58 Xotices rcapecting Ne-Ji Books. 



in the absence of the anal follicuhis, or pouch. Of this I am 

 enabled to judge, by the complete absence of all odour during 

 ■the period I had it in confinement. The Viverrine animals 

 hitherto knovvn, and particularly the Mangusta javanica^ have 

 long, naked, horny claws, which, although defined semi-re- 

 tractile, and semi-vaginate, possess this property in a very 

 slight degree, and are more properly fitted for burrowing in 

 the earth, which many of them, and particularly the Man- 

 gusUe, perform with great dexterity. They have, without ex- 

 ception, either simple follicules, gradually larger in size in the 

 successive genera, according to the order in which they have 

 been enumerated, or an extensive anal pouch or sack. Their 

 tail is in a greater or less degree acuminated, which contri- 

 butes, with their other characters, to give them a physiognomy 

 essentially different from that of Feline animals. 



" From these details it appears, that although the Felis gra- 

 cilis agrees with the Mangusta javanica in the structure of the 

 grinders, particularly of those in the lower jaw, it is in other 

 respects entirely different, as well from this animal, as from 

 Viverrine animals generally ; while, with a slight modification 

 of characters, it agrees with the Feline animals hitherto known, 

 particularly in the general physiognomy, in the structure and 

 disposition of the feet and claws, in the absence of an anal 

 pouch, in a cylindrical tail, and even in the external marks on 

 the skin. We have thus an agreement in one character, or 

 a relation of analogy, while in the aggregate of the other 

 characters, which should regulate us in the classification of 

 the animal, we have an indication of its relations of affinity. 



" When I examined the Fclis gracilis, preparatory to the de- 

 scription which has been given in the first number of the 

 Zoological Researches, these different relations occasioned me 

 some perplexity. After carefully balancing its characters, and 

 exhibiting a tabular view of the genera Felis and Vivcrra, as de- 

 fined by lUiger, to show at one view its relations to both these 

 genera, I finally detern}ined, by a preponderance of what ap- 

 peared to me its natural character, to associate it with the 

 genus Felis. This indeed appeared to me more a family than 

 a genus; but the peculiarities of the Fclis gracilis made it ne- 

 cessary to construct and define a distinct section, for which 

 I proposed the name of Prionodontidcc. When I discovered 

 the Felis gracilis in the forests of Blambangan, before I had 

 considered the numerous subdivisions which the genus Vivcrra, 

 as employed by Gmelin, requires, I included it in that genus 

 in a catalogue of Mammalia, which I forwarded to England 

 in the year 1812; but a more careful examination has con- 

 vinced 



