OTHER VIVERRIM; 



series is a matter of some dispute. There is no doubt, 

 of course, that it belongs the the Aeluroid or cat-like 

 division of that tribe ; but there are those who dwell 

 upon its civet-like features, while others urge its greater 

 likeness to the true cats of the family Felidae. A third 

 opinion remains, which is that Cryptoprocta is a slightly 

 altered descendant of the creodonta, an extinct race 

 of carnivorous mammals from which possibly all the 

 existing groups have been derived. The fossa has the 

 retractible claws of the cats, coupled with an almost 

 plantigrade gait ; the latter quality, of course, not cat- 

 like, but a point of resemblance to the Viverridae, or 

 civets. The tawny colour of the Cryptoprocta cannot 

 be put down, like that of the lion, to a fondness for a 

 desert environment. And cases like this raise a doubt 

 as to how far colour in such instances is the result of an 

 adaptation to natural surroundings. Apparently no- 

 thing is known of the new-born young of the Crypto- 

 procta. It will be noticed that the fossa has the normal 

 number of five toes upon each limb, and that it has the 

 elongated muzzle of the viverrines, and not the shortened 

 face of the much modified cats. 



THE MUNGOOSE 



The mungoose (the name is a corruption of a " native " 

 word, and has of course nothing to do with " goose ") 

 is rather interesting on account of what it does than 

 what it is. It is, as a matter of fact, one of the Viver- 

 ridae, or civets, the apparently more archaic relations 

 of the cats. It has the primitive character that many 

 of the viverrids have of five toes on each hand and foot. 

 The feet are moreover plantigrade and the claws are not 

 retractile into sheaths as they are in all true cats, belong- 

 ing, that is to say, to the genus Felis. The colour is 

 usually a speckled "pepper and salt"; but the hues 

 vary according to the species, of which this genus 



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