CARNABJA. f)3 



The Musangs (Pararforurus, F. Cuv.) — 

 Possess the teeth and most of the characters of the Genets, with which they were long confounded : 

 but their general form is stouter, and their gait plantigrade : what more particularly distinguishes 

 them, however, is the spiral inclination of the tail*, which is not prehensile. 



Only one species is known, the Pougonne of India (/'. ti/jiug, F. Cuv.), termed l'nlm Marten by the French in 

 India. [Xoless than ten or twelve have since been discovered. chieth from India and the great Asiatic islands, though 

 some inhabit Africa. They feed much on fruit, but are also tolerably carnivorous, springing upon their prey from 

 a place of ambush : gait slow and plantigrade] with the head and tail lowered, and the back arched; but they 

 also advance by rapid digital bounds, and are excellent climbers, constructing ;i nest on the forked branches of 

 trees. They are easily tamed, and, when angry, growl and spit like Cats \ Bleep rolled up in a ball, &c. 



As the Dogs may be considered the highest of the Carntoora, and the Cats the most eminently predaceous, so 

 the Musangs may be regarded as presenting the fairest average of a member of this division. Their dentition is 

 scarcely distinguishable from that of the Dogs; but, on reverting the cranium, their cerebral cavity is seen to be 

 proportionally smaller. 



Various species of Musang have been named as separate subgenera by different systematists. AmbUodon, Jourd., 

 is the TcHde doree of M. P. Cuvier; and Paguma, Gray, refers to the young of /'. larvatue. P. Derbianut, Gray, 

 a species approximating the Genets, of a fulvous-grey colour, with broad cross bands of dark brown, is the 

 llcmiyalea zebra of Jourdan. Most of them present the streaks and spots of the Genets, but on a darker 

 ground-tint. 



Several affect the vicinity of human habitations, and are very destructive to poultry, their eggs, &c. 



The Cynogale (Cynogale, Gray ; Limictis, Blainv.) — 



Is an aquatic representative of the preceding, to which it hears a similar relation to that which the 

 Otters hold with the Weasels. Its false molars are large, compressed, sharp, and slightly notched or 

 serrated ; and entire dental system, together with its external characters, generally modified for a pis- 

 civorous regimen. 



One species only is known (C. lionictlii, Or. ; T7i\ and Lim. carrharias, Bl.) — A native of Sumatra, uniform dark 

 brown; the ears small: head, and also colouring, very similar to that of a common Utter: its tail, however, is 

 cylindrical.] 



The Mangoustes (Manyus/a, Cuv.; Iferprs/es, Ill.f) 



The pouch voluminous and simple, and the anus situate within its cavity ; [bony orbits of the skull 

 most usually perfect.] Their hairs are annulatcd with pale and dark tints, which determine the 

 general colour of the eye. [Tail long as in the preceding subdivisions, and bushy towards its 

 insertion. 



The species are very numerous ; and] that of Egypt ( Vir. ichneumon, Lin.), so celebrated among the ancients I ly 

 (be name of Ichneumon, is grey, with a long tail terminated by a black tuft; it is larger than OUT Cat, and as 

 Blende] ;i- a Marten. It chiefly hunts for tin eggs of the Crocodile, but also feeds on all sorts of small animals ; 

 brought up in houses [where, m common with its congeners, it is readily domesticated, and exhibits much intelli- 

 gence and attachment], it pursues Mice, reptiles, (tr. By the Kuropeans at Cairo it is designated Pharaoh'* Hat, 

 and .Xenix by the natives. The ancient allegation of its entering the throat of the Crocodile, to destroy it, is <piite 

 fabulous. The common Indian species [Viv. tnungot, l.in.) is celebrated for its combats with the most dangerous 



serpents; and for having led us to a knowledge of the Ophiorhiza mango* as an antidote to their venom. [Some 

 are less vermiform in their make, ami higher on the legs: one, termed the Vanttre \<\ Buffon, forms the division 

 j t/i i// m of M. F. Cuvier; others compose the Oalidea and Tchneumonia of M. Is. Geoffrey .- Cynictit, Og., includes 

 several species with only four toes to each foot; and Latioput and Mongo, A.uct., are additional dismember- 

 ments of this genus. The Una Of Mr. Hodgson appears also to be a MangOUSte, \utli incomplete orbits.] 



The Surikate | Rywtena, 111.) — 



Resembles the Mangoustes, even to the tints ami annulationa of its fur; but is distinguished from 

 tin-in, and from all the Ciirnirura hitherto mentioned "save the Lijeaini jiicta and Ci/nic/is, just indi- 

 cated], by having only four toes to each foot. It is also higher upon the legs, and docs not pot 



the small molar immediately behind the canine. The pouch extends even into the anus. 



( » 1 1 1 y one is known ( lie. tetitiitnetjjta, Gin.), a native of Africa, and rather smaller than the UangOUStC "f India. 



'I'm. M wi.i i [Orossarchut, P. Cuv.), — 



Has the muzzle, teeth, pouch, and gait of the Surikate; the toes and genital organs of the Man- 

 goustes. 



• In thoaa which I ti»i< Itch allvc, Inclinling P. tvfmt. thU Chirac- ■ + This trrm I. man grin-rallr aduptad. The nunc M« w , i , 

 In ma nol pci vptlbtoi lha Individual figured by M. 1 * applied to lha iirimilt iff 



■anting i uiorbld dafonolly, an analofooa tnanancn of wiii'U occi 

 In a Leopard lotted In Loi don i n. 



