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Show 1897.] MYOLOGY O F T H E TERRESTRIAL CARNIVORA. 371 through the generosity of this Society, partly from other sources. W e have therefore thought it advisable to collaborate in working through this material and in comparing our results with the numerous published records on the myology of Carnivora which are scattered through zoological literature. W e are also greatly indebted to Prof. Macalister for several unpublished records of dissections. Altogether we find that we have more or less complete accounts of 79 animals, a number which, we think, justifies us in making an attempt at a comprehensive review of the order-a review which, though it cannot be final, may indicate the present state of our knowledge of the subject, and may serve to direct the attention of future observers towards points which they might otherwise overlook. The great difficulty in a work of this kind is to avoid recording twice observations made by one observer and quoted by another, and thus giving a false idea of the frequency of variations : for instance, it is easy to find a great many statements about the muscles of the Dog and Cat scattered about, but it is often impossible to make out whether the writer really dissected the animal or is relying on the description of someone else. For this reason we have decided to err on the side of safety, and have excluded a good many statements about the originality of which we were doubtful. With a view to prevent any confusion between the facts which we have observed ourselves and those quoted from others, we commence our paper with a numbered list of all the animals referred to. When a Roman numeral follows an animal's name it refers to the bibliography at the end of the paper; when no such numeral follows, the animal has been dissected by ourselves. In the text, whenever an animal is mentioned, an ordinary numeral is placed after it to show which specimen in our list is referred to; when more than one numeral is present it shows that the statement holds good for more than one animal. This first part of the paper is devoted to statements of facts ; we propose to reserve all conclusions and generalizations until the whole of the muscles have been described and compared. List of Specimens of Animals referred to. FELIDCE. 1. Lion (F. leo). Macalister (unpublished). 1 a. Lion (F. leo). Cuvier & Laurillard. (V.) 2. Lion (F. leo). Haughton. (III.) 3. Tiger (F. tigris). Macalister (unpublished). 4. Leopard (F. pardus). Macalister (unpublished). 5. Leopard (F. pardus). Cuvier & Laurillard. (VI.) 6. Cat (F. catus). Mivart. (1.) 7. Cat (F. catus). Straus-Durckheim. (II.) 7 a. Cat (F. catus). Meckel. (XXXIX.) 8. Caracal (F. caracul). Perrin. (XXIX.) 9. Cheetah (Cgncelurus juhatus). Ross. (IV.) |
