ALLEN — AFRICAN CARNIVORA 
25 
importance. Some of these differences have not escaped record, but 
this fact has not directed to them the attention they deserve. While 
at first glance the skulls of A onyx and Micraonyx appear to have 
many features in common, they differ greatly in proportions and in 
the relative size of corresponding teeth. In A onyx the antorbital 
portion of the skull is heavily developed, being broad, with large inci- 
sors and canines, while the carnassials and molars are only moder- 
ately developed in proportion to the size of the skull; all these condi- 
tions are reversed in Micraonyx. In the latter the facial portion of 
the skull is narrow and weak, with small incisors and canines, while 
the carnassials and molars are enormously developed for the size of 
the skull, these teeth about equalling those of A onyx, which has a 
skull fully three times the bulk of the skull of Micraonyx. This 
creates a vast difference in the relative breadth of the palatal space 
between the carnassials and molars of the maxillary series, which in 
Micraonyx is much less than the transverse breadth of m^, while in 
A onyx this space is one and a half times greater than the transverse 
breadth of mb 
Osbornictis^ gen. nov. 
Type, Oshornictus piscivora sp. nov. 
Skull long and lightly built; teeth oinall, especially the carnassials and 
upper molars, with correlated size reduction in all the other teeth. Sagittal 
and lambdoid crests and postorbital processes highly developed. Rhinarium 
small, without a median sulcus. Soles and palms bare, not furred as in Genetta 
and allied genera. Color of body uniform red; tail black; head-markings white; 
wholly without the black spots and bands so characteristic of the other Viver- 
rinse. Habits piscivorous. 
Oshornictis is most nearly related to Genetta, from which however it 
strikingly differs. It requires comparison with no other genus. The 
type agrees closely in size with Genetta victorice, the largest of the 
genets. 
Oshornictis piscivora sp. nov. 
Type, No. 51514, cf ad., Niapu, Belgian Congo, December 1, 1913; Herbert 
Lang and James P. Chapin, American Museum Congo Expedition. Orig. No. 
2147. Skin and complete skeleton. 
3 Named for Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, President of the American 
Museum of Natural History, whose deep interest in the American Museum 
Congo Expedition contributed greatly to its success in the field and later toward 
the early publication of its scientific results. 
I 
