64 



appearance : this incltides the genera Herpestes and Ryzana, and 

 probably also Crossarchus and Atilax ; but as Mr. Gray had not seen 

 the two latter, he could not speak confidently with respect to them, 

 Crossarchus and Ryzana differ in having one false molar tooth less 

 than the other genera. The remaining subdivision has the toes short, 

 and united by a membrane as far as the base of the claws j it has no 

 anal pouch, but in place of that organ a bald secreting fold over the 

 sheath of the penis ; and its fur is rather rigid with a woolly under- 

 coat. In most cases the tail has the faculty of rolling itself up spirally 

 from the tip, from which circumstance M. F. Cuvier deduced the ge- 

 neric name of Paradoxurus applied by him to the animals of this sub- 

 division. One species, the Benturong of Major Farquhar, has since 

 been separated by M.Valenciennes under the generic name of Ictides. 



All the animals of this subdivision which Mr. Gray has seen living, 

 agree in having a very narrow linear perpendicular pupil, but this 

 character he considered as only of secondary importance -, the Foxes 

 having linear, while all the other Dogs have round pupils, and the 

 common Cat, and some others of the genus Felis, having them perpen- 

 dicular, while the Lion, Tiger, Leopard, Jaguar, Puma, and hunting 

 Leopard, have them circular. The naked space extending the whole 

 length of the freenum of the penis from the anus to the tip of the sheath, 

 and secreting a brown odorous substance, appears to have been first 

 noticed by Pallas in his description of the Viv. hermaphrodita, to which, 

 by a not unapt comparison, it gave a name. It appears to have been 

 entirely overlooked by M. F. Cuvier, but is readily seen even in the 

 dried skin, and most probably exists in the genus Ictides also. In this 

 latter, according to Major Farquhar, the tail is truly prehensile, and 

 is used by the animal in climbing trees, but, like that of the Kinka- 

 jou, it has no bald portion near the tip. The degree indeed in which 

 the convolutive peculiarity of this organ manifests itself, appears to 

 vary greatly in the different species. When not twisted up, the tail is 

 generally trailed along the ground with a slight turning over at the 

 tip, which occasions the hair, especially on the older specimens, to be 

 more or less worn away on either surface. 



The teeth of the genus Paradoxurus agree in number and struc- 

 ture with those of Viverra, Genetta, and Herpestes, but differ in the 

 form of the cheek-tooth and tubercular molars, which in both jaws 

 are shorter, broader and more bluntly tubercular, indicating more 

 frugivorous habits. In their examination, not only in this genus but 

 in the whole order, it is necessary to observe the change that takes 

 place both in their distribution and form on the shedding of the milk- 

 teeth, which are widely different from those by whicli they are suc- 

 ceeded. In the young of Paradoxurus there are in the upper jaw 

 only four molars on each side, viz. two false molars, one cheek-tooth, 

 and one tubercular j while the adult animal has one additional false 

 molar, and a second tubercular, the third false molar taking the place 

 of the cheek-tooth, and the cheek-tooth that occupied by the tuber- 

 cular, of the young animal. The teeth of the adult are also much 

 stronger and larger, the anterior ones becoming less, and the poste- 



