q 
. 
THE CIVETS, 207 
Although they are approached to a certain degree in these 
respects by the Eyra, the Civets and their allies differ from the 
Cats in the more elongate form of the head and body, the 
sharper muzzle, and the shorter limbs; the skull being also 
elongated and narrowed in conformity with the shape of the 
head. The majority of them have scent-glands situated be- 
neath the tail. In the predominance of spots and stripes on 
the fur, these animals resemble the Cats; a few of them, 
however, have continucus longitudinal stripes on the whole of 
the upper-parts—a feature unknown in the latter,—while the 
peculiar “‘pepper-and-salt” coloration of the typical Mun- 
gooses is likewise a peculiarity. A few forms, such as the 
Fossa and Miller’s Mungoose, have uniformly tawny or reddish 
fur. Unlike the Weasel tribe (AZustelide), the Viverride are of 
no commercial value on account of their pelts ; such furs as 
are used at all selling at very low prices, and being employed 
for common articles. 
The members of the Family do not present that striking 
general similarity so conspicuous among the Cats, and they 
are consequently divided into numerous genera, which may be 
grouped in three Sub-families. Unknown both in Australasia 
and America (so far as can be ascertained, not only at the pre- 
sent day, but likewise in past epochs of the earth’s history), the 
Civets and their allies are confined to the warmer regions 
of Africa, Madagascar, and South-eastern Asia; one species 
extending, however, into Spain, and a second into France. 
Some of the most peculiar and aberrant forms are confined to 
Madagascar ; and it may be noticed that nearly all the species 
from that island pertain to peculiar genera. During the Ter- 
tiary epoch Civet-like animals were extremely abundant in 
Europe in strata antecedent to the Pliocene age, their down- 
ward range extending to the Oligocene period, at which date 
their remains are met with in great numbers in the Quercy 
Phosphorites of Central France. 
