PALM CIVETS 407 



the times of Belon we are told (by him) that Genets were 

 common and tame at Constantinople. 



Poiana, containing a single African species, a spotted and 

 entirely Genet-like animal, has been separated as a distinct 

 genus. Dr. Mivart, however, holds it to be a Prionodon which 

 has acquired a Genet-like tarsus. 



Arctictis, containing but one species, A. binturong, the 

 Biuturong, is in some ways an exceptional form. It is a black 

 arboreal creature of not very wide range in the Oriental region, 

 with a fully prehensile tail. This feature and its plantigrade 

 foot with naked sole have led to its being regarded as more allied 

 to the Arctoidea. It is, however, undoubtedly an ally of 

 Paradoxurus. The caecum is small, or may be quite absent. 

 The dentition is I f C 1 Pm f M f . The structure of the 

 animal has been investigated by Garrod. 1 



The genus Fossa is a Viverrine confined to Madagascar. 

 There is but one species, F. daubentoni, the " Fossane." It is 

 distinguished from Viverra by the presence of two bare spots on 

 the under surface of the metatarsus in the hind -limb, and by the 

 absence of a scent pouch. The animal is not much spotted and 

 striped, but the striping in the young is much more marked. 



Of the genus Paradoxurus there are some ten or a dozen species, 

 belonging entirely to the Oriental region. The teeth are as in 

 Viverra, but occasionally the molars are reduced to one. The 

 pupils are vertical. The tail though long is not prehensile, " but 

 the animal appears to have the power of coiling it to some extent, 

 and in caged specimens the coiled condition not unfrequently 

 becomes confirmed and permanent " (Blanford). This fact 

 accounts for the name Paradoxurus; for a prehensile tail is 

 hardly to be expected in an animal of the zoological position of 

 the Palm Civets, and yet its occasional twisting led originally 

 to the view that it was so. The genus has scent glands. The 

 dentition is I f C \ Pm f M f . P. niger, the Indian Palm Civet, 

 is, like other species, not often to be seen in a wild condition. It 

 is arboreal, and, like other members of the genus, feeds upon a 

 mixed diet, consisting of all kinds of small Yertebrata and insects, 

 varied by fruit. Another species, P. grayi, is so distinctly vege- 

 tarian in its habits that it makes considerable havoc in pine-apple 

 beds in the Andaman Islands. 



1 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 196. 



