On the classification of the order Glires / by Edward R. Alston.
- Edward Richard Alston
- Date:
- 1876
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the classification of the order Glires / by Edward R. Alston. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![digits; the hind feet with a nailless tubercle instead of the first digit, and an internal lobe, supported by two accessory tarsal ossicles. Skull short; the frontal and malar with large postorbital process, which almost meet; walls of auditory meatus produced. Upper grinding-teeth each divided into three lobes, of which the anterior and posterior have deep single enamel-folds ; lower teeth with one external and two internal folds. 2. Sphingums (=Sphiggurus), F. Cuvier, Dents d. Mamm. p. 256 (1825)*. Nostrils far apart; head and body clad above with short stiff spines, or with mixed spines and bristly hair; feet as in Chce/omys; tail long, prehensile at its tip. Skull short; the air-sinuses greatly developed in some species; no postorbital processes; walls of auditory meatus not produced ; interparietal broad ; angle of mandible pointed. Grinding-teeth subequal, like those of Sphingums, hut with two lobes only. 3. Erythizon, F. Cuvier, Dents d. Mamm. p. 256 . . . (1825). External characters as in Sphingurus, hut the nostrils nearer to- gether, the quills more concealed by hair, the hind feet with five toes and hardly any internal lobe; the tail short, thick, and non-prehen- sile. Skull with walls of auditory meatus slightly produced ; angle of mandible rounded. Grinding-teeth like those of Sphingums, but the anterior much longer than the posterior. B. Hystricinas. Grinding-teeth semirooted. Skull more elon- gate ; lachrymal partly bounding the canal. Clavicles imperfect. Upper lip furrowed; tail not prehensile ; soles of feet smooth ; six teats. Palaearctic, Indian, and Ethiopian. Recent genera:— 4. Atherura, G. Cuvier, Regne Animal (2meed.), i. p. 215 (1829). Spines flattened, channelled; tail long, scaly, with a tuft of coin- pressed bristles at the point. Nasal part of skull moderate. Upper grinding-teetli with one internal and three or four external folds, the latter soon separated as enamel-loops ; the lower teeth similar, but reversed. 5. Ilystrix, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 76 (1/66). Spines cylindrical; tail short, covered with spines and slender- stalked open quills. Nasal cavity usually very large. Air-sinuses of frontals greatly developed. Teeth as in Atherura. Family III. Chinchillid/e. Incisors short; grinding-teeth divided by continuous folds into transverse laminae. Malar extending forward to lachrymal, with no inferior angle, and only a rudimentary superior angle. Optic fora- mina confluent. Auditory bullae moderate or very large. Palate con- tracted in front, and deeply emarginate behind. Clavicles perfect. * = Synetheres and Sphiggurvs, F. Cuvier (1825)= Cercolales, Brandt (1835). [34]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22455334_0038.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
