532 CARNIVORA 



of the head and body is 38 inches, and that of the tail about 40 

 inches. It is probable that this animal should really be regarded 

 as a slightly aberrant species of the genus Prionodon. 



The five following genera differ in several important respects 

 from all the preceding, and collectively constitute the Paradox urlm 

 section of Professor Mivart. With the exception of one African form, 

 they are mainly Oriental. In this section the auditory bulla is 

 frequently in two portions, the posterior moiety in one case being 

 unossified, and it is always much narrowed in front (Fig. 239). 

 The palate (as in the figure) may be much produced behind the 

 molars ; and the teeth are often but slightly sectorial, and may be 

 very small. The long tail is in most cases not ringed. 



Paradoxurus} — Dentition: i f, c -J-, p -£, m § ; total 40. The 

 blunt and rounded form of the cusps of the hinder premolar 

 and the molar teeth distinguishes this genus from most of the 

 members of the family. Vertebra?: C 7, D 13, L 7, S 3, C 29-36. 

 Head pointed in front. Ears small, rounded. Body long. Limbs 

 moderate. Palms and soles almost entirely naked, and joining the 

 foot-pads without the intervention of any hairy space. Claws com- 

 pletely retractile. Pupil vertical. Tail long, non-prehensile ; in 

 the Indian species without rings. The Paradoxures or Palm-Civets 

 are less strictly carnivorous than the other members of the family. 

 They are mostly about the size of the common Cat, or rather larger, 

 and are partly arboreal in their habits. The species are rather 

 numerous, and present considerable variations in the details of the 

 form and size of their molar teeth ; in only a few does the bony 

 palate extend behind the molars. They are restricted geographic- 

 ally to Southern Asia and the Indo-Malayan archipelago. The best 

 known species 2 are P. niger, P. h&rinaphroditus, P. jerdoni, P. aureus, 

 P. grayi from India and Burma, P. phUippinensis of the Philip- 

 pines, P. larvatus of Southern China and Formosa, P. leucomystax 

 of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo, and P. musschenbroeki 

 of Celebes. The name Paradoxurus was applied from the mistaken 

 notion that the tail was prehensile. Mr. Blanford 3 gives the 

 following account of the habits of P. niger; "The common Palm- 

 Civet, Tree-Cat, or Toddy-Cat, is a familiar animal in most parts of 

 India, though, being thoroughly nocturnal in its habits, it is but 

 rarely seen in the daytime. It is arboreal, passing the day gener- 

 ally in trees, either coiled up in the branches, or in a hole in 

 the trunk, and in places where cocoa-nut palms are common it 

 frequently selects one of them for a residence. Mango groves 

 are also a favourite resort. It not unfrequently takes up its 

 abode in the thatched roofs of houses ; Jerdon found a large colony 



1 F. Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Mammiftres, No. 186 (1821). 



2 See W. T. Blanford, Proe. Zool. Soc. 1885, p. 780. 

 3 Fauna of British India, "Mammalia," p. 108 (1888). 





