ARCTICTIS. 221 
£. musanga ; it was described from a single specimen. The dorsal 
streaks and spots were absent, but then he says the animal had been 
in confinement, and, as I have said before, this tends to make the dark 
parts disappear. 
GENUS ARCTICTIS. 
This is a very curious animal, which, like the panda and the linsang, 
at first misled naturalists in assigning it a place. It was formerly 
classed with the racoons, which it superficially resembles ; and, as Jerdon 
remarks, it may be considered as a sort of link between the plantigrade 
and digitigrade carnivora. The skeleton however is similar to that of 
the musangs as regards the great number (thirty-four) of the caudal 
vertebrae, but the bones of the feet have a more plantigrade character ; 
the skull resembles that of a badger ; the head is conical, with a large 
brain-case and acute turned-up nose ; the orbit of the skull is imperfect, 
only defined by a prominence above ; the ears are pencilled or tufted ; 
the tail is very long, muscular and prehensile—although this was doubted 
by F. Cuvier, but it is now a well-known fact—and in climbing trees it 
is much assisted by the tail; the teeth are thirty-six in all; canines stout, 
upper ones long; grinders small and far apart; of the false grinders, 
the first and second are conical, the third compressed ; the flesh-tooth 
is triangular, and as broad as long; the tubercular grinders are smaller 
than the flesh-tooth, the first triangular, the hinder cylindrical and 
smaller still ; toes five in each foot, with powerful semi-retractile claws. 
No. 235. ARCTICTIS BINTURONG. 
The Binturong (Jerdon’s No. 126). 
Hasirar.—Assam, Nepal, Simla hills, also Tenasserim, Arakan, and 
the Malayan countries. 
Description. —Long body, short legs, long prehensile tail, very thick 
at the base, and gradually tapering to a point, clad with very long 
bristling hair; the hair of the body very coarse; general colour, deep: 
black, with a white border to the ears, a few brown hairs on the head 
and anterior surface of fore-legs. Some of the Malayan specimens are 
slightly sprinkled with brown, and have the head, face, and throat 
grizzled. It has a large sub-caudal gland, secreting an oily fluid. 
S1ze.—Head and body 28 to 30 inches; tail about the same. Jerdon 
gives 28 to 33 iuches; tail 26 to 27 inches. 
According to Jerdon it is nocturnal, arboreal, and omnivorous, eating 
small animals, birds, insects, fruit and plants; more wild than viverrine 
animals in general, but easily tamed. Its howl is loud. In an illustra- 
