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Show 340 DR. ST. G. MIVART ON THE ARCTOIDEA. L^P1"' ^> 3. On the Anatomy, Classification, and Distribution of the Arctoidea. By ST. G E O R G E MIVART. [Eeceived April 15, 1885.] In 1882 I had the honour of laying before this Society some notes on the Classification and Distribution l, as also on the Anatomy, a of the iEluroidea. The homogeneous group of the Cynoidea has been pretty exhaustively treated of in successive papers in the ' Proceedings ' of this Society by Mr. Waterhouse 3, Mr. Turner 4, Professor Flower5, and Professor Huxley 8. It remains to offer some supplementary remarks upon the remaining and third Suborder of Fissiped Carnivora, that is the Arctoidea. It was m y intention that m y notes on this suborder should have followed quickly upon m y papers above referred to, but the carrying out of that intention was unavoidably delayed by illness. The animals comprised under the designation Arctoidea were not regarded by Mr. Waterhouse as forming a single group in that paper of his, on the Crania of the Carnivora, which formed the starting-point of the subsequent papers on the classification of the Carnivora in the ' Proceedings' of the Zoological Society. In that paper7 he divides the Carnivora into the six families Canida, Piverrida, Felida, Mustelida?, Ursida, and Phocida, and about the fourth and fifth of these (which make up the Arctoidea) he makes the following remarks:- " The Mustelida, like the Felida, have the muzzle short and obtuse ; the skull, however, is more elongated. They may be distinguished by there being one true molar on either side of each jaw; that in the upper jaw is well developed and generally transverse, but in some, such as the Badger, it is longer than broad ; in the Otters, Skunks, and American Badger (Taxidea labradoricu), the true molar is intermediate in form between that of the Common Badger (Meles vulgaris) and the typical Mustelida. The false molars in the Weasels (Mustela) are typically 4-4, but in some species they are reduced to 3^3. As in the Felida, the angle of the lower jaw, in the greater portion of the Mustelida, is on the same plane as the lower edge of the horizontal ramus; it other Carnivora it is raised. In this family there is a tendency in the glenoid cavity of the temporal bone to enclose the condyle of the lower jaw. The condyle is 1 See P. Z. S. 1882, p. 135. 2 L. c. p. 459. 3 P. Z. S. 1839, pp. 135-137. 4 L. c. 1848, pp. 82-87. 5 P. Z. S. 1859, pp. 23-26, and also 35 & 37; figs. 11 & 12, p. 25. 6 "On the Cranial and Dental Characters of the Caniclaj,'' P.Z. S. 1880 pp. 238-288. A very elaborate paper, illustrated by sixteen woodcuts. ? P.Z.S. 1839, p. 135. |
