The Cryptoprocta. 69 



has only a scientific name or, rather, that it 

 possesses no English name goes far to prove 

 its rarity. It has the further distinction of being 

 the only known member of its family. Of the few 

 specimens obtained, the first known to science was 

 presented to the Zoological Society so long ago as 

 1833 by Mr. Telfair, a corresponding member of 

 the Society and President of the Mauritius Natural 

 History Society, and was described by Mr. Bennett 

 in Vol. 1 of the "Transactions of the Zoological 

 Society." This animal, however, did not reach 

 England alive. The donor stated that he received 

 it from the interior of the southern part of Mada- 

 gascar, but that he had not seen in Mauritius any 

 of the Madagascar people who were acquainted 

 with it. He kept it for some months, and 

 described it as the most savage creature of its 

 size that he ever met with. Its motions and power 

 and activity were those of a tiger, and it had the 

 same appetite for blood and destruction of animal 

 life. Its muscular force was very great, and the 

 muscles of its limbs were remarkably full and 

 thick. Since that time M. Pollen, one of the 

 joint authors of Schlegel and Pollen's " Faune 

 de Madagascar," has added considerably to our 

 knowledge of this little-known animal. Crypto- 

 procta appears to form a connecting link between 

 the civets (Viverridce) and the cats (Felidce), having, 

 according to Bennett, the prickly tongue, the two 

 tubercular molar teeth in the upper jaw, and other 

 characteristics which distinguish the civets from 



