348 



CAKNIVORA 



which the anterior is the larger), a large cusp similar to postero- 

 external cusp at middle of inner margin ; posterior margin 

 occupied by three or four minute cusps soon disappearing with 

 wear, and a similar minute cusp sometimes .in angle behind 

 protoconid and metacooid. Second lower molar flat, terete, its 

 area about half that of crushing portion of carnassial ; middle of 

 crown with basin-like concavity ; margin with small but evident 

 antero-external and postero-external cusps, and a smaller 

 elevation at middle of inner edge. Upper molar rhomboidal 

 in outline, the inner and outer margins parallel, the former 

 nearly It 1 , times as long as latter; outer border occupied by two 

 rather large, subterete, conical cusps, the anterior (paracone) 

 slightly larger than posterior (metacone), so that greatest trans- 

 verse diameter of crown is slightly behind anterior border ; 

 remainder of crown a shallow basin-like concavity with rugose 

 surface and raised, irregularly nodulate margin, the middle of 

 concavity crossed by a ridge, convex internally, extending from 

 anterior base of paracone to posterior base of metacone and 

 bearing from three to five small cusps soon obscured by wear, 

 the three anterior separated from two posterior by a deep angle ; 

 the anterior group probably representing the protocone, the 

 posterior group the hypocone. 



JRemarks. — Two moderately well differentiated local races are 

 represented by the material that I have examined, one confined 

 to the Iberian Peninsula, the other general in distribution. 

 British specimens do not differ appreciably from Swedish 

 examples of the typical form. 



Meles meles meles Linnseus. 



1758. [Ursus] meles Linnseus, Syst. Nat., i, 10th ed., p. 48 (Sweden). 



1785. [Meles] taxus Boddaert, Elenchus Animalium, i, p. 80 (Europe). 



1789. [Ursus meles} £ alba Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, 13th ed., p. 102. 



1789. [Ursus meles'] y maculata Gmelin, Syst. Nat., I, 13th ed., p. 102. 



1808. Taxus vulgaris Tiedemann, Zoologie, i, p. 376 (Renaming of Ursus 



1816. Meles europmus Desmarest, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., in, p. 465 



(Eenaming of XIrsus meles). 

 1822. Taxus meles F. Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Mamm., in, faso. 36, January, 



1822. 

 1827. [Meles] communis Billberg, Synopsis Faunae Soandinaviae, p. 16 



(Renaming of Ursus meles). 



1827. [Meles communis] caninus Billberg, Synopsis Faunae Scandinavia, 

 p. 17 (Scandinavia). 



1857. Meles taxus Blasius, Saugethiere Deutschlands, p. 204. 



1894. Meles meles Dahl, Die Heimat, iv, p. 125, June, 1894. 



1899. M[eles] m[eles] typicus Barrett-Hamilton, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 

 7th ser., iv, p. 384, November, 1899. 



