CARNARIA. 



85 



covered with long hair, and have a tuft at each ear. The tail is long, hairy, and has a propensity to 

 curl, as if prehensile ; [which it really is : their whiskers are long and conspicuous]. 



They are also natives of India, for the first knowledge of which we are indebted to M. du Vaucel. One species 

 ili I. albifiront, F. Cuv.) is grey, with the tail and sides of the muzzle black ; of the size of a large Cat ; from 

 Boutan. Another (Id. ater, F. Cuv.) is black, with a whitish muzzle, and as large as a stout Dog ; from Mala c c a. 

 [The latter is merely the male, and the other the female of the same species, which is rather a slow-moving 

 animal, allied to the last in habit, of a timid disposition, and easily tamed. The lctide doree, F. Cuv., is a 

 species of Musang (Paraduxurus). ] 



The Coatimondis {Kama, Storr), — 

 To the dentition, tail [which however is longer], nocturnal life, and slow dragging gait of the 

 Raccoons, add a singularly elongated and moveable snout. Their feet are semi-palmate, notwith- 

 standing which they climb trees [with great facility, and descend them head foremost, clinging by 

 their hind feet, which they almost reverse]. Their long claws serve them to dig with ; [and they feed 

 voraciously on earth-worms, slugs and snails, also on small mammalians (which they catch adroitly), 

 birds and their eggs, together with fruits and vegetables]. They inhabit the warm parts of America, 

 and subsist on nearly the same food as our Martens. 



The Red Coatimondi (Viverra nasua, Lin. ; A T . ru/a, Desm.)— Rufo-fulvous, the muzzle and caudal annulations 

 brown. And the Brown Coatimondi (V. naric a, Lin. ; N.fusca, Desm.) — Brown, with white spots over the eye 

 and snout. [These animals employ their claws to divide flesh, which they thus tear and separate before devour- 

 ing it.] 



The Kinkajou (Cercolcptes, Illiger) — 

 Can scarcely be introduced elsewhere than in this place [which is unquestionably its true position]. 

 To the plantigrade gait, it joins a very long tail, prehensile, as in the Sapajous*, a short muzzle, slender 

 and extensile tongue, with two pointed grinders before, and three tuberculous ones backward, [the 

 first of which latter represents the carnivorous tooth]. 



But one species is known (Viverra caudivolvula, Gm.), from the warm parts of America and some of the Gnat 

 Antilles, where it is named Pottof: size of a Fitchet, [and larger] ; the fur woolly, ami of a yellowish or golden] 

 brown : nocturnal, and of a mild and gentle disposition ; subsisting on fruits, honey, milk, blood, &c. [It is emi- 

 nently an arboreal quadruped, which moves with a cautious gait, recalling to mind some of the Quadrumana. 



There is a Mexican animal to which Liechtenstein has assigned the generic name Ba.sxarit, and which 

 Blainville and others have associated with the Yivcrrine genera, but which I greatly suspect must 

 rather be placed near the Kinkajou, though 1 have not at present the means of ascertaining its cha- 

 racters. In form it is not unlike a Musang (Parodoxurus.) + 



Tlic remaining genera are only semi-plantigrade (that is, they do not bring the heel quite 

 to the ground), and posse8S but one tuberculous grinder, which varies greatly in extent of 

 surface: none of them become torpid in winter; and they all emit, when alarmed, a defensive 

 odour, which in many is horribly fetid.] 



The Badgers (Meles, Storr), § — 



Which Linnauis placed, together with the Raccoons, in his genus of Bears, have one very small tooth 

 behind the canine, then two pointed molars, followed in the npper jaw by one which we begin to 

 recognize as carnivorous, from the trace of a cutting character which it exhibits on its outer side; 

 behind this is a square tuberculous tooth, the largest of the series; and, on the lower jaw, the last but 

 one likewise commences to hear some resemblance to the inferior carnivorous tooth ; but as there 

 are two tubercles "n its inward border as elevated as its cutting point, it performs the office of a 

 tuberculous one; the last below is yerj small. [The Badger, in fart, has precisely the same den- 

 tition as the Weasels ami < itters, presenting a modification of that tj pe for less carnivorous regim< a.] 



These animals have the tardy gait and nocturnal habit of all tin' preceding; their tail is short, [and 



• Our which 1 hail mi opportunity of stinlvin^, at it ran atioul loose 



In :i room, poueeeed tin- prchen ol tin- tail in an extremely 



moderate degree, morel* r+ n o nv r illghtij on Otis organ, which it 



.1 throughout its length] end noi ei < olli ■' In tt<<' mnnni r ol the 



in. 

 t Thll trrin, applied br the nrifrnn in Africa to a Lemurlno animal 

 (/Vr"<li> rn uf), lias been introduced bj them, itld misapplied Ifl 



countrloe.- 1 " 



I BtrOOg presumptive evidence the! the I* 



.in t.i tin- Vim rriiu- gronp, is afforded l«r the rentri, ti.m of lae 

 geographic range "f the latter to the cutcrn hi 

 other in-' ''>' a. Th "T ibecnce "i a ■ or net aroajd decide 



tin' qua itton. 



$ T'i.rui of mime yr*len»*ti»lt : hut lhi» name la employed in Botany 

 lur the Via kciiui. — Ku. 



