534 CARNIVORA 



characters are those of Paradoxurus, but the auditory bulla is 

 ankylosed into a single piece. 



Ardictis. 1 — Dentition : i -§-, c \, p £, m -§-; total 40. The pos- 

 terior upper molar and the first lower premolar very often absent. 

 Cheek-teeth generally small and rounded, with a distinct interval 

 between them, but formed generally on the same pattern as 

 Paradoxurus. Vertebrae: C 7, D 14, L 5, S 3, C 34. Body 

 elongated. Head broad behind, with a small pointed face. 

 Whiskers long and numerous. Ears small, rounded, but clothed 

 with a pencil of long hairs. Eyes small. Limbs short. Soles and 

 palms broad, entirely naked. Tail very long and prehensile ; 

 thickly covered with long hair. Fur long and harsh. Caecum 

 extremely small. But one species is known, A. binturong, the 

 Binturong, an inhabitant of Southern Asia from Nipal through the 

 Malay Peninsula to the islands of Sumatra and Java. Although 

 structurally agreeing closely with the Paradoxures, its tufted ears, 

 long, coarse, and dark hair, and prehensile tail give it a very 

 different external appearance. It may be regarded as a very 

 aberrant Paradoxure, connected, so far as dental characters are 

 concerned, with Paradoxurus by means of Ardogale. The bony 

 palate also extends considerably behind the last molar, as in the 

 latter. The Binturong is slow and cautious in its movements, 

 chiefly if not entirely arboreal, and appears to feed on vegetable as 

 well as animal substances. 



Nandinia 2 contains one species, N. binotafa, a somewhat 

 aberrant Paradoxure, from West Africa. It is rather smaller than 

 the true Paradoxures, with smaller and more pointed molar teeth, 

 and no caecum. The wall of the hinder chamber of the auditoiy 

 bulla remains through life unossified. 



The dentition appears to be of a more decidedly carnivorous 

 type than in the other members of the section. 



Cynogale. 3 — This remarkable genus is regarded by Professor 

 Mivart as representing a third section of the Viverrince ; it contains 

 one species, C. bennetti (described by S. Miiller under the name of 

 Potamophilus barbatus), from Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay 

 Peninsula. This is a curious Otter -like modification of the 

 Viverrine type, having semi-aquatic habits, both swimming in the 

 water and climbing trees, living upon fish, Crustacea, small 

 mammals, birds, and fruit. The number and general arrangement 

 of its teeth are as in Paradoxurus, but the premolars are j^eculiarly 

 elongated, compressed, pointed and recurved, somewhat as in the 

 Seals, though the molars are tuberculated. The head is elongated, 



1 Temminck, Prospectus dc Monographics des Mammiftres, March 1824 ; 

 Monographics, vol. i. p. xxi. (1827). 



2 Gray, List of Mamm. Brit. Mus. p. 54 (1843). 



3 Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1836, p. 88. 



