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Show 1885.] DR. ST. G. MIVART ON THE ARCTOIDEA. 371 The lumbar transverse processes are very small indeed, and the humerus has no intercondyloid canal. The more important cranial characters have been described by Prof. Flower **. It may here be noted in addition that the mastoid process does not descend below the meatus auditorius externus, but a ridge continues on from it to the paroccipital process and tends to form a wall around a depressed surface as in Arctonyx. There is a peculiar and marked bony canal which is posterior and internal to the conspicuous carotid foramen extending from within the latter backwards towards the foramen lacerum posterius. The palate does not extend back beyond, or hardly beyond, the last molars. The bulla develops an anteriorly extending pointed process, which approximates to, but does not join, the pterygoid. The zygomata arch rather strongly outwards, but do not develop a postorbital process, and there is hardly any such process from the frontal. The muzzle is short and there is a sagittal ridge. The infraorbital foramen is rather or very small and may be double or triple; the palate hardly extends back beyond the last molars. The angle of the mandible is rather marked and is not pressed towards the condyle. Molar formula=P. |, M . \, The fourth upper premolar is rather sectorial and much like that of the Civet and of Grisonia, but the internal and postero-external cusps are rather smaller than in the latter. The first true molar is large and nearly square, a little broader than long, on the type of that of Meles. The two cusps of the external cingulum blend with the two principal external cusps, and there are two internal cusps and an internal cingulum. The first inferior true molar has one anterior cusp, behind which are two cusps, one external, the other internal, of about equal size, followed by a talon with two or three cusps, but which does not form half of the tooth. The second inferior true molar has a rather triangular grinding surface, with three tubercles developed as it were on a ridge surrounding a central depression. Conepatus 2.-This more southern form extends from the southwestern United States and Texas through all Central and South America. It has no median groove on nose or upper lip. The 1 P. Z. S. 1869, p. 11. 2 See Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. (1788) p. 88. no. 15; Shaw, Gen. Zool. (1800) p. 392; Humboldt, Rec. Obs. Zool. i. p. 350; Lesson, Mam. (1827) p. 151, n. 407; Fischer, Syn. (1829) p. 161 ; Licht. Abb. Ak. W . Berlin (1837), p. 270; Tschudi, F. Peruana (1844-6), p. 113; Baird, N. A. Mam. p. 192, and Report TJ. S. B. S. ii. Mam. p. 19 ; Tomes, P. Z. S. 1861, p. 280; Audubon and Bachman, Q. N. A. ii. (1851) p. 18, pi. 53; Bennett, P. Z. S. 1833, p. 39; Gray, Cat. Cam. Brit. Mus. p. 134 ; Coues, Fur-bearing An. p. 249 ; Biologia, p. 84 ; De Saussure, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1860, xii. p. 6 ; Frantzius, Arch. f. Natur. xxxv. ], p. 289 Chatin, Ann. Sc. Nat, 5e serie, xix. (1874) p. 100, pi. 6. figs. 59-63, showing aspect of anus and extraordinarily large anal glands. Audubon remarks that this animal "is found in the brown, broomy, sedgy plains, as well as in the woods and cultivated districts of Texas and Mexico," and that it " eats grubs and insects, small beasts and birds' eggs, and all it can." It " dwells in burrows and the roots of trees, or in fallen trunks, or in cavities under rocks. It is easily caught going to its burrow and there remaining till worried out. It is nocturnal and a destroyer of poultry." |
