The dorsal vertebrae are thirteen in number; nine of the ribs reach the sternum. The slenderness and convexity of the lower margin of the lower jaw, as well as the feeble angular process, distinguish this genus from its undoubtedly near ally Cercoleptes. The dental formula also is different.

Bassariscus has a ringed tail like a Raccoon, and is also American in range; it furthermore agrees with the Raccoon in

being nocturnal and mainly arboreal in habit. There are apparently three species, of which B. astutus is the best known, having been on several occasions exhibited at the Zoological Society's Gardens, the last examples so lately as 1900. The animal was for a long time believed to be allied to the Oriental Paradoxures, and its occurrence in America was therefore puzzling. The real affinities of the creature were, however, definitely set at rest by Sir W. Flower, and later accounts of its anatomy have confirmed this opinion.[[286]] The vertebrae are more numerous than in Procyon, and the teeth are slightly different; otherwise it presents many likenesses to its nearest ally. The ears are long; the nose is grooved; and the palms and soles are naked.

Fig. 215.—Cunning Bassarisc. Bassariscus astutus. × 1⁄5. (From Nature.)

The Kinkajou, Cercoleptes, is likewise an American Arctoid. It ranges from Central Mexico down to the Rio Negro in Brazil. It was at one time confounded, and, considering its external appearance, not unnaturally, with the Lemurs. Sir R. Owen dispelled this view by a careful dissection of the creature. Nevertheless, there are certain anatomical features in which it differs

from Carnivora and resembles Lemuroids.[[287]] It has been pointed out that the form of the lower jaw "much resembles that of the Lemuroid Microrhynchus." There is, however, no doubt that it is rightly placed in the present group. The tail is very prehensile, and the animal is therefore, as might be supposed from this circumstance, purely arboreal. It has some twenty-eight vertebrae. This genus has a median groove upon the nose. The claws are long and sharply pointed, and the palms and soles of the feet are naked. The premolars are three, the molars two. There are fourteen dorsal vertebrae, of which nine are united to the nine-jointed sternum by ribs. There is but one species, C. caudivolvulus, of a uniform yellowish-brown colour.

Fig. 216.—Kinkajou. Cercoleptes caudivolvulus. × 1⁄6.