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Show 94 MR. E. R. ALSTON ON THE ORDER GLIRES. [Jail. 18, digits; the hind feet with a nailless tubercle instead of the first and an internal lobe, supported by two accessory tarsal ossicles. Skull short; the frontal and malar with large postorbital process, which almost meet; walls of auditory meatus produced. Upper grinding-teeth each divided into three lobes, of which the anterior and posterior have deep single enamel-folds ; lower teeth with one external and two internal folds. 2. Sphingurus (=Sphiggurus), F. Cuvier, Dents d. Mamm. p. 256 (1825)*. Nostrils far apart; head and body clad above with short stiff spines, or with mixed spines and bristly hair; feet as in Chatomys; tail long, prehensile at its tip. Skull short; the air-sinuses greatly developed in some species; no postorbital processes; walls of auditory meatus not produced ; interparietal broad ; angle of mandible pointed. Grinding-teeth subequal, like those of Sphingurus, but with two lobes only. 3. Erythizon, F. Cuvier, Dents d. Mamm. p. 256 ... (1825). External characters as in Sphingurus, but the nostrils nearer together, the quills more concealed by hair, the hind feet with five toes and hardly any internal lobe; the tail short, thick, and non-prehensile. Skull with walls of auditory meatus slightly produced ; angle of mandible rounded. Grinding-teeth like those of Sphingurus, but the anterior much longer than the posterior. B. HYSTRICIN^E. Grinding-teeth semirooted. Skull more elongate ; lachrymal partly bounding the canal. Clavicles imperfect. Upper lip furrowed ; tail not prehensile ; soles of feet smooth ; six teats. Palaearctic, Indian, and Ethiopian. Recent genera :- 4. Atherura, G. Cuvier, Regne Animal (2meed.), i. p. 215 (1829). Spines flattened, channelled; tail long, scaly, with a tuft of compressed bristles at the point. Nasal part of skull moderate. Upper grinding-teeth with one internal and three or four external folds, the latter soon separated as enamel-loops ; the lower teeth similar, but reversed. 5. Hystrix, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 76 (1766). Spines cylindrical; tail short, covered with spines and slender-stalked open quills. Nasal cavity usually very large. Air-sinuses of frontals greatly developed. Teeth as in Atherura. Family III. CHINCHILLID.E. Incisors short; grinding-teeth divided by continuous folds into transverse laminae. Malar extending forward to lachrymal, with no inferior angle, and only a rudimentary superior angle. Optic foramina confluent. Auditory bullae moderate or very large. Palate contracted in front, and deeply emarginate behind. Clavicles perfect. * -Synethcres and Sphiggurus, F. Cuvier (1825)= Cercolabes, Brandt (1835). |