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Show 1882.] PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ALUROIDEA. 179 The genus Bdeogale was first proposed by Dr. Peters in November 1850', and a full description (with figure of external form, skull, teeth, and feet-pads) given by him in 1862 in his ' Reise nach Mossambique,' Zoology (Mamm.), p. 119, pis. 26 & 27. The genus comes from Zanzibar and Eastern Africa. Peters describes the existence of two kinds of fur (as in Herpestes), viz. a thick soft wool, with longer less numerous hairs projecting from amongst it. The snout is rather long and pointed, but has the usual median groove. The pupils are horizontally elliptical; the ears are short and rounded. There is no external trace of either pollex or hallux ; the third and fourth digits are of nearly equal length. The tarsus is quite hairy ; and so is part of the metatarsus ; the tail is bushy. The skull is said to be quite like that of Herpestes, but appears broader, tbe premolars and molars to be Pm. -j-, M . -=-> and to resemble in shape those of Crossarchus (described infra, p. 181). Prof. Peters says:-"Bdeogale presents the following peculiarities:-(1) The outer side of the upper sectorial is scarcely longer than its anterior side, whilst in Herpestes and Crossarchus it is considerably longer; (2) there is on the postero-internal side of the upper sectorial a low tubercle placed between the greater inner tubercle and the long middle external cusp ; (3) the anterior part of the lower sectorial has a fourth small external cusp (instead of being tricuspidate, as in Herpestes, Crossarchus, and Suricata), so that a horizontal section of this division is not triangular but irregularly quadrangular. There are 14 thoracic, 6 lumbar, 3 sacral, and 25 (or 24) caudal vertebras. The clavicle is absent. The sternum consists of 8 sternebrse, to which 9 pairs of the ribs are attached. There is both an olecranal and a supracondyloid perforation to the humerus. A minute rudiment of a first metacarpal is attached to the trapezium ; but there is no rudiment whatever of the first metatarsal. The tongue, like that of Herpestes, bears a patch of large backwardly directed spine-like papillae on the anterior half of its dorsum. The stomach is elongated and bent in the form of a horseshoe. The small intestine is 135" long and 0"*8 thick; the large intestine is 24" long and 0"*15 thick. The anus opens into the middle of a sac or pouch, as in Crossarchus2. The aorta gives off a common trunk for the carotids and right subclavian, and then the left subclavian separately." In the stomach of one specimen Prof. Peters found a large Vipera rhinoceros (Schlegel). millim. Length of vertebral column from atlas to end of sacrum.. 290*0 Length of caudal vertebrae 260*0 Length of the skull 78*0 Breadth of zygomata 42*5 Length of humerus 600 1 Mittheilung in der Gesellsch. naturforsch. Freunde zu Berlin, Nov. 19,1850. a Dr. Peters says, " Der Analsack ist ganz so wie bei den Mangusten gebildet;" and so I find it. |
