426 



MR. n. I. POCOCK ON THE EXTEUNAL CHARACTERS 



having a shallow infraiiaiial portion on each side. As in Meles, 

 however, there is no philtrnm, the upper lip being continuously 

 hairy and without median groove. 



TJte Feet. 



The fore feet of Jleles, as is well known, are essentially 

 fossorial, the claws being of great length and far surpassing those 

 of the hind foot. Tlie digits are united by integument be- 

 yond the proximal end of the digital pads, and are susceptible 

 only of slight separation. Digits 2, 3, 4, and 5 are subequally 

 spaced, but digit 1 (pollex) is more widely separated, smaller, and 

 set farther up the foot than digit 5. The digital pads are not 

 well defined proximally, and the space between them and the 

 plantar pad is quite naked. The plantar pad is wide, as wide 

 approximately as the foot, and imperfectly four-lobed ; the 

 pollical lobe is small. Behind the plantar pad there is a large 

 naked area, with a tuft of hair in the centre ; and at the upper 

 or proximal end of this naked area lie tw^o carpal pads, one on 

 each side and separated by a moderately wide space : the outer 

 of these two pads lies near the margin of the carpus and is 

 larger than the inner. They vary to a certain extent in size and 

 distinctness. 



The hind foot is much narrower than the fore foot and has 

 much shorter claws. The 1st digit (hallux) is small and set 

 higher up the foot than digit 5, which is itself a little higher 

 than digit 2. The digits are only slightly sepai-able, and are 

 webbed as in the fore foot, except that digits 3 and 4 are 

 closely united, the fusion sometimes extending to the very tip of 

 the digital pads, although usually these pads are separated to a 

 small extent at their distal ends. As in the fore foot, the space 

 between the digital pads and plantar pad is quite naked, and the 

 plantar pad is large, as wide as the foot, and indistinctly lobed. 

 Behind it there is a large, naked, triangular area, pointed behind, 

 which is mostly covered by the tw^o metatarsal pads, which are 

 sometimes separated in the middle line, sometimes fused, and 

 are separated from the plantar pad, at least in the middle, by a 

 narrower or broader naked area. Behind the metatarsal pads 

 the lower surface of the foot is covered with hair. 



Hodgson's illustrations* of the feet of Meles leucurus Sittest 

 their similarity to those of Meles meles, and unpublished 

 sketches of the feet of Arctonyx by this author show that they 

 resemble the feet of Meles in general features. Perhaps the 

 planta.i' pads are a little narrower and more decidedly trilobate, 

 and no mat of hair is shown on tlie area between the plantar and 

 ca.i'[);il pa<ls ; but two carpril ])ads ai-e show^n on the fore foot 

 and two metatarsal pads in the centie of a naked area on the 



* Jouni. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, xvi. pi. ii. (1897). It may be noted that on this plate 

 the sketch of the hind foot of Helictis nipalensis is labelled TIrva cancrivora, and 

 that of the latter is similarl}^ labelled Helictis oiipalensis. 



