Game Animals of India, etc. 



animals from the Felicia^ forming the related family 

 Viverrid^. Civets, in place of the short, " smug " 

 faces of the cats, have long, sharply pointed muzzles, 

 which implies the possession of a larger series of teeth. 

 And not only are the teeth of the members of the civet 

 tribe more numerous than those of the cats, but they 

 are likewise different in structure, being less completely 

 adapted for rending flesh. 



The civets of the genus Viverra^ which with the 

 exception of the fossa {Crypto-procta) of Madagascar, 

 include the largest representatives of the family to 

 which they belong, are distinguished by the grooved 

 upper lip, the long, ringed tail, the absence of tufts on 

 the ears, the black gorget on the throat, the long and 

 loose character of the fur, which is generally elongated 

 into a kind of crest down the back, and the short and 

 partially retractile claws. They walk on the tips of 

 their toes, and, with the exception of the " pads," the 

 sole of the foot is hairy. These animals are furnished 

 with a pouch in the groin which secretes the strong 

 perfume from which they derive their name (or which 

 derives its name from them). 



The present species, also known as the large Indian 

 civet, is larger than the other members of the group 

 inhabiting the country, the length of the head and 

 body being about 32 inches, and that of the tail 

 8 inches. Its most distinctive feature is the banding 

 of the whole length of the tail by alternate dark and 

 light rings. The general colour is dark hoary grey, 

 frequently with a more or less decided brownish or 

 reddish tinge, the sides of the body being often uni- 

 formly coloured, but in other instances marked with 

 transverse cloudy dark bars ; the crest, like the gorget 

 on the throat, is black, but the front and sides of the 

 throat, as well as the chest, are white. Not unfre- 

 quently there is a dusky band above and another below 

 the gorget, and when the second of these is developed, 

 it joins a horizontal streak running from behind the 



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