns, very obscurely tuberculated. Skull short and 
rounded, with flat upper surface. Vertebre: C 7, D 14, L 6, 8 3, 
C 26-29. Clavicles present, but in a very rudimentary condition. 
Head broad and round. Ears short. Body long and musteline. 
Limbs short. Tail long, tapering, and prehensile. Fur short and 
soft. Tongue long and very extensile. But one species of this 
somewhat aberrant genus is known, (. caudivolvulus, the Kinkajou, 
found in the forests of the warmer parts of South and Central 
America. It is about the size of a Cat, of a uniform, pale, yellowish- 
brown colour, nocturnal and arboreal in its habits, feeding on 
fruit, honey, eggs, and small birds and mammals, and is of a 
tolerably gentle disposition and easily tamed. 
Family MUSTELIDA. 
True molars 4 (or + in Mellivora?). No alisphenoid canal. In 
the upper molar the inner tubercular portion is always longer in 
the antero-posterior direction than the secant external portion ; the 
degree of inflation of the auditory bulla is but slight; and the 
palate is generally much produced behind the last molars, as is the 
case with the members of the preceding family. The postglenoid 
process of the cranium is generally considerably curved over the 
glenoid fossa, so as to hold very tightly the condyle of the man- 
dible. The humerus may or may not have an entepicondylar 
foramen. Except in the Otters, the kidneys resemble those of 
the Procyonide in being of simple structure. 
This family is a large and widely distributed one, especially in 
the northern temperate regions of the earth. The different genera, 
which are very difficult to arrange in any natural order, are rather 
artificially divided, chiefly according to the characters of their feet 
and claws, into the Otter-like (Lutrine), Badger-like (Meline), and 
Weasel-like (Musteline) forms. 
Subfamily Lutrinee.—Feet short, rounded (except the hind feet of 
Latux). Toes webbed. Claws small, curved, blunt. Head broad 
and much depressed. Upper molar large and quadrate, with its 
inner tubercular portion much expanded antero-posteriorly (Fig. 
261). Kidneys conglomerate. Habits aquatic. 
Lutra.>— Dentition: i 3, ¢ 4, p 4, m 4; total 36. Upper 
1 Tlliger, Prodrumus Syst. Mamm. et Avium, p. 127 (1811). 
2 Also in two other species noticed below. One extinct Otter has two upper 
molars. 3 Erxleben, Syst. Regn. Animal, p. 445 (1777). 
