668 THE CARNIVORES 



begin to feel faint and retire from the room. Our hero begins to notice that there is 

 something wrong, and presently discovers its cause ; he, unhappily, has been the 

 last person to remark that familiar but most abominable odor, rising like a deadly 

 exhalation from the floor, conquering all other odors, and every moment becoming 

 more powerful. A drop has touched his shoe after all." 



Fossil remains of skunks belonging to the same genus as the species 

 still inhabiting the country are met with in the caverns of L,agoa Santa 

 in Brazil, where they are accompanied by those of a number of other animals of 

 totally extinct types. 



THE CAPE POLECAT 

 Genus Ictonyx 



As will be apparent from a glance at our illustration, the South- African animal, 

 commonly known as the Cape polecat {Ictonyx zorilla), is so like a small skunk in 

 coloration and general appearance that it might well be taken for a member of the 

 same group. Although the number of the teeth in the present animal is the same as 

 in the skunks, the teeth themselves are relatively smaller than in the latter, with 

 smaller cusps, and are thus more like those of the polecat, between which and the 

 skunks the Cape polecat appears to form a kind of connecting link. A skull of the 

 present animal may be readily distinguished from that of a skunk by the upper 

 molar tooth being smaller, instead of larger, than the flesh-tooth. 



In size the Cape polecat agrees approximately with the true polecat, and has a 

 somewhat similarly-shaped body, and proportionately-short limbs. The head is 

 broad, and the muzzle long and sharp, while the ears are very small and rounded. 

 The tail is comparatively long and bushy, and about three-quarters the length of 

 the head and body ; and the whole of the fur is relatively long and thick. The 

 ground color of the fur is a glossy black, marked with a variable number of white 

 stripes and spots. Frequently, as in our illustration, there is a white spot between 

 the eyes, and another over each of the latter; but sometimes all the three are united. 

 The hinder part of the head is frequently white, and from this white area there 

 are given off pure white stripes (separated by three narrow black ones), which 

 unite near the tail ; the upper part of the latter being alsq mostly white. In 

 other cases, however, the whole of the hinder parts of the head, the neck, and the 

 anterior portion of the back are white. 



The Cape polecat ranges from the Cape to Senegal; but in Sennaar 



and Egypt it is replaced by another nearly-allied species (I.frenatd). 

 It is probably the latter which, according to Brehm, ranges across the Isthmus of 

 Suez into Asia Minor, and the neighborhood of Constantinople. 



These animals frequent rocky districts, hiding either in the clefts of 



rocks, or among bushes and trees, and are purely nocturnal. They 

 feed on mice and other small Mammals, birds and their eggs, and lizards and frogs; 

 and in inhabited districts they destroy poultry. In their general habits they are 

 unlike the martens and polecats, being unable to climb, and only taking to the 



