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Show 168 PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ALUROIDEA. [Feb. 7, The genus Arctictis was instituted by Temminck, who gives it in the 'Tableau Methodique' (1827), p. xxi, in the beginning of his first volume of the ' Monographic,' in the second volume of which, p. 305, is a full description, with a figure of the skeleton half the size of nature, and one of the skull and dentition of the natural size. De Blainville, in his ' Osteographie' (Subursus), gives a figure of the entire skeleton on pl. 4, of the skull and dentition on pl. 7, with some details of the axial skeleton on pl. 8, of the appendicular skeleton on pis. 9 & 10, with the adult aud milk-dentition on pl. 11. F. Cuvier has figured the dentition in the ' Dents des Mammiferes/ pl. 3 bis. F. Cuvier also figured the animal (Mem. du Mus. vol. ix. p. 44, t. 4) under the name Paradoxurus albifrons; and another figure of a semi-adult individual (under the name Binturong) in his ' Mammiferes,' vol. ii. Valenciennes has also figured it (under the name Ictides albifrons) in Ann. des Sc. Nat. vol. iv. p. 57, pl. 1. In the ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. xv. 1846, p. 192, there is a short but interesting account of the animal. It is referred to in S. Muller's ' Zoog. Ind. Archipel,' p. 32. The anatomy of this animal has been described by the late Prof. Garrod in P. Z. S. 1873, p. 196, with a further note (as to the occasional absence of the caecum1) in 1878, p. 142. The animal comes certainly from Borneo ; and some say, from Java, Sumatra, and Malacca also. The ears are tufted, the tail long and, to a certain extent, prehensile ; and the tarsus and metatarsus are both entirely naked. As to the cranium, the bulla is formed on the type of that of Paradoxurus, except that the two parts are completely ankvlosed in the adult. There is an alisphenoid canal, but no pterygoid fossa. The external opening of the auditory meatus is small and oval. The postorbital processes are very short and blunt (the malar hardly indicated) ; and the cranium is not laterally constricted behind them. The condyloid foramen is concealed. The cranial ridges are not largely developed; but the paroccipital process depends, and the mastoid is rather marked. The carotid canal opens posteriorly at the middle of the inner side of the auditory bulla, while anteriorly it notches the alisphenoid. There is no foramen or fissure in the floor of the auditory bulla's anterior chamber; but there is a very deep pit (to receive the cornu of the hyoid) on the side of the bulla just behind the external auditory opening. The palate is greatly prolonged behind the hindmost molars. The angle of the mandible is very small. The zygomatic arches present a rather concave instead of a convex outline medianly when viewed from above or below. The premolars and molars are small and separated one from another by small but marked intervals. The number of teeth varies slightly, as either - or -"- may be wanting, and (according to Raffles) there may be six teeth in the lower jaw ; i. e. ^-^ is probably present sometimes, 1 That there is much variation as to this part is shown by the record, in vol. xv. p. 193 of the ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' that the caecum is balf an inch long. |