PRIONODON. 213 
DescriptTion.—* Rich orange buff or fulvous, spotted with black ; 
the neck above with four irregular lines ; the body above and on the 
sides with large, entire elliptic or squarish marks, eight in transverse, 
and seven in longitudinal series, diminishing in size on the dorsal ridge, 
which has an interrupted dark line, and extending outside the limbs 
to the digits; below entirely unspotted ; tail with eight or nine nearly 
perfect and equal rings” (/erdon). “Skull elongate ; nose rather short, 
compressed ; brain-case narrow in front, swollen over the ears, and 
contracted and produced behind ; orbits, not defined behind, confluent 
with the temporal cavity ; zygomatic arch slender; palate contracted 
behind” (Gray). Jerdon’s description is a very good one, but it must 
not be taken as an accurate one, spot for spot, for the animal varies 
somewhat in colour. ‘Take, for instance, a description from Gray : 
“Pale whitish grey; back of neck and shoulders with ¢#ree streaks 
diverging from the vertebral line ; back with two series of large square 
spots; the shoulders, sides, and legs with round black spots; an 
elongated spot on the middle of the front part of the back, between the 
square spots on the sides of the body.” 
SizE.—Head and body, 16 inches; tail, 14 inches; height, 6 
inches. 
Our Indian animal is closely allied to the Malayan species, which was 
first described as Feéis and afterwards Prionodon gracilis. It is men- 
tioned in the English translation of Cuvier as the delundung, “a rare 
Javanese animal, of which there is only one species,” but another was 
subsequently found by Mr. Hodgson in Nepal, and now a third has 
been discovered in Tenasserim. They are beautiful little creatures, with 
all the agility of cats, climbing and springing from branch to branch in 
pursuit of small mammals and birds, and I have no doubt it is a great 
enemy of the Zupaie and squirrels. It breeds in the hollows of trees. 
It is capable of being tamed, and according to several authors becomes 
very gentle and fond of being noticed. 
Hodgson says it never utters any kind of sound. He fed his on raw 
meat. 
No. 226. PRIONODON MACULOSUS. 
The Spotted Linsang. 
Hapiratr.—Tenasserim. 
Description.—“ Upper part brownish-black, broken up by greyish- 
white bands, lower parts white; tail brownish-black, with seven white 
rings ; tips whitish ; two broad black bands run down each side of the 
upper part of the neck, between them is a narrow greyish-white band 
with a faint mesial dark streak somewhat interrupted, and passing into 
two bands of elongate spots between the shoulders. The two broad 
dark bands pass into the dark patches on the back; on each side of 
