70 The Cryptoprocta. 



the cats on one side and from dogs on the other; 

 but, like the cats, its claws are retractile. Bennett 

 describes them as " truly retractile/' but M. Pollen 

 says that they are not so perfectly retractile as 

 those of the cat. In its internal anatomy, Bennett 

 tells us, it nearly approaches the cats. In many 

 respects, again, it resembles the Paradoxures, for 

 example, in the nakedness of the soles of its feet 

 a very noticeable characteristic but it differs 

 from them in that its hair is close, short, and 

 smooth, instead of being soft, loose, and spreading, 

 as is the case with members of that family, and in 

 the fact from which Bennett gave it its generic 

 name. M. Pollen, who enumerates many points 

 in which it both resembles and differs from the 

 Felidce, compares its colour to that of the puma 

 (Felis concolor), a very happy comparison, the 

 animal being a light brownish red. This author, 

 who appears to have had some experience of these 

 animals in their native haunts, tells us that they 

 are called " fossa " by the natives of Mada- 

 gascar, and describes them as being by no means 

 dangerous to man except when wounded or during 

 the breeding season, though the natives appear to 

 have a very wholesome dread of them, and have 

 many curious stories and fables about them. They 

 are said to be terribly destructive massacreurs de 

 premiere classe } is M. Pollen's expression and he 

 relates that one of them in a very short time 

 carried off two turkeys, three geese, and a score 

 of fowls, the owner of which assured him that 



