1838.] Note on a species of Arctonix from Arracan. 733 



five toes, united by a narrow membrane throughout their whole extent, 

 are armed with powerful clavss an inch in length. 



" The hairs are rough, thickly set, and long upon the body, while 

 those of the head are short and depressed. The snout which is flesh- 

 colored, has only a few bristles on its sides ; and the belly is almost 

 naked. The ears are short, covered with short hairs, and bordered 

 with white. The hair, which is yellowish white with its apex black, 

 gives to the fur a slightly blackish cast, which varies in an undulated 

 manner when the animal moves. The throat is yellow and the sides of 

 the head are marked with two black bands, which unite towards the 

 snout. The lower band which is very narrow, borders the upper lip ; 

 the other which is much broader covers the eye, embraces the ear, 

 descends on the sides of the neck, and unites itself at the bottom 

 of the shoulder with the black that covers entirely the anterior 

 members : hence the part in front bounded by these black bands al- 

 though nearly resembling in color the remainder of the body, seems to 

 form a distinct portion of the fur. The hinder members are black like 

 the anterior ones, and the hair which covers them is very rough. The 

 yellowish white predominates towards the posterior part of the back, 

 and the tail is furnished with large rough scattered bristles." 



This description was founded entirely on the notes of the late M. 

 Duvaucel, who sent from India the drawing employed by M. R 

 Cuvier. Mention is made that no specimen had then reached France, 

 but that there was one in the museum of the East India Company, and 

 that another, apparently a distinct species, is in the collection of the 

 Linnean Society : — it continues : 



' From the number and form of the toes and the disposition of the 

 teeth the genus Arctonix evidently belongs to the carnivora, to the 

 extreme of which and in close connection with the bears, it is referred 

 by its plantigrade motion, its strong and curved claws, and its little 

 inclination for flesh. Like the bears moreover, when much irritated it 

 supports itself on its hind feet, and exhibits in its arms and claws 

 weapons equally to be dreaded with its teeth ; in its flat and tubercular 

 molar tooth, its preference for vegetables and fruits, and its snout 

 apparently destined for digging, it deviates considerably from the bears, 

 and may therefore be perhaps regarded as the extreme of the carnivora, 

 forming the connecting link in the series of affinities between these and 

 the omnivorous pachydermata ; which M. F. Cuvier remarks are 

 separated from the elephants and horses, by such numerous and im- 

 portant characters as almost to tempt us to consider them as forming a 

 distinct order, more closely allied to the carnivora than they are gene- 

 rally assumed to be by systematic writers. 



