VIVERRA. 209 
S1zE.—Head and body, 33 to 36 inches ; tail 13 to 20. 
“This animal frequents brushwood and grass, and the thorny scrub 
that usually covers the bunds of tanks. It is very carnivorous and 
destructive to poultry, game, &c., but will also, it is said, eat fish, crabs 
and insects. It breeds in May and June, and has usually four or five 
young. Hounds, and indeed all dogs, are greatly excited by the scent 
of this civet, and will leave any other scent for it. It will readily take 
to water if hard pressed.”—/erdon. 
The drug civet is usually collected from the glands of this and other 
species, which are confined for the purpose in cages in which they can 
hardly turn round, and it is scraped from the pouch with a spoon. 
Sometimes the animal rubs off the secretion on the walls and bars of 
its cage, which are then scraped ; but the highest price is given for the 
pouch cut from the civet when killed. In the London Zoological 
Gardens the collection of the perfume, which is rubbed off against the 
walls of the cage, is a valued perquisite of the keeper. Cuvier says of 
a civet which was kept in captivity in Paris: “Its musky odour was 
always perceptible, but stronger than usual when the animal was irritated ; 
at such times little lumps of odoriferous matter fell from its pouch. 
These masses were also produced when the animal was left to itself, but 
only at intervals of fifteen to twenty days.” 
No. 222. VIVERRA CIVETTINA. 
The Malabar Civet-Cat (Jerdon’s No. 120). 
Hapitat.—Throughout the Malabar coast, abundant in Travancore, 
and found occasionally in the uplands of Wynaad and Coorg. 
DescriPTion.—Hair long, coarse, and of a dusky or brownish-grey, 
and marked with interrupted transverse bands or spots in rows, two 
obliquely transverse black lines on the neck; the snout, throat, and 
neck are white ; the tail tinged with black. From the shoulders along 
the back a mane or crest of lengthened hair. 
SizE.—Same as last species. 
This species closely resembles the African civet—only that in the latter 
the mane begins on the occiput. Jerdon supposes that it may be found 
in Ceylon, but it is not mentioned by Kellaart. It is found chiefly in 
forests and richly-wooded lowlands, and is stated to be very destructive 
to poultry. The young may, however, be reared on farinaceous food, 
with the addition of a little fish and raw meat ; when older on flesh alone. 
No. 223. VIVERRA MEGASPILA. 
NaTive NamMe.—X/young-myen. 
Hasirat.—Burmah, also Malayan peninsula and archipelago (?) 
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