212 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 
lines; a long black streak from ear to shoulder, and some transverse 
lines on the sides of the neck. Abdomen nearly spotless ; feet and 
part of legs dusky-brown ; tail long and tapering, marked with eight or 
nine black rings. 
S1zeE.—Head and body, 22 to 24 inches; tail, 16 to 17 inches. 
According to Jerdon, ‘it lives in holes in the ground or in banks, 
occasionally under rocks or in dense thickets, now and then taking 
shelter in drains and out-houses.” Hodgson says: ‘These animals 
dwell in forests or detached woods and copses, whence they wander 
freely into the open country by day (occasionally at least) as well as by 
night. They are solitary and single wanderers, even the pair seldom being 
seen together, and they feed promiscuously upon small animals, birds’ 
eggs, snakes, frogs, insects, besides some fruits or roots. In the Terai 
a low caste of woodmen, called Mushahirs, eat the flesh.” Mr. Swinhoe 
affirms that the Chinese also eat its flesh, and adds: ‘“ but a portion that 
I had cooked was so affected with the civet odour that I could not 
palate it.” The fur is valued in China as a lining for coats, and is 
bought by those who cannot afford the more expensive skins. Jerdon 
had one which was perfectly tame ; it caught rats and squirrels at times, 
as also sparrows and other birds. It is kept alive by the natives in 
India and Ceylon for the sake of the secretion. Kellaart says it is a 
great destroyer of poultry, and that it will enter a yard in daylight and 
carry off a fowl or a duck. It is much dreaded by the Chinese for the 
havoc it commits in the hen-roost. 
GENUS PRIONODON. 
Between the last genus and this should come the Gevefs, which are 
not found in India, but chiefly in Africa, and one species is common in 
the south of Europe, where in some parts it is domesticated for the 
purpose of catching mice. It has rudimentary pouches only, which 
do not yield the musky secretion of the civets. The Linsang or 
Prionodon is a very cat-like animal, which was once classed with the 
Felidz ; the body is long and slender; the limbs very short ; fur soft, 
close and erect, very richly coloured and spotted with black; the 
grinders are tubercular; claws retractile; soles furred; tail long, 
cylindrical, and ringed with black ; no sub-caudal pouch. The female 
has two pectoral and two inguinal mammz. Teeth, 38; molars, >. 
No. 225. PRIONODON PARDICOLOR. 
The Tiger Civet or Linsang ( Jerdon’s No. £22). 
NaTIvE NaME.—Zik-chum, Bhotia; Sudiyu, Lepcha. 
HasiTat.—Nepal, Sikim. 
Lae sede ee 
