228 CAKNIVORA. 



U) the luibits, nocturnal or diurnal, ol the animal ; their sense of hearing 

 is less developed. 



All species of this family arc intelligent and docile, and express by 

 their movements gratitiulc for kindness ; even the wildest varieties soon 

 become tame, and learn to answer to tiieir name. 



The great variety of form in the \'iverrida^ lias led to numerous 

 systems of classilication ; older writers arc content witli eight genera, 

 but Gray, who has made an exhaustive studv ol tin- lamilv, subdivides it 

 into tliirty-tlircc genera, and one luiiulrcd species. Of these we shall men- 

 tion only the most important. 



GENUS VIVERRA. 



The members of this genus have a long slender body, a long drooping 

 tail, pretty long legs, feet of five toes with half retractile claws, and hairy 

 soles; short broad ears, moderately large eyes with a round ]iupil and a 

 pointed snout antl nose; tiie solt hir and llie higlilv di'\i'ioi)i'(l odorifer- 

 ous glands complete the ciiaracteristics of tiic genus. It is distributed 

 over North and Tropical Africa, and Southern Asia, as far as the Molucca 

 Islands. According to Gray's classification it contains three species. 



THE CIVET AND THE ZIBETH. 



The CiVKT, Viverrii eivettn, ami the ZiniCTll, Jlverrn zihetlia (Plate 

 XII), are remarkably alike. The Civet has transverse bands upon a gray 

 ground, narrow and parallel with each otiier on the shoulders, larger on 

 the body and the thighs, while the Zibeth has the body covered with 

 small round black spots upon a gray ground, sometimes tinted with 

 brown. The tail of tiie Zibeth has eight or ten rings of a blackish-brown 

 witii about two inches of black fur at the tip ; that of the Civet has only 

 four or five rings with six inches of black tip. The Zibeth has four black 

 bands on a white ground on the neck, the Civet in the same place, only 

 three; the Zibeth has a white sjiot under tlie eye and a gray muzzle, the 

 Civet has no sjiot under the eve. ami the head is entirely black except 

 the upper lip, which is white; in general tlie Zibeth h;»s more brown than 

 the Ci\et, whose tints are pure white, w liilc llic Civet has a rougher coat 

 than the Zibeth. Tiu' wortls Ci\et and Zibeth are both European pro- 



!i 



