1438 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



has an alisphenoid canal ; and the auditory bulla is inflated and 

 has a complete septum. There are usually two true molars in each 

 jaw, although the second is wanting in Prionodon. Those of the 

 upper jaw (fig. 1322) are usually triangular, and are always narrower 

 internally than externally, although they may be narrow in Viverra 

 (fig. 1322) and very broad in Paradoxurus ; and, except in Crypto- 

 procta are placed behind the carnassial. The cusps of the lower 

 carnassial are generally very tall ; the premolars are spaced ; and the 

 palate, like the entire skull, is long and narrow. The upper car- 

 nassial is subject to great variation in relative length. In typical 

 forms the blade of the lower carnassial has an inner cusp, while its 

 cusp-line is transverse, and the talon is relatively large. The hume- 

 rus usually has an entepicondylar foramen. The feet are planti- 

 grade, and usually have five complete digits ; and their claws, as a 

 rule, are comparatively straight and only slightly retractile, and are 

 not protected by a bony sheath. Exclusive of Miacis and its allies, 

 which are here regarded as representing a separate family, the Viver- 

 ridce are characteristic of the Old World. The Oriental genus Para- 

 doxurus, characterised by its broad upper molars, is at present un- 

 known in a fossil 'condition. The more widely spread Herpes tes 

 (Mongoose) is characterised by its narrow upper molars, by the 

 presence of an inner tubercle to the third upper premolar, and of a 

 hinder cusp to the fourth lower premolar. This genus is represented 

 in a fossil state by remains of the existing H. nipalensis (fig. 132 1) 

 in the Pleistocene of India, and by extinct 

 species in the Upper Eocene and Miocene 

 of Europe. Amphictis, from the Lower 

 Miocene (Upper Oligocene) of France, 

 seems to be closely allied to Viverra, but 

 the second lower true molar is longer and 

 has two distinct roots. The type genus 

 Viverra (fig. 1322), which has no inner 

 tubercle to the third upper premolar, corn- 

 Fig. 1321.— The right ramus mences in the Upper Eocene of England 



of the mandible of Herpestes . ±> ° 



nipalensis; from the pieisto- and r ranee (. V. HastingsicR and V. angus- 



cene of Madras. All the teeth ,- j \ j ■ i_ , .1 i ., i 



except the carnassial and the tidens), and occurs right through the suc- 

 canine are wanting. ceeding Tertiaries till the Lower Pliocene 



of France, where it is represented by V. 

 Pepraxti. The latter Civet, together with other allied species from 

 the Pleistocene and Pliocene of India, presents, however, certain 

 dental features in which it approximates to Ictitherium. The 

 Oriental genus Prionodon, in which there is only one upper true 

 molar, and the inner cusp of the lower carnassial is very small, 

 while the humerus has a foramen, is not known to occur in 

 a fossil state. So far as can be determined from the lower 



