82 



CARNIVORES. 



Distribution. 



muzzle, together with the under-parts of the head, body, and tail, and the entire 

 limbs, are black ; while the upper portion of the head, body, and fore-half of the 

 tail are whitish grey. 



The skulls of the ratels may be distinguished by the small number of the 

 large and powerful teeth. The total number is only 32, there being but three 

 pairs of premolar teeth in each jaw, and no tubercular 

 molar in the lower jaw behind the flesh-tooth. The upper 

 teeth, as shown in the figure of the palate of a fossil 

 species, are characterised by the molar (m) being very 

 narrow from front to back, and of the characteristic 

 musteline dumb-bell-shape ; and also by the flesh-tooth, or 

 fourth premolar (p.4), being larger than the molar, with 

 the tubercle on the inner side placed near the front edge. 

 Moreover, in the lower jaw, the flesh-tooth has a very 

 minute heel at its hinder end. The ratels may be com- 

 pared in size to a badger, the length of the head and body 

 of the Indian species varying from about 26 to 32 inches, and 

 that of the tail, inclusive of the hair, from 6 to 6.1 inches. 

 The Indian ratel (Mellivora indica) is 

 found from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, 

 but is unknown in Ceylon or to the eastwards of the Bay 

 of Bengal. The African species {M. ratel) occurs through- 

 out Africa, but more especially in the southern and western 

 parts of the continent. Mr. Blanford has some doubts as 

 to whether the African and Indian ratels are really entitled 

 to be regarded as distinct species ; but the former, as shown 

 in our illustration on page 81, is distinguished by the 

 presence of a well-marked white line dividing the dark area of the under-parts 

 from the grey of the back. 



Both species are strictly nocturnal in their habits, and reside 

 during the day in burrows, which are probably excavated by them- 

 selves. The Indian species is most commonly met with in hilly regions, or along 

 the high-scarped banks of the great rivers, which afford good situations in which 

 to construct its burrows. Ratels generally go about in pairs, and feed on rats, 

 birds, frogs, insects, and honey ; while in cultivated districts they commit frequent 

 raids on poultry. The accusation of digging up corpses from graveyards, which 

 has earned for the Indian species the name of " Gravedigger " among Anglo-Indians, 

 is, according to Mr. Blanford, probably unfounded. The African species exhibits 

 a very strongly-marked taste for honey, together with the larvse of bees in the 

 combs ; digging out the latter from hollow trees by the aid of its powerful front 

 claws. The account given by Sparrmann of the ratel's mode of operations when 

 about to attack a bees' nest is not, however, to be wholly relied upon, since it is 

 largely drawn from native sources of information. 



In captivity ratels are easily tamed, and frequently exhibit a peculiar habit 

 of turning complete somersaults each time they walk up and down the cages in 

 which they are confined. 



THE KIGHT HALF OF THS 

 PALATE OF THE FOSSIL 

 INDIAN RATEL. 



m. molar tooth ; pA, fourth 

 premolar, or flesh -tooth ; c. 

 canine tooth, or tusk (broken). 



Habits. 



