THE INDIAN CIVET. 2 I I 



family, and have comparatively short, stout, and somewhat 

 compressed bodies, and the limbs relatively longer than in 

 some of the allied genera. They are all highly odoriferous ; 

 one of their secretions being employed in perfumery. Mainly 

 an Oriental group, they are represented only by a single species 

 in Africa. 



I. THE AFRICAN CIVET. VIVERRA CIVETTA. ! 



Viverra civetta, Schreber, Saugethiere, vol. iii. pi. cxi. (1778) ; 



Gray, Cat. Carniv. Mamm. Brit. Mus. p. 46 (1869). 

 ? Viverra poortmanni^ Pucheran, Rev. Mag. Zool. vol. vii. p. 



154 (1853). 

 Viverra orientalis, Matschie, Mittheil. deutsch. Schutzgebieten, 



vol. vi. pt. 3, p. 11 (1893). 



[Plate XX VIL) 



Characters. — Back with a strong erectile crest of black hairs, 

 continued on to the tail; general colour of fur ashy-grey, marked 

 with dark streaks and blotches ; sides of neck marked by two 

 dark streaks, separated by a white one, running backwards 

 from the ear, and the black ones meeting to form a gorget 

 under the throat. Tail roughly haired, with the rings well 

 defined on the basal half, but the terminal half almost uni- 

 formly black. Lower part of limbs uniformly dark. 



Distribution.— Africa ; apparently distributed widely over the 

 tropical portions of the continent, having been recorded from 

 Abyssinia, Fernando Po, Guinea, and the Gaboon, but seems 

 unknown in the south, not even being recorded from Nyasaland. 



Habits. — So far as known, a non-arboreal species, this Civet 

 probably agrees closely in habits with its Indian ally, and, 

 therefore, need not be further noticed. 



II. THE INDIAN CIVET. VIVERRA ZIBETHA. 



Viverra zibetha, Linn., Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 65 (1766); 

 Blanford, Mamm Brit, India, p. 208 (1888). 



p 2 



