OCR Text |
Show 472 PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ALUROIDEA. [June 6, and Felis. It is shorter and stouter in the Viverrida, especially Hemigalea and Cynogale ; and the length of M 3 and M 4 is less in excess of that of M 2 and M 5 than in the Cats. There is no pollex, save a rudimentary metacarpal, in Hyana, Crocuta, Suricata, and Bdeogale. Though present in all the other genera, its length, compared with that of tbe index, may vary considerably. Thus the whole pollex may not extend down the metacarpal of the index so far as one quarter of the length of the latter, as in Felis. It may extend half down the metacarpal of the index or more, as in Proteles, Cynictis, Viverricula. It may extend down to the distal end of the metacarpal of the index, as in Viverra civetta, Genetta, Fossa, Galidictis, Galidia, Herpestes (often), Crossarchus. It may reach to the middle of the proximal phalanx of the index, or sometimes even to its distal end, as in Paradoxurus, Arctictis, Eupleres, Hemigalea. The metacarpal of the pollex may not extend even one quarter down that of the index, as in Felis. It may reach nearly half down, as in Viverricula, Herpestes, and Proteles. It may extend half down it, or a little more, as in Viverra, Genetta, Fossa, Galidictis, Galidia, and Arctictis. It may nearly extend downwards as far as does the metacarpal of the index, as in Paradoxurus, Cynogale, Hemigalea, Eupleres. The middle phalanges of the digits may be greatly excavated on one side to give place to the ultimate phalanges in their rolled-back or contracted position. This is the case in the Cats ; they are almost as much so in Hemigalea, much less so in the Viverrina, and not at all in the Galidictina, Herpestina, and Hycenida. The ultimate phalanges may be very greatly arched and pointed, and with a deep lamina of bone round the proximal part, to shelter the root of the claw externally, as in the Cats generally ; sometimes less so, as in Cynalurus; still less so, as in the Viverrina; or long, hardly arched, and with but a very small external lamina, as in the Hyanida and Herpestina, especially in Suricata. The Pelvic Limb. The proportion borne by the entire pelvic limb (femur, tibia, and pes) to the spine is never more than 93*8 (some Felis), or less than 55*6 (Viverra). The longest proportion amongst the Viverrida is 79*9 (Suricata); the shortest found by me in the Felidce was 75*6. The greatest proportion borne by the entire pelvic limb to the entire pectoral limb at 100 is 139*8 (Felis eyra), the smallest is 94*4 (Crocuta). In none but Crocuta is the pelvic limb shorter than the pectoral one. The shortest proportion in the Cats is 113*1 (Felis tigris). In the Viverrida the longest is 136*6 (Nan-dinia), and the shortest is 112*0 (Arctictis). In Proteles it is 104*8. |