2. MELES. 125 



Meles taxus, Soddaert, Elench. i. p. 80 ; Schreb. Sdugeth. t. 142 ; 



Blainv. Ostdogr. Subui-sus, t. 2 (skeleton), 6 (skiiU), 9 (teeth) ; 



Gray, P. Z. S. 1865, p. 139 ; 1868, p. 207. 

 Meles europsBus, Desm. iV. Diet. Hist. Nat. iii. p. 465. 

 Meles vulgaris, Desm. Mamm. p. 173. 

 Taxus vulgaris, Tiedm. Zool. i. p. 376. 

 Blaireau, Buffon, H. N. vii. p. 104, t. 7, 8. 

 Blaireau d'Europe, Cuvier, R. A. i. p. 145. 

 Common Badger, Pmn. Brit. Zool. p. 30 ; Bell, Brit. Quad. p. 122. 



Hah. North Europe ; North Asia. 



SknU ovate-elongate ; face large ; forehead flat ; nose broad, flat 

 above ; orbits incomplete ; supraorbital hole large, subquadrangular ; 

 brain-case ovate, narrow behmd, obliquely truncated ; palate rather 

 concave, flat and produced behind, with a sharp keeled ridge on each 

 side behind ; the hinder aperture angular in front, in a line with 

 the middle of the zygomatic arch. Cutting-teeth large, subequal, 

 truncated. Canine conical, sUghtly curved. False grinders 2 ; front 

 small, conical ; second larger, compressed. Flesh-tooth moderate, 

 trigonal, sides subequal, outer edge, with two conical tubercles, outer 

 lobe with two indistinct minute tubercles on the edges. The tuber- 

 cular grinder large, massive, rather longer than broad, front edge 

 concave, hinder rounded, obscurely truncated on the outer hinder 

 margin, outer margin with three unequal shghtly raised tubercles. 

 Lower jaw strong; chin arched; cutting- teeth truncated, unequal, 

 the middle one on each side rather behind the others ; canines 

 conical; short, curved ; false grinders 3, flrst very small, deciduous ; 

 second and third compressed, conical ; flesh-tooth oblong, elongate, 

 with three tubercles in front and two pairs of tubercles behind ; 

 tubercular grinder small, ovate. 



Length of skuU 5" 3'", of nose 9'", of palate 2" 11'", of lower jaw 

 3" 9'" ; width over ears 2" 3'", of nose in front of orbits 1" 4'". 



Skull large; face very broad and rounded in front; the nasal 

 aperture large, broad, as broad as high, postorbital aperture mo- 

 derate, subcircular.— 6?ra2/, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 206, 



2. Meles auakuma, Temm. 



Skull small ; face broad, tapering, narrow, and rounded in front ; 

 the nasal aperture oblong, moderate, higher than broad ; the post- 

 orbital opening very large, oblong. 



Meles anakuma, Temm. Fauna Japonica, t. ; Chray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 



1858. p. 191 ; 1865, p. 139. 

 Meles taxus, var., Middmdorff, N. vmd O. Sihir. Sdugeth. p. 3. 

 Meles taxus, var. amurensis, Schrenck, Amurland, xvii. 1. 1. f. 1, 4. 



Hah. Japan. 



The skuU differs from that of M. taxus and M. lewcurus in being 

 much shorter, and with a rather broad nose (Gray, P. Z. 8. 1853, 



" The skuU is well figured by Temm. & Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, 

 t 6 The name of this animal is erroneously printed M. ankuma, 

 ii P. Z. S. 1865, p. 140. 



