NEW GENUS OF CARNIVORA. 



61 



enable me to supply.* The specimen I obtained was a mature male. It 

 was recently killed, but had had the intestines removed before it was 

 brought to me from the vale of 3Iuckwanpur, at the southern base of the 

 last mountainous range towards India, whence I infer that its habitat is 

 the hilly portion of the southern region of Nepal. 



Species — Ursitaxus Inauritus. Earless Ursitax. MiJii. 



This is a low-legged unwieldy massive animal, with the general con- 

 formation and size of the Badger, from which, however, it differs most 

 materially in its system of dentition, and more obviously in the want of 

 external ears, the harshness and scantiness of its single coat of hair, and 

 the disposition and number of its palmary tubercles. 



The Earless Ursitax or Bear-Badger is thirty-two inches from the 

 snout to the root of the tail, which is five inches long, or six and a half if 

 measured with the terminal hair. The girth of its body, behind the shoulder, 

 is twenty-nine inches, and the massiveness thence inferrible is maintained 

 uniformly throughout its proportions. It is purely plantigrade and fosso- 

 rial, dwelling in burrows on the southern slopes of the hills, and very seldom 

 appearing abroad by day. The face, though not elongated, is conic and 

 suddenly sharpened towards a neat, round, immobile, clearly defined and 

 ungrooved muzzle in which the nostrils are opened to the front, but have a 

 narrow prolongation to the sides. The lips are closely applied to the jaws 

 and entirely void of mustachios : nor are there any bristles on the cheeks, 

 above the eyes or on the chin : the cheeks are full and fleshy : the head 

 broad, and as much depressed almost as the Otter's : the eyes small. 



* This animal is mentioned by the local name of Bharsiah, in the catalogue of Nipalese 

 Mammals, (1832) ; and its peculiar dentition is therein summarily described. 



