94 YIVERRIDJE. 



instance of this animal being speared, and states that the hunting 

 leopard, although at first it far outpaced the horse, was easily 

 caught, and tried to hide in a bush, out of which it was put and 

 speared easily. 



Family VIVERRID.E. 



The second family of the J^luroidea contains the civets, para- 

 doxures or tree-civets, ichneumons or mangooses, and their allies, a 

 much more diversified assemblage than the Felidce. In the Viver- 

 ridce the head and body are more elongate, the muzzle more pro- 

 duced, the limbs shorter in proportion, and the teeth of the molar 

 series more numerous than in the cats. All Indian forms have four 

 premolars on each side above and below, one or two true molars, five 

 toes to each foot, and a long tail. The claws vary in retractility, 

 and so does the extent to which the tarsus and metacarpus are clad 

 with hair beneath, this again depending upon the circumstance that 

 some types, like Viverra and Prionodon, are truly digitigrade, whilst 

 others, as Arctictis and Paradoxurus, are more or less plantigrade. 

 Many of the genera have peculiar anal and preanal glands, the 

 secretion from which is highly odoriferous. 



The auditory bulla is externally constricted and internally 

 divided by a septum, which is conspicuous from the meatus. An 

 alisphenoid canal is present, except in Viverricula. 



Further details of the anatomy will be found in Prof. Mivart's 

 papers already quoted (P. Z. S. 1882, pp. 145, 459). 



No representatives of this family exist in America or Australia, 

 all being confined to the warmer parts of the Old World, and 

 chiefly to Africa, Madagascar, and South-eastern Asia, one species 

 extending into Spain. 



The Viverridce are variously divided by different authors. In 

 the system here followed they comprise ' three subfamilies, one of 

 which, Cryptoproctince, by some considered a distinct family, con- 

 sists of a single species peculiar to Madagascar. The other two 

 are represented in India, and are thus distinguished : 



A. Claws strongly curved and more or less retrac- 



tile. Auditory bulla oval or subconical, broad 

 and truncated behind, narrow in front. Apex 

 of paroccipital process in general projecting 

 slightly beyond the bulla; prescrotal glands 

 generally present Viverrina?. 



B. Claws lengthened, exserted, not retractile. Audi- 



tory bulla somewhat pear-shaped. Paroccipital 

 process not projecting beyond bulla, but spread 

 out, and in adults lost on its posterior surface. 

 No prescrotal glands Berpest'mce. 



