1847.] On the Cat-toed Subplantigrades. 1119 



of ears, white. From eyes to gape a broad vertical line of ochreous 

 red, blending with the dark inferior surface. Hairy pads albescent. 

 Moustaches white Eyes deep brown. Nude muzzle black. Snout to 

 vent 22 inches. Head 5 J. Tail 16. Height 9 to 9£. Weight 7 to 

 8 fts. Pelage very thick, loosely applied to the skin, of two sorts ; the 

 outer hair, rather harsh than fine, straight, of moderate equal length 

 (1|- inch) and covering every part of the animal save the extremity of 

 its nose ; the inner vest, shorter, sparer and woolly. Internally the 

 pelage is dusky ; externally, deep ochreous ; and on the back the hairs 

 are more or less tipt with fulvous, especially in old age. In their 

 general appearance the Wahs are quite unique. They might be de- 

 scribed like the Racoons as small Bears with long tails, did not their 

 short sharp visage and eminently bland expression of countenance 

 sunder them intirely from Ursine semblances, and approximate them to 

 the Lemurs, particularly those typed by Galago Macaco : but to be 

 apprehended they must be seen.* They have a short sharp conic face 

 ending in a neat round mufle in which the dog-like nostrils are pierced 

 antero laterally ; a small unprominent eye situated nearer to the nose 

 than to the ear, and having a round nearly unchangeable pupil ; rather 

 small moustaches and minor tufts over the eyes, behind the gape, on 

 the cheeks and on the chin ; a broad rounded head ; moderate sized, 

 highly but remotely placed ears of a narrow conoid form tending to a 

 point and almost hid by their ample confluent lining and tufts ; helix 

 void of fissure ; simple conch ; small basal tragus and antitragus ; a 

 longish yet thick neck and body ; short strong plantigrade limbs end- 

 ing in large very mobile pentadactylous feet, armed with feline talons 

 and enveloped in woolly socks with Leporine completeness ; and, lastly, 

 a long thick cylindrico-tapering tail which is trailed like a fox's 

 brush and neither convolved with the Paradoxuri, nor prehensile with 

 the Arctictes and Potos, close as undoubtedly is the relationship of 

 these genera, and especially the last named, to Ailurus. 



Osteology — Scull. — The scull of Ailurus possesses characters quite 

 unique ; its extreme sphericity, its great height, the surprising curva- 

 ture not only of the superior but of the inferior outline also, the ex- 



* See the accompanying 1 admirable sketches showing the animal in all its ordinary 

 Attitudes, and done from life. 



7 F 



