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Show 464 PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ALUROIDEA. [June 6, The number of caudal vertebrae varies from 29 (Cryptoprocta and Paradoxurus) to 3 (Manx Cat), 19 (Crocuta), and 20 (Crossarchus and Suricata). The neural arch ceases to be completely developed at from the 6th (Hyana) to the 12th (Arctictis) vertebra. The longest caudal vertebrae may be the 9th, 10th, and 11th (Cat), the 10th, 11th, aud 12th (Civet), the 12th, 13th, and 14th (Arctictis), or the 13th, 14th, and 15th (Proteles). Chevron hones may be developed beneath adjacent pairs of caudal vertebrae from the interval between the 1st and 2nd to between the 16th and 17th (Arctictis). Transverse processes may cease to be distinct at the 6th caudal (sometimes in Hyana), or may continue on to the 10th caudal (Arctictis). The Sternum. The sternum consists generally of seven sternebrae (including the manubrium) and a xiphoid cartilage. Sometimes in Herpestes and Crossarchus there are 8 sternebrae; and there are 8 in Eupleres. There may be but 6 sternebrae, as in Proteles and Hemiyalea. The manubrium is sometimes separate * from that sternebra which is placed between the attachments of the 1st and 2nd costal cartilages. The manubrium is very pointed in Hemigalea. In Arctictis it is very exceptionally expanded transversely towards its middle, so that it has somewhat the appearance of the head of a lance. It has also a median ventral crest or keel-a condition I have found in no other iEluroid. The last sternebra is broad and the xiphoid very broad in Proteles. The Ribs. The number of pairs of ribs has been already indicated in the notes given respecting the dorsal vertebrae. The number of true ribs may be 8, 9, or 10. 9 is the general number of true ribs, there being 5, 4, or 3 false ribs. In the Hyanida, however, there are 8 true ribs and 7 false ones. The ribs are generally broader in proportion to their length in the Viverrida than in the Felida. This is especially the case in Eupleres and the Hganida. The Skull. The absolutely longest iEluroid skulls I have met with are 26''*8 and 26"*6 (Tiger and Lion). The longest non-feline skull (measured from the roots of the upper incisors in front to the "basion" or mid anterior margin of the foramen magnum) is 22"*5 (Crocuta); and the longest Viverrine skulls are 13"*9 (Arctictis) and 13"*4 (Viverra civetta). 1 Sometimes, as in Arctictis, and as in the Paradoxure No. 4285 A in the Museum of the Boyal College of Surgeons, two minute rounded ossicles are placed between the manubrium and the first sternebra behind it. I have found an indication of such distinctness in an adult Eupleres. |