AWUSTELID AL 575 
Tail moderate, tapering. A full soft under fur, with longer, bristly 
hairs interspersed. The best-known species is 4. collavis, the Sand- 
Badger, or Bhdlu-soor} (i.e. Bear-pig) of the natives, found in the 
mountains of the north-east of India and Assam. It is rather 
larger than the English Badger, higher on its legs, and very Pig-like 
in general aspect, of a light gray colour, with flesh-coloured snout 
and feet ; and is nocturnal and omnivorous in habits. The imper- 
fectly known 4. tavoides from Assam and Arakan, and perhaps 
China, is a much smaller species. A third form probably exists in 
Eastern Tibet. Professor Mivart remarks that the brain-case of 
-lrctonyx is narrower than in any other Arctoid; while the palate is 
relatively longer than in any other Carnivore except Procyon ; and 
the metatarsus is relatively shorter than in any other member of 
the order. 
AMydaus.-—Dentition as in the last genus, but the cusps of the 
teeth more acutely pointed. Cranium elongated, face narrow and 
produced. Suborbital foramen small, and the palate, as in all the 
succeeding genera of this group, produced backwards about midway 
between the last molar tooth and the glenoid fossa. Vertebre: C7, 
D 14-15, L6-5, 8 3, C12. Head pointed in front; snout produced, 
mobile, obliquely truncated, the nostrils being inferior. Limbs 
rather short and stout. Tail extremely short, but clothed with 
rather long bushy hair. Anal glands largely developed, and emitting 
an odour like that of the American Skunks. One species, J. meliceps, 
the Teledu, a small burrowing Badger, found in the mountains of 
Java at an elevation of 7000 or more feet above sea-level. 
Aeles.>—Dentition : 1 3, ¢ 4, p 4, m 4; total 38. The first 
premolar in both jaws extremely minute and often deciduous. 
Upper molar very much larger than the carnassial, subquadrate, as 
broad as long. Lower carnassial with a broad, low, tuberculated 
talon, more than half the length of the whole tooth. The postglenoid 
processes of the skull are so strongiy developed, and the glenoid 
fossa is so deep, that the condyle of the lower jaw is firmly held in 
its place even after all the surrounding soft parts are removed. 
Vertebre: C7, D15, L5,83,C 18. Muzzle pointed. Ears very 
short. Body stout, broad. Limbs short, strong, subplantigrade. 
Tail short. The best-known species is the common Badger (Jf. turus) 
of Europe and Northern Asia, still found in many parts of England, 
where it lives in woods, is nocturnal, burrowing, and very omni- 
vorous, feeding on mice, reptiles, insects, fruit, acorns, and roots. 
Other nearly allied species, AL. leucurus and Jf. chinensis, are found in 
continental Asia, J. canescens in Persia, and 1. anakwme in Japan. 
The appearance of the common Badger is too well known to 
1 Possibly the name should be Balu-soor (Sand-pig). 
° F. Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes (1825). 
3 Storr, Prodromus Meth. Mamm. p. 84 (1780). 
