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Show 788 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON THE [Nov. 3, various writers to forms that are, or have been, recognized as to the genus Paradoxurus. Of these no less than sixteen have been invented by Dr. J. E. Gray, and five by Mr. B. H. Hodgson. A considerable proportion of the nominal species have been made upon drawings (some of them very bad, to judge by the copies published) and immature specimens, and it is not always possible to identify such names satisfactorily. A few of the names enumerated, however, are no longer included in the genus Paradoxurus. Besides such instances as P. albifrons, of F. Cuvier, a synonym of Arctictis binturong, several species formerly included in Paradoxurus are now separated by most naturalists. To Hemigale (variously spelt Hemigalus and Hemigalea) belong P. derbianus, Gray, and P. zebra, Gray, both of which names appear to have been given to the same species, now known by an older specific name, H. hardwickii, also bestowed by Dr. Gray. Similarly, P. binotatus and P. hamiltonii, two more of Dr. Gray's names, are now recognized as identical, and are distinguished as Nandinia, the African representative of the Oriental Paradoxuri. A third generic type, Arctogale, has, like the preceding, been admitted by Flower1 and Mivart2; and although it is more nearly allied than the other two genera just mentioned to true Paradoxurus, the much smaller teeth, the very narrow and peculiarly formed mesopterygoid fossa, and, apparently, the absence of any conspicuous naked space corresponding to the genital glandular area3, show an amount of distinction that may perhaps be accepted as generic. It is true that as regards the teeth and the characters of the mesopterygoid fossa, a decided approach to Arctogale is made by the group of Paradoxuri distinguished by Gray as Paguma4, and by Jourdan as Amblyodon ; but the difference from typical Paradoxurus is much smaller. I do not think the matter of much importance; and as the genus Paradoxurus, when the nominal species are weeded out, is not so large as to require division, and as all the species are similar in external appearance and habits, it appears to me better to retain this generic group to the extent generally admitted by the naturalists of the present day. The genus Arctogale was proposed in M S . by Peters, and adopted and published by Gray6. The type is said to be Paradoxurus trivirgatus ; but after examining the type of that species, which is in the Leyden Museum, I am disposed to believe that two forms have been confounded under that name. Unfortunately I omitted, when on a visit to Berlin recently, to examine Peters's type; but the specimens described as A. trivirgata by Gray in the ' Proceedings' of the Society for 1864, and again in the ' Catalogue of Carnivorous 1 ' Encyclopedia Britannica,' vol. xv., Art. Mammalia, p. 436. 2 P. Z. S. 1882, pp. 163, 169. 3 This was noticed by Dr. Gray, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 543. 4 Proposed P.Z.S. 1831, p. 95, for P. larvata. The description related chiefly to the dentition. Subsequently, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 65, Dr. Gray stated that this genus was first established on an animal that had not completely shed its milk-teeth, although its true molars were partly developed. 5 P. Z. S. 1864, p. 542. F |