MYDAUS MELICEPS. 
on his return from Java, and were also sent by me to the Museum of the Honourable 
East India Company, in the year 1812. 
The 27th Livraison of the Hist, Nat, des Mammiferes, published by Mr. FreM. 
Cuvier, in Paris, contains a figure of our animal under the name of Telagon, com- 
municated to him by Mr. Diard. This figure, drawn from life, suggested to 
Mr. Cuvier a careful comparison of the Teledu with several species of Mephitis with 
winch it had been associated. He was enabled to make this comparison by means 
of the specimens and bony parts of the Teledu preserved in the Museum in Paris, 
as well as by a good drawing of the Chhiche, the Mephitis dimidiata of Fischer, 
made by his brother in America, and by the skeletons of Mephitis found in 
the same collection. He remarks that in physiognomy the Chinche and the 
Teledu have nothing in common but the plantigrade manner of placing the foot on 
the ground; and he has separated the TeMu into a distinct genus, for which he * 
proposes the name of Mydaus, while the species, in consequence of the form of the 
head, is defined by that of Melkeps. In illustration of his views, Mr. Cuvier has 
added several comparative remarks, of which the following is the substance: — " The 
" Chinchc-Mephitis dimidiata- has a rounded head, a short pointed, not very broad 
" muzzle, which calls to mind the head of the Fitchet, or rather of the Cat, if the 
" muzzle of this were less obtuse. On the contrary, the head of the Telagon calls to 
" mind the elongate muzzle and snout of the Badger, with a face still narrower. 
" The Chinche further has a large tail, furnished with long, bushy hairs, winch it 
" elevates as a plume on its back, in the same manner as Squirrels. The Telagon, on 
" the contrary, is almost deprived of this organ, its tail being scarcely an inch long, 
" and very scantily provided with hairs. The examination of the bony parts further 
" confirms the propriety of separating these animals into distinct genera. The 
" elongation of the head of the Telagon, and the narrowness of its muzzle, are the 
" cause that the grinders are individually more separated from each other, and that 
" the front teeth, instead of being placed nearly in a straight line, are disposed in 
" form of a very small arch or curve. There is also a difference in the relative 
u arrangement of the grinders in the jaw-bones, wliich affects the communication 
'* of the nostrils and the posterior parts of the mouth." 
During the examination and arrangement of my notes and collections relating 
to this subject, I have carefully compared with our animal, a head and preserved skin 
of the Mephitis dimidiata of Fischer, the Chinche of Buffon, above mentioned. 
This had been sent to England by Mr. Franklin, from Cumberland House, an esta- 
blishment of the Hudson's Bay Company on Slave Lake, and was in a very perfect 
state of preservation. I owe to the kindness of Mr. Joseph Sabine, Secretary to the 
Horticultural Society, the import unity of making this comparison. I likewise exa- 
mined another species of Mephitis contained in the extensive and highly instructive 
Museum of Mr. Brooks. At the Royal College of Surgeons I was favoured with 
