Chapter LIII. 



A VERY MIXED MENAGERIE. 



China is well supplied with other carnivorous animals 

 besides those of the cat tribe. The civets are common round 

 about Shanghai as also in other districts. Viverra Zibetha, 

 the large civet-cat, is, however, better known in the south.. 

 It reaches a length of over four feet, is yellowish or hoary 

 grey with black stripes and spots, varying considerably in 

 appearance according to its environment. In common with 

 ail its family it is destructive to game, poultry, rabbits, hares, 

 etc. It is from this species that the drug called civet is 

 derived. It is a secretion of the sub-caudal gland, and is so 

 attractive to hunting dogs that they are said to leave any 

 other scent for it. 



The smaller civet-cat, V.Malaccensis, is well known in this 

 neighbourhood. There is a specimen in the Shanghai Museum, 

 presented by Dr. Stanley, which came from the Pootung side. 

 In 1893, Mr. D. M. Henderson after a long chase managed 

 to shoot a male specimen in his garden on the Bubbling Well 

 Road, It weighed 4^ lb. only, but it had recently killed a hare 

 the remains of which were found amongst the bushes. Last 

 year a specimen was seen on the Bubbling Well Road in 

 broad daylight. It made its way into the wooded waste land 

 on the north of the bend near Chang Su Ho's Garden, having 

 probably been chased in the country and driven into the 

 streets. Mr. Wade tells in one place of having seen women 

 busily engaged in skinning these odoriferous animals in- 

 villages On the south bank of the Yangtze, together with- 

 raccoon dogs. The little civet runs to about two feet in 

 length. It is sometimes caught and tamed in India. Ap- 

 parently, there are either two varieties or else a great differ- 

 ence in size in the one, for though the "little civet" has, as 

 above mentioned, an average of about two feet, V. Malaccensis 

 is said by some authorities to attain a length of 40 inches. 



The tiger-civet (Linsan^ pardicolor) is, I think, confin- 

 ed, so far as China is concerned, to the southern provinces. 

 It has a total length of some 30 in., is extremely beautiful, 

 with the manners and climbing power of a cat. Some of the 

 palm-civets also find their way into Yunnan and the south. 



One occasionally hears of the mungoose in this part of 

 China, but, so far as my own experience and reading go, 

 the only mungoose native of China is the crab mungoose. 

 Hei'pestes urva. This is found in South China, where it 

 seems to be partly aquatic in its habits, living largely on 

 molluscs, frogs, etc. It is the proud possessor of two scent 

 glands which have the skunk-like power of forcible emission. 

 Herpestes urva, therefore, is not a species to go into rhapso- 

 dies over. 



