84 MAMMALIA. 



and nearly simple. It is covered with long hair, and has a tuft of it at 

 each ear. The tail is long, hairy, and has a propensity to curl, as if pre- 

 hensile. 



This animal is also one of those from India, for the knowledge of which 

 we are indebted to the late M. du Vaucel. One species is the 



let. albifrons, Fr. Cuv., Ann. des Sc. Nat. IV. pi. 1. Grey; 

 tail and sides of the muzzle black; size that of a large cat. From 

 Bootan. 



let. ater, Fr. Cuv. Mammif. Black; muzzle whitish; size that 

 of a stout dog. From Malacca*. 



NAsuAj.AS'^on-. 

 The Coatis, to the teeth, tail, nocturnal habit, and slow dragging gait of 

 the Raccoon, add a singularly elongated and flexible snout. The feet are 

 semi-palmate, notwithstanding which they climb trees. Their long nails 

 are used for digging. They inhabit the warm climates of America, and 

 their diet is nearly the same as that of the Marten of Europe. 



Viverra nasua, L. ; Buff. VIII, xlviii. (The Red Coati). Red- 

 dish fawn colour; muzzle brown; tail with brown rings. 



Viv. narica, L. ; Buff. VIII, xlviii. (The Brown Coati). Brown, 

 white spots over the eye and snout. 

 This is, perhaps, the only proper place for the singular genus of the 

 KiNKAJOus or Potto, Cuv. — Cercoleptes, Illig. — which, to a planti- 

 grade walk, adds a long prehensile tail, like that of the Sapajous, a short 

 muzzle, a slender and extensible tongue, two pointed grinders before, and 

 three tuberculous ones behind. 



Only one species is known, Viverra caudivolvula, Gm. ; Buff. 

 Supp. III. 4; and better, Fr. Cuv. Mammif. From the warm parts 

 of America, and from some of the great Antilles, where it is called 

 Potto; size of a Polecat; hair woolly, and of a grey or yellowish 

 brown; habits nocturnal, of a mild disposition, and lives on fruit, 

 milk, honey, blood, &c. 



Meles, Storr. 



The Badgers, which Linnaeus placed with the Raccoons, among the Bears, 

 have a very small tooth behind the canine, then two pointed molars, fol- 

 lowed in the upper jaw by one that we begin to recognise as a lacerator, 

 from the trenchant vestige it exhibits on its outer side; behind this is a 

 square tuberculous one, the largest of all. Below, the penultimate begins 

 to shew a resemblance to the inferior carnivorous teeth ; but, as there are 

 two tubercles on its internal border, as elevated as its trenchant edge, it 

 acts as a tuberculous one ; the last below is very small. 



These are animals with a rampant walk and nocturnal habits, like the 

 preceding, whose tail is short, fingers considerably enveloped in the skin, 

 and which are further conspicuously distinguished by a pouch situated be- 

 neath the tail, and from which a greasy and fetid secretion oozes out. 

 Their very elongated fore nails render them exceedingly dexterous in dig- 

 ging the ground. 



M. europoea; Ursus meles, L. ; Buff. VII, vii. (The European 

 r). Greyish above, black beneath, a blackish band on each 



* Add riclide dore, Fred. Cuv. 



