OCR Text |
Show 1882.] PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ALUROIDEA. 169 though I have never seen it. -, if present, is very small, one-rooted, and much less than half the size of - . - is much like the same tooth in Paradoxurus, but is less transversely extended in proportion to its length ; it has three tubercles and three roots. P 4 . -^- is like that of Paradoxurus, save that it is modified by the very great reduction of the foremost and hindmost outer cusps, which are each connected by a ridge (the cingulum) with the largely-developed a "D Q ~P 9 inner cusp. - is a trihedral tooth with rounded angles; -"- is similar but smaller ; and - may be wanting, but if present is long and conical, p-j is wanting, p-^, p-^, and p-j are conical teeth, increasing in breadth progressively backwards, ^-j is much as in Paradoxurus, but is broader in proportion to its length. The talon does not form quite half the tooth. ^ is more rounded than generally in Paradoxurus ; it is not much smaller than p-^. As to the milk-dentition, the deciduous upper sectorial (-J-) is much more sectorial than is the permanent sectorial tooth. It is very narrow from side to side, having either a mere rudiment of an internal cusp or none. -*- is quite like -V, ^-^ is rather more sectorial than is p~j. The infraorbital foramen opens above -1-. p-^ does not bite at all against - - but against -*- and - . The pollex and hallux are very well developed. The claws are strongly arched and pointed (cf. fig. 14 C, p. 192), and more or less retractile. There is a prescrotal gland, which exudes its secretion into a naked cutaneous invagination placed, like a vulva, in front of the anus. Arctictis agrees, so far as I can ascertain, with Viverra, except in the characters numbered 9, 17 (sometimes), 24, 28 (sometimes), 33, 37, 43, 45 (often), 47, and 50. The next form is one the nature and affinities of which are to me doubtful. It has, however, so much the general appearance and character of the Paradoxures (with which it was at first associated) that I feel compelled to place it in proximity to them, in spite of the very exceptional character of the auditory region of its cranium. Indeed the non-ossification of parts of its bulla may be taken as a great exaggeration of that separate, movable condition of its hinder chamber which we have seen to be the case in Paradoxurus. Its claws are like those of the last-mentioned genus, as also the naked condition of its tarsus and metatarsus. The genus Nandinia was instituted by Gray (P. Z. S. 1864, p 529) for the species previously described by him as Paradoxurusl binotatus (P.Z.S. 1832, p. 68) and P. hamiltonii (P.Z.S. 1852, p. 67, and Illus. Indian Zool.). It is the P. binotatus of Temminck (' Monographic,' vol. ii. p. 336), who figures the skull (pl. 65. figs. 7, 8 & 9) and refers to it in his ' Esquisses Zool.' p. 119. Its external form is represented in Gray's ' Illustrations of Indian Zoology.' The skull and teeth are figured by De Blainville, ' Osteographie,' |