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Show 170 PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ALUROIDEA. [Feb. 7, Viverra, pis. 6 & 12, under the name Paradoxurus hamiltonii. There is a short description of its anatomy, by Prof. Flower, in P. Z. S. 1872, p. 683. It comes from Fernando Po and Western Africa, and also, it is said, from Zanzibar. The Viverrine section of the Viverrina are rather more African than Asiatic ; but this is the only African form of the Paradoxurine section of that subfamily. It seems to be a Paradoxure separated from the others by a more carnivorous dentition, and from all other iEluroidea by the non-ossification of the hinder and larger portion of the auditory bulla, which remains cartilaginous. There is but one known species, the head and body of which measure about 43"2, and the tail 30"*5. It is of a greyish-brown colour, black-spotted, and with the tail indistinctly ringed. There are three short black stripes on the nape (one from the forehead and one from each ear) ; and there is a yellow spot on each shoulder. The belly is dirty white. The tarsus and metatarsus are about as bald as in Paradoxurus. The muzzle is shorter than in any other of the Viverridce. Not only is the hinder part of the bulla cartilaginous, but its anterior part is rather more bullate than (at least generally) in Paradoxurus. The opening of the auditory meatus is not large. There is no pterygoid fossa. The postorbital processes are long and pointed; and the skull is much contracted just behind them. The sagittal and lambdoidal ridges, especially the latter, are largely developed. The muzzle is relatively shorter than in any other Viverrine yet reviewed. The paroccipital appears to be depending (though this cannot be asserted in the absence of the bulla); and the mastoid is larger than in any genus as yet here noticed. There is an alisphenoid canal close to the foramen ovale; and the condyloid foramen is very much exposed. There is no anterior carotid foramen other than the usual foramen lacerum. The ascending ramus of the mandible is flattened beneath in a way not existing in any genus yet reviewed, and certainly not in Paradoxurus; and the angle is pressed up exceptionally towards the condyle. The teeth are formed on the type of those of the Genet, but are modified in a more sectorial direction. -^ is very minute, AT 1 and sometimes aborts altogether1. -- is smaller than in the Genets. -L- has a posterior cusp as large as in the Genets, and the inner cusp even a little smaller. g-j has its talon much smaller than in Genetta; and ^ is a rounded rudimentary tooth, smaller than that of the Genets. No infraorbital foramen opens above -*-; and Wii bites against -*-• There is no caecum, as was ascertained by Prof. Flower 2. I can find no record as to the existence of prescrotal3 or anal glands. 1 As on both sides of a skull in the Koyal College of Surgeons' Museum, and on one side of another skull there. 2 P. Z. S. 1872, p. 683. J Through the kindness of Mr. Forbes I have been able to ascertain the presence, in a female Nandinia, of a bald patch, no doubt glandular in the situation of the prescrotal glandular structure of Genetta. |