THE SENEGAL GENET 29 



Emin Pasha in 1887, were the skins of a female 

 G. tigrina and her young one, the latter being one 

 of three which had been found in a nest at Lado, 

 on the Upper Nile. The following notes refer to 

 a very fine male sent to Liverpool in 1901. 



During the day-time the animal remained more 

 or less drowsy, and slept coiled up in his travelling 

 box, but awoke at twilight, when he came out, 

 and became exceedingly active. Any person 

 observing this species in captivity will be struck 

 with the marvellous activity and lithe, serpentine 

 grace with which it moves, springing like a cat 

 from place to place, or running across the floor 

 like a streak of lightning. Genets have a curious 

 habit of continually bounding to and fro behind 

 the bars of their cage, performing the task with 

 clock-work regularity, like wound-up automata. 1 

 In the living animal the head has a remarkably 

 deer-like expression, whilst the graceful carriage 

 of the elongated and tapering tail adds consider- 

 ably to the creature's elegant appearance. The 

 movements of a genet are as noiseless as those of 

 a cat, and are due to the same cause, since in both 

 animals each toe is padded underneath, whilst the 

 sole of the foot is also provided with a similar 

 though larger cushion. Not only is the genet 

 noiseless in its movements, but the individual here 



1 The fine example now living in the small Cats' House at the 

 London Zoological Gardens, affords a good illustration of this- 

 peculiarity. 



