| OCR Text |
Show 478 PROF. W. H. FLOWER ON THE [Nov. 11, The upper part of the head is dark grey. The dorsal surface of the fore feet is dark brown; the posterior, or palmar, surface pale yellowish brown. The anterior, or dorsal, surface of the hind feet is pale brown, mottled or irregularly banded with dark, and becoming quite dark at the toes. The hair on the posterior surface of the feet is pale, that on the edges of the webs of the toes very dark. Besides the general colour of the woolly hair mentioned above, there are certain conspicuous black bands or stripes, arranged as follows:-An oval longitudinal spot on the side of the neck ; three nearly vertical bands on the shoulder, of which the hinder one is much the longest; some irregular bands across the outer side of the forearm ; three vertical bands on the flank, of which the most posterior is the shortest; a long band across the upper part of the thigh, inclining obliquely downwards and forwards, from the rump to the knee ; and some irregular bands on the outside of the thigh and leg. The general resemblance of the animal externally to a small Striped Hyaena has often been noticed, and is well exemplified in the living specimens in the Society's Gardens. It should be remarked that there is a considerable variation in the tone of the colour of the different individuals in the collection, the one which was first received being much lighter or greyer generally, and having the dark bands much less distinctly marked, than the specimen which is the subject of the present notice. BRAIN. The brain, generally speaking, is broad and rather depressed. Its form and proportions, and the disposition of its surface-markings, are shown in the accompanying figures (figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, pp. 480, 481). The olfactory lobes are large. The corpora albicantia were quite distinct from each other posteriorly, though blended in front. I observed nothing in the base of the brain or in the form of the cerebellum or medulla oblongata notably different from those parts in other Carnivora. The most characteristic portion of the brain, the cerebral hemispheres, requires more attention. The length of each hemisphere before hardening in spirit was exactly 2"; the greatest breadth of the pair 1*8". Seen from above they form a broad oval, rounded at each end, slightly broader behind than in front. They are rather flattened above. The convolutions are simple, and clearly marked by deep sulci, with very few secondary furrows. The Sylvian fissure (fig. 2, S) on the outside of the hemisphere, rather in front of the middle, is well marked, and runs upwards and backwards for a distance of a little more than half an inch, its superior extremity being slightly inclined forwards. As is usual among the Carnivora, the convolutions or gyri are arranged in a series of arches around and above this fissure. There are three such gyri. The first, or lowest (ii), commences in the frontal lobe, above the supraorbital fissure (O), in common with the next; it ascends to the top of the Sylvian fissure, bends |
