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Show 1878.] THE SECRETARY ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. 377 the Sylvian fissure, which in the Mustelidae and in the Genets remains as such, notwithstanding that these two latter groups had otherwise diverged before the brain began to modify. From the Musteline animals (the Arctoid ancestral type) the Ursidae seem to have diverged, the superior or third cerebral convolution broadening and tending to divide, whilst the others persist unmodified. Those Viverridae which are more modified than the genus Genetta, acquire a broadening of the lowest or first circum-Sylvian convolution, especially in its posterior limb, in which a perpendicular sulcus is formed; and this peculiarity is more strongly marked in Hycena, as well as in Proteles. In the Felidae the anterior as well as the posterior limb of this first circum-Sylvian gyrus broadens, and becomes perpendicularly bisected to such an extent that if in them there were a longitudinal sulcus developed in the upper median portion of the gyrus, a complete secondary gyrus would appear. Such a gyrus, evidently thus originating, is found in the Canidae, in which the extra convolution is therefore a reduplication of the first, dependent on the differentiation off of its outer moiety. O n the assumption of the correctness of this hypothesis, the classification of the Fissiped Carnivora might be represented thus:- Felidae. Canidae. 1-J ' Ancestral Type. By Prof. Flower *, after a most careful analysis of their cranial and other peculiarities, the Canidae are placed between the Arctoidea and ^Eluroidea ; but from the same facts M r . H . N . Turner2 placed the three major groups in the same order of sequence that the brain-markings indicate, namely Ursidae, Felidae, and Canidae, which makes it evident that such an arrangement is not opposed to the teaching of the parts other than the cerebral hemispheres. April 2nd, 1878. Prof. Newton, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. The Secretary read the following report on the additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of March 1878. The total number of registered additions to the Society's Menagerie during the month of March was 74, of which 32 were by pre- ' R Z . S. 1869, p. 4. 2 P- Z- S. 1848, p. 83. Ursidae. Mustelida?. Hysenidse. Viverndse. |
