1847.] On the Cat-toed Subplantigrades. 1121 



in the Martens or Cats, in which the fosses are evanescent ;* the audito- 

 ry cavities very small ; the olfactory cavities moderate ; the frontal sinu- 

 ses large ; the palatal bones curved convexly, and the rami of the lower 

 jaw as much concavely ; the coronoid processes of the latter enormous 

 and inclined forwards ; the bones of the scull in general thick and 

 massive ; proportion of the face to the rest of the scull, as one-third. 



Teeth. — The dental formula is f . \:\. f :f : but the first pair of the 

 lower jaw are deciduous, and, in old animals especially, the molars are 

 (I write with fine samples before me) more frequently -§-:-§- . The 

 incisors are close together and ranged nearly in a straight line to the 

 front, those of the lower jaw touching the canines, whilst those of the 

 upper jaw are separated therefrom by the usual interval for the passage 

 of the lower canines. The exterior incisors of the upper jaw are larger 

 than the rest, and are as much scarped externally as are the lower 

 canines internally, by reason of that friction of the one against -the 

 other which is caused by the high lateral action of the jaws. Canines 

 small, conic, little curved, faintly grooved lengthwise, the upper insu- 

 lated, the lower in contact with the incisors and molars. Molars 

 divided by their characters into false and true, without any possible 

 distinction of camassial and tubercular teeth. Premolars f :f , including 

 the deciduous ones : last pair rather triturant than trenchant. True 

 molars f :f . Upper true molars disposed transversely, squarish in 

 form, nearly equal in size and exhibiting on their, in general, flat crowns, 

 3 or 4 sunken central spaces filled with the dark soft substance above 

 alluded to, and which is bounded serpentinely by rounded rather than 

 dentated margins of enamel and a central transverse sinuous ridge of 

 the same. True molars of the lower jaw disposed lengthwise, narrow, 

 parallelogramic or elliptic ; the first pair smaller than the two others, 

 which are equal ; and all exhibiting central masses of crusta petrosa 

 enveloped by a serpentine sinuous margin of enamel, as in the upper 

 jaw nearly. In the composition, forms and action of these teeth taken 

 together, there is little or no real resemblance to be found with the 

 teeth of even the least carnivorous of the ordinary carnivora, such as 

 the Bears, Badgers, and Screwtails, though it is among them that one 



* In the Viverrines, the fosses and the crests are both of extreme size, and the brain- 

 pan consequently much reduced. In these respects there is no resemblance with the 

 Ailures ; nor in other respects, 



7 f 2 



