484 ZOOLOGY. 



terminated by long curved nails. Some species, instead of a glandular 

 l^ouch, have a simple fold beneath the tail. The habits are nocturnal. 

 Four species of this genus are known : the wolverine or glutton {Oulo Ivscus) 

 existing in the arctic regions of both hemispheres, another in Africa, and 

 two in tropical America. 



" This animal," says Buffon, who kept one alive for several months, " is 

 pretty wild ; he avoids water, and dreads horses, and men dressed in black. 

 He moves by a kind of leap, and eats pretty voraciously. After taking a 

 full meal, he covers himself in the cage with straw. When drinking he 

 laps like a dog. He utters no cry. After drinking he throws the remainder 

 of the water on his belly with his paws. He is almost perpetually in motion. 

 If allowed he would devour more than four pounds of flesh in a day ; he 

 eats no bread, and devours his food so voraciously, and almost without 

 chewing, that he is apt to choke himself." 



The French name of Olouton is an allusion to its avidity in swallowing 

 its food. 



There is one fossil species of the genus Gulo from central Europe, and 

 another from the Brazilian caverns, if it belongs not to another genus. 



The genus Taxotherium is extinct, and contains but one species from the 

 tertiary basin of Paris. It belongs undoubtedly _to this family, and comes 

 perhaps nearer to Procyon than to any other genus. 



The genus jRatelus (the ratel) approaches the cats by its teeth, while its 

 whole exterior is that of the grison or badger. The legs are short, five toes 

 to each, and the nails very strong. One species, of the size of the badger, 

 inhabits the Cape of Good Hope, where it digs up the earth with its long 

 claws in search of the honeycomb of the wild bees. 



Fam. 3. Cercoleptid^e. Composed only of one species, known by the 

 name of potto in tropical America and the "West Indies. It constitutes the 

 genus Cercoleptes, which gave its name to the family. It has, according to 

 Cuvier, a plantigrade walk, and possesses a prehensile tail. It climbs, like a 

 lemur, with agility, is nocturnal in its habits, and feeds also on some vege- 

 table substances, and we are told by Humboldt that it is fond of the honey 

 of wild bees. It has puzzled all the systematic writers. 



Fossil remains found in France, described under the name of Palcecyon, 

 seem to belong to this family, or rather the Procyonidse, if the present one 

 is a mere deviation from the latter. The only species known had been pre- 

 viously named Arctocyon primcevus. 



Again, in the Brazilian caverns, there are remains found which bear the 

 same relation to this tribe as the preceding genus. The genus Amphicyon 

 has been proposed for them. It contains several species. 



Tribe 2. Digitigrada. 



The animals of this group, instead of placing the whole of the foot on the 

 ground, walk on the ends of their toes. None of them pass the winter in a 

 torpid state. 



Fam. 1. MusTELiDJi. The body is long and vermiform, with short 

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