| OCR Text |
Show 366 DR. ST. G. MIVART ON THE ARCTOIDEA. [ApT. 21, The lumbar vertebrae are found much as in Meles. The spinous process of the 13th dorsal vertebra is verticall. The scapula is less quadrate than in Meles and more like that of Procyon. The fibula is strongly divaricated from the tibia. The proportional length of the ultimate phalanges is nearly the same as in Meles. The skull has the outline of the muzzle, when seen in profile, very like that of Nasua, and the lateral posterior portion of the palate shows a trace of the swelling present in the last-named genus. The bony palate is also very prolonged, extending back behind the molars to a line joining the two glenoid surfaces, as it does also in Procyon and Nasua. In addition to the various cranial characters given by Prof. Flower2, it may be noted that the sagittal ridge is large, the postorbital processes of the frontal very obscure, and those of the malar wanting. The infraorbital foramen is very large3 indeed. The pre- and postglenoid processes are smaller and shorter than in Meles. The pterygoids descend much as they proceed backwards, are twisted, everted, and somewhat bullate. The basis cranii is more flattened than in any form yet here noted. The mastoid and paroccipital processes form together a continuous ridge on each side of the skull round the region of the bulla, from which the principal process is rather remote. The glenoid foramen is singularly posterior in position with respect to the glenoid surface. The zygomata do not arch much outwards. The angle of the mandible is, as it were, more pushed up close to the condyle than in any form yet noticed, and projects so little as to be almost obsolete. There is no distinct subangular process, but only a roughened tract in the place of it. Molar formula=P. -„ M . 5. The first premolar above and below is often rudimentary or absent. The form of the molars is much like that in Meles; but the preponderance of the first upper molar over the sectorial is slightly less. The fourth upper premolar is very like that of Meles; but it has but a single inner tubercle, and this is smaller than the corresponding part in the tooth of Meles. The first upper true molar is quite like what that of Meles would be if its anterior internal angle were obliquely cut off. The lower premolars and molars are like those of Meles, except that the second true molar is longer in proportion to its breadth. The canines are more trihedral than hitherto, and the upper incisors are arranged in a more prolonged curve, and the lower ones are more proclivous. The tongue has two or three circumvallate papillae on each side of the median line, and narrow as usual. Small papillae are scattered everywhere, and coat the tongue, which offers no conspicuous character. The anal glands are normal. 1 As also in Meles. It is the 12th which is vertebral in Procyon and Cercoleptes, and the 11 th in Ailurus and Bassaris. 2 P.Z.S. 1869, p. 12. 3 It is at its maximum, amongst Carnivores, in this genus and Lutra. |
