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Show 612 MR. BLANFORD ON A SKULL OF PARADOXURUS. [June 1 6, Mr. Thomas hoped to be able to give a fuller description, with figures, of this interesting specimen at a future meeting of the Society1. Mr. W . T. Blanford exhibited the skull of a Paradoxurus, which he believed to be an undescribed form, and made the following remarks :- The skull now exhibited was sent to me together with a skin, from which unfortunately nearly all the hair had been removed by moths, by the Rev. S. Fairbank, of Ahmednagar in the Bombay Presidency, about two years ago. He had received the specimen from Mr. F. Levinge, who procured it in his own garden at Kodaikanal, on the Palni (or Pulney) hills in the Madura district, Madras Presidency. The natives of the hills called the animal " Kart-nai," or dog of the woods ; and Mr. Fairbank suggested that it might be Paradoxurus zeylonensis, Pall. (P. zeylanicus, Kelaart), a species hitherto not known to occur elsewhere than in Ceylon. On comparison, however, the skull was found to differ not only from that of P. zeylonensis, but from all known species of Paradoxurus, in the excessive length of the anterior palatine foramina, which are more than 0*4 inch long (10 millimetres), and extend back as far as a line drawn through the posterior edges of the anterior upper premolars. In all other Paradoxuri the foramina are only half as long as in the skull from the Palni Hills, and do not extend back further than a line drawn through the hinder edge of the canines. On searching amongst specimeus in the British Museum, Mr. Oldfield Thomas (to whom I am indebted for much assistance in working out this and other questions connected with Indian zoology) called my attention to a flat skin presented some years since by Mr. F. Day, C L E . , and different from that of any known Paradoxurus. This skin agrees with the description given by Mr. Fairbank, and with the remains of that sent by him ; and although the exact locality whence it was procured is uncertain, Mr. Day tells me he is 1 During the passage of these remarks through the press, I have had, through the kindness of the Directors of the Senckenberg Museum, the opportunity of examining the original type of H. glaber described by Kiippell. I find that Mr. Phillips's specimen, while referable to the genus Heterocephalus, represents a distinct and very much smaller species, which I would propose to call H. phillipsi, after its discoverer. It may be readily distinguished by the following comparative measurements:- Skull:- From Lambda to Basal Greatest tip of nasals. length. breadth. millims. millims. millims. H. glaber 21-5 (c) 23'2 18-3 Hphillipsi 16-1 17-5 136 Hind foot:- H.ghher 21*2 H. phillipsi 16-6 The type of H. phillipsi is a fully adult female. July 30, 1885. Palate length. millims. 13-6 9-1 |