XIII PALM CIVETS 407 
the times of Belon we are told (by him) that Genets were 
common and tame at Constantinople. 
Poiana, containing a single African species, a spotted and 
entirely Genet-lke animal, has been separated as a distinct 
genus. Dr. Mivart, however, holds it to be a Prionodon which 
has acquired a Genet-like tarsus. 
Arctictis, contaiming but one species, A. binturong, the 
Binturong, is in some ways an exceptional form. It is a black 
arboreal creature of not very wide range in the Oriental region, 
with a fully prehensile tail. This feature and its plantigrade 
foot with naked sole have led to its being regarded as more allied 
to the Arctoidea. It is, however, undoubtedly an ally of 
Paradoxurus. The caecum is small, or may be quite absent. 
The dentition is 13 C+ Pm4 M2. The structure of the 
animal has been investigated by Garrod.’ 
The genus Fossa is a Viverrine confined to Madagascar. 
There is but one species, /. daubentoni, the “ Fossane.” It is 
distinguished from Viverra by the presence of two bare spots on 
the under surface of the metatarsus in the hind-limb, and by the 
absence of a scent pouch. The animal is not much spotted and 
striped, but the striping in the young is much more marked. 
Of the genus Paradowurus there are some ten or a dozen species, 
belonging entirely to the Oriental region. The teeth are as in 
Viverra, but occasionally the molars are reduced to one. The 
pupils are vertical. The tail though long is not prehensile, “ but 
the animal appears to have the power of coiling it to some extent, 
and in caged specimens the coiled condition not unfrequently 
becomes confirmed and permanent” (Blanford). This fact 
accounts for the name Paradoxurus; for a prehensile tail is 
hardly to be expected in an animal of the zoological position of 
the Palm Civets, and yet its occasional twisting led originally 
to the view that it was so. The genus has scent glands. The 
dentition is 13 C+ Pm4 Mz. P. niger, the Indian Palm Civet, 
is, like other species, not often to be seen in a wild condition. It 
is arboreal,~and, like other members of the genus, feeds upon a 
mixed diet, consisting of all kinds of small Vertebrata and insects, 
varied by fruit. Another species, P. grayi, is so distinctly vege- 
tarian in its habits that it makes considerable havoc in pine-apple 
beds in the Andaman Islands. 
1 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 196. 
