XV. Observations on the Genus Galictis (Bell), with the Description of a new Species. By THOMAS BELL, Esq., V.P. Z.S., F,R.S., hc.? Prof. Zool. in King’s College.

Communicated April 25th, 1837.

I N the year 1826, in offering to the Zoological Club of the Linnean Society’ some remarks on a living female Grison which had been for some years in my possession, P was led to consider this species as constituting a new generic type, to which I gave the name of GaZictis, but without then assigning its distinctive generic character.

The existence, in the museum of the Zoological Society, of a new species, nearly allied to the former and yet evidently distinct, has induced me now to enter more par- ticularly into the subject, and to lay before the Society, in addition to a description of the new species, some observations on the characters and affinities of the genus.

Buffon, in the third voIurne of the supplement to his “ Histoire Naturelle,” gives two figures under the respective names of “ Fouine de la Guyane ’’ and “ Grison,” which have always been considered as belonging to one animal, the Viverra vit tata of Schreber.

The animal which forms the subject of the first-named figure was brought from Guiana ; the teeth were wanting, but the general form of the body led Buffon, with hi$ usual ignorance of true distinctive character, to consider it as a variety merely of the former or Marten. His description as well as the figure is sufficiently clear to designate the animal as identical with that which has subsequently been known as the Viverru vittata, and could not have appertained to the species which I shall presently describe. The second figure above alluded to, accompanied by a description, was first published in the fifth volume of the Dutch edition of Buffon, by Allamand, who gave it the name of ‘( Grison,” quasi Belette grise. This animal was said to have been brought to M. Al- lamand from Surinam. The figure is certainly very different from the former, so as to prove that great fault exists in the stuffing of both specimens. The former has an extremely attenuated nose with a lengthened body ; in the latter the muzzle is thick and obtuse and the body less slender. But the colours, if the engraver can be trusted, and the character of the hair, are sufficiently different to warrant considerable doubt whether this may not be a representation of the same species as that which is now introduced to the notice of the Society. I t is also the “ petit furet” of d’Azara’s History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay.

Schreber, in his History of Mamma& placed the former animal amongst the Vivemz,

1 Zool. Journ. ii. p. 551.

202 MR. T. BELL ON THE GENUS GALICTIS.

under the name of Viwerra vittata, which was retained by Gmelin and others ; but the semiplantigrade character of the foot seems to have led Thunberg to consider it as more nearly allied to the Ursidce, and he accordingly calls it Ursus Brasiliensis. By Desmarest it is arranged in the genus Gulo ; and the name GuZo wittatus, given to it by this author, has been employed by the Cuviers and all other subsequent writers, with the exception of Dr. Traill, who, in the third volume of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, restores it to its proper family the Mustelide, but under the erroneous name of I h r a oittata; for it has no nearer affinity to the otters, than that which is possessed by the whole of the species of the genus Mustela. M. Fred. Cuvier has given in his great work on the “ Mammifhres,” an account of an individual which lived in confine- ment, whose habits almost exactly agreed with those of mine already alluded to ; the figure which this naturalist has there given, although the best that has hitherto ap- peared, is so faulty that I have thought it necessary to offer another, taken from my own specimen when living. When the form, the structure, and the habits of this animal are considered, it appears strange that all the Zoologists subsequent to Buffon, who have hitherto examined it, should have failed to ascertain its real affinities. In the form of its body, and particularly in the structure of the teeth, it is absolutely similar to many of the genus Mustela, particularly to the ferret and the polecat. This similarity, at least in form, was detected both by D’Azara and by Buffon, as is proved by the names which they assign to it. Nor is there a single difference of any importance in the structure of the teeth, between this animal and the polecat, with the single excep- tion, that the inner tubercle of the carnivorous tooth is, in a very slight degree, broader in the present species. The character which induced me to consider it as generically distinct from Mustela, for there cannot for a moment exist a doubt as to the necessity for its removal from Gulo, is the semiplantigrade nature of the feet ; and this appeared to be a structural distinction of sufficient importance to warrant such a separation. This view has been confirmed in a very interesting manner by the occurrence of the new species about to be described, having exactly the same general character of colora- tion and markings, but with sufficient essential distinctive characters to point it out as specifically different.

The genus then belongs to the family of the MusteZide, but exhibits in the form of the feet a slight indication of an approach to the Ursidce, in which group it is probably represented by the genus Ratellus, which, whilst it shows a similar degree of aberration from the type of its family, has an almost identical peculiarity of coloration. It is in such circumstances as these, where the animals really possess the more important ana- logies of form and of relation to their respective types, that the confirmatory though only subordinate analogies of colour are of real value ; and it is surely unnecessary to point out the difference between relying upon colour and markings, on the one hand, as a primary analogical character, irrespective of other and more important relations ; and, on the other, considering them as constituting only a collateral corroboration of

MR. T. BELL ON THE GENUS GALICTIS. 203

them. I wish however to be understood as offering this suggestion respecting the ana- logical relation between Galictis and Ratellus as still doubtful ; for I cannot but feel it to be a far more difficult matter to decide upon these relations than some naturalists of the present day appear to consider it. That relations of analogy between the members of different groups do exist, there cannot perhaps be any reasonable doubt ; that such analogies do in many instances, and would in all, were our information less limited, assist us in the determination of the affinities of correlative groups, inay also possibly be true ; but that these relations are to be perceived at a single glance, that they are to be picked up, as it were, by every careless passer-by, and forced with all the confi- dence of undisputed authority into the service of every fabricator of systems, is incon- sistent with the modesty of true science, derogatory from its dignity, and calculated only to bring the study of zoology itself into contempt.

Fam. MUSTELIDB. Genus GALICTIS.

.. 2 . 2 Dentes molares spurazF3 Rostrum breve ; Palmce atque plante nudze subplantigradze ; Ungues breviusculi, curvi, acuti ; Corpus elongatum, depressum.

1. GALICTIS VITTATA.

T A B . n x v . Gal. vertice, c0110, dorso, atque caudd Jlavescenti-griseis ; rostro, guld et pectore fuscescenti-

nigris ; fascid a fronte usque ad humerosJlavescenti-albidd ; pilis longis laxis.

Viverra vittata. SCHREBERS, Saugth. p. 447, t. cxxiv. Gmel. Syst. Nat. Linn. i. p. 89. Ursus Brasiliensis. Lutra vittata. Gulo vittatus.

GaEictis vittata. Petit furet. Fouine de la Guyane. Grison. Habitat in Guyan&, Paraguay, Brazil&

The general form, attitudes, and movements of this animal resemble those of the coni- mon Polecat. The head is depressed ; the muzzle moderately acute, but not attenuated, projecting beyond the lower jaw ; the eyes are moderately large, the iris dark brown, or nearly black ; the ears short, broad, and rounded ; the teeth are almost exactly similar

THUNB. Mem. Acad. Petersb. vi. p. 401, t. xiii. TRAILL, Mem. Wern. SOC. iii. p. 437, t. xix. DESMAR. Mammal. pp. 175, sp. 268 ; ISID. GEOFFR. in Dict. Class. vii.

p. 384; FRED. Cuv. in Dict. des Sc. Nat. xix. p. 79. BELL, Zool. Journ. ii. p. 552.

D’AZARA, Essai sur 1’Hist. Nat. de Parag. (Trad. Franq.) i. p. 190.

SHAW, Gen. Zool. i. p. 392; Cuv. Reg. An. i. p. 146; FRED. Cuv. Mam. i. BUFFON, Suppl. iii. p. 161, t. xxiii.

204 MR. T. BELL ON THE GENUS GALICTIS.

to those of true Mustela, particularly M. putorius. The body is elongate and much depressed, covered with rather long loose hair, the under hair soft and short ; the tail more than half the length of the head and body; the hair of the tail very long and lax. The legs are rather short ; the toes five on each foot, with short, strong, curved, rather acute claws ; the upper part of the toes hairy ; the soles of the feet naked. The fore-feet with a thick pad under each toe ; the palm furnished with a broad tubercle consisting of three elevated portions, with a slight one internally, and a round simple one at the wrist, behind the little or outer toe. The hinder foot likewise furnished with a thick pad beneath each toe, and a broad trifid tubercle beneath the metatarsus : there is also a long tubercle beneath the heel at the outer side. The whole of these parts, that is to say, the soles of all the feet, are covered with a soft naked skin, and are evidently placed on the ground in progression.

The whole of the upper part of the head, the neck, the back, the flank, and the tail are yellowish light or brownish gray, produced by the mixture of a dirty yellowish white, with brownish black, the hairs being brownish black for about two-thirds of their length, the tip dirty or yellowish white. The muzzle, the cheeks, the throat, the under part of the neck, the belly, the anterior legs, and the hinder feet are black, with a brownish tinge lighter towards the back part, and on the belly interspersed with a few whitish hairs. The gray of the upper, and the black of the under parts, are sepa- rated by a rather broad fascia, extending on each side from the centre of the forehead above the eye backwards as far as the shoulder, including the ears; this fascia is of a buff or yellowish white colour.

There is a large round follicle situated on each side the anus, covered with a muscle, and opening by a round duct within the anal orifice, secreting an unctuous matter, less fmtid than that of the PoZecat, but not possessing the rather agreeable odour of the Marten, or the powerful perfume of the Viverrte. The stomach is very simple, the pyloric extremity long, cylindrical, and curved.

The colours are very remarkable, and the markings distinct and decided.

There is no ctecum.

2. GALICTIS ALLAMANDI. TAB. XXXVII.

Gal. vertice, collo; dorso, atque caudd nigricanti-griseis ; partibus inferioribus nigris ;

Habitat ? fascia" a fronte usque ad collum utrinque alba"; corpore pilis brevibus adpressis.

This species, although evidently distinct from the former, exhibits the same general character of colour and marking, with some remarkable differences, however, which, thoQgh not easily expressed in a specific phrase, are tangible and important. The whole of those parts, which in the former species are yellowish, are here perfectly white'; and those which are blackish brown in the former, are in this pure black.

MR. T. BELL ON THE GENUS GALICTIS. 205

The basal portion of the hairs on the back, therefore, is black, and the apical quite white, forming a pure blackish gray, or black, with white points and lines ; whilst all the under parts of the throat and part of the belly are black. The fuscia extending from the fore- head to the sides of the neck is also white. This fascia does not extend in the speci- men described so far back as in the former species. The hairs of the whole body are very short in comparison, and much stiffer and more closely set. The animal is con- siderably larger, and the tail, as far as can be ascertained from a stuffed specimen, short in proportion.

The native habits of the Grison are, doubtless, those of the terrestrial MusteZide gene- rally. Pursuing the smaller quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles on tbe ground, and even into trees, its carnivorous instinct is, probably, judging from its dentition, equally strong with theirs. The beautiful female specimen, which I had living for more than three years, was as tame and affectionate as a dog. She followed me, if permitted, wherever I went about the house, was extremely frolicsome and playful, and was delighted at being caressed. She would throw herself on her back, and seize the hand that fondled her with all four of her paws and her mouth at the same moment, pressing it with her teeth, but never sufficiently hard to cause the slightest degree of pain. She was ex- tremely fond of eggs, which she ate in a very singular manner. On one being given her, she first played with it for some time, running backwards, and at the same time pushing it under her belly with her fore-feet. At length she would fix one of her sharp canine teeth through the shell, and lick or suck as much of the contents as would flow through the orifice. Then again inserting her tooth, a piece of the shell was broken out so as to enable her to insert her tongue; and finally, the egg-shell was broken to pieces and each fragment carefully licked clean. Forfrogs she exhibited a decided fondness ; and she attacked two small alligators which I had living ; one of which she killed and partly ate, and the other she wounded. The wound in each case was inflicted under the axilla, as being the least protected part, and that at which the large blood-vessels being torn through, would speedily bleed the animal to death, She died of stricture of the pylorus, without any other disease.

This description of the genus appears to warrant the opinion which I have given of its affinities ; namely, that it essentially belongs to the family of the Mustelide, but deviating from that type by the plantigrade character of the feet, in which it exhibits an obvious approach to the Urside.

To Viverra its relation must be very remote; to Ursus and Gulo its approach has just been alluded to ; to Lutra, in which genus we have seen it was placed by Dr. Traill, its affinity is more obvious, as it clearly belongs to the same family ; but by the im- portant character of the dentition, as well as its general form, it approximates so closely to Mustela (Putorius of Cuvier) the typical genus of the family, that but for the more plantigrade character of the feet, it must have been associated with it.

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206 MR. T. BELL ON THE GENUS GALICTIS.

PLATE XXXV

GALICTIS VITTATB

PLATE XXXVI.

Fig. 1 . Cranium of Gulictis vittata, seen from beneath. 2. The same seen laterally, with the addition of the lower maxilla. 3. The odoriferous glands: the left one covered by its investing muscle, which

4. The stomach. 5 . The right fore foot. 6. The right hind foot.

has been removed from that on the right.

PLATE XXXVIT.

GALICTIS ALLAMANDI.