THE AFRICAN LINSANGS. 225 



wards to Yunan. It is stated to be not uncommon in the inte- 

 rior of Sikhim, where it probably lives at moderate elevations. 

 Habits.— This is the only one of the Linsangs of which we 

 have any information in regard to habits, and even in this case 

 our knowledge is of the scantiest. Hodgson writes that this 

 animal "is equally at home on trees and on the ground. It 

 dwells and breeds in the hollows of decayed trees. It is not 

 gregarious at all, and preys chiefly on small birds, which it is 

 wont to pounce upon from the cover of the grass. The times 

 of breeding are said to be February and August, and the litter 

 to consist of two young, there being two litters each year." A 

 tame female in the possession of the same gentleman is stated 

 to have been " wonderfully docile and tractable, very sensitive 

 to cold, and very fond of being petted." It never uttered any 

 sound, and was fed on raw meat. In the wild state Hodgson 

 suggests that the Linsangs may also eat insects. 



VI. THE AFRICAN LINSANGS. GENUS POIANA. 

 Poiana^ Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 520. 

 The members of this genus, which is represented only by a 

 single African species, and perhaps should not be separated 

 from the last, may be defined as Linsangs with a Genet-like 

 metatarsus ; there being a bald line on the under surface of that 

 segment of the hind-limb, as in the Genets. In all other respects 

 it agrees with Linsanga; and it may be noted that in L. pardicolor 

 there is a narrow upward prolongation of the main pad of the 

 sole of the hind- foot foreshadowing the naked strip of the present 

 genus. 



I. WEST AFRICAN LINSANG. POIANA POENSIS. 



Genetta fioensis, Waterhouse, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1838, p. 59. 

 Genetta richardscmi, Thompson, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. x. 



p. 204 (1842). 

 Linsang ?'ichardsom\ Gerrard, Cat. Bones Mamm. Brit. Mus. 



p. 72 (1862), 



7 Q 



