MAMMALS VIVERRIDAE BASSARIS ASTUTA. 147 



BASSARIS, Licht. 



Bassaris, (LicHT.) WAGLER, Isis, 1831, 512. 

 LICHT. Darstellung Saugt. 1827-34. 



Head short, acuminate; ears large; feet digitigrade, five-toed; soles hairy, with naked pads; tail as long as the body, 

 annulated. 



This genus, confined to Mexico, and the more southern parts of the United States, is the sole 

 representative in the new world of the genets, civets, ichneumons, mangoustes, suricates, &c., 

 of the old. The hody is slender and elongated, the muzzle pointed, the ears projecting, the 

 tail long, and ringed with black and white. The claws are half retractile, five on each foot. 



The skull is intermediate in form between that of the martens and the civet cats, and like 

 them exhibits only an indication of the post-orbital process of the frontal bone. 



The dental formula is as in the typical Viverridae, but differ from that of Viverra, in having 

 the inner process of the upper sectorial tooth much more developed, and reaching to the middle 

 of the tooth ; the anterior lobe of the lower sectorial shorter than the two middle. 



It is as yet uncertain whether America possesses one or two species of Bassaris, further inves 

 tigation being necessary to determine the character of the California species. They are found 

 as far north as Bed River, Arkansas, on the eastern slope of the continent ; on the western to 

 the latitude of San Francisco ; southward they extend throughout temperate Mexico. They 

 bear in the United States the name of civet, Mexican, or ring-tailed cats, and are frequently 

 tamed in Mexico and California ; in the latter country they are great pets of the miners. 



Very little is known of the internal anatomy of the genus, or as to the precise measure of 

 their relationships to the other Viverridae. They have at least four young at a birth, this being 

 the number of a litter found by Mr. Clark on the San Pedro, Texas. 



BASSARIS ASTUTA, Licht. 



Civet Cat. 



Bassaris astuta, (" LICHTENSTEIN,") WAGLER, Neue Thiere Mexicos, in Isis, XXIV, 1831, 512, 513. 



LICHTENSTEIN, Darst. Saugt. 1827-34 ; tab. xliii. 



WAGNER, in plates of Schreber, Siugt. Ill; pi. cxxv, C. IB. Suppl. Schreb. II, 1841, 278. 



CHARLESWORTH, Pr. Zool. Sue. Lond. IX, 1841, 60. (Habits.) 



EYDOUX & SOUI.EYET, Voy. de la Bonite, Zool. I, 1841, 18; pi. iv. (Skull.) 



AUD. &. BACH. N. A. Quad. II, 1851, 314 ; pi. xcviii. 

 Cacamiztli and Tepe maxlaton, HERN. Thes. 



LICHT. Abh. Berl. Akad. Ib27, 89. 



SP. CH. Size about that of the domestic cat, but rather more slender. Above, brownish yellow, mixed with gray ; beneath, 

 white ; tail white, with six or eight black rings. 



No specimens of this species were collected by any of the expeditions, although several were 

 brought in by the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, in the reports of which a full 

 description will be found. 



Only one authenticated skin, (No. 2343,) has been received from California ; this is a hunter's 

 skin, not sufficiently perfect to furnish a full description. 



