HONEY WEESEL. 39-5 



colours being separated along the whole length 

 of the animal, from the base of the nose to the 

 tail, by a stripe of black and white: the ears are 

 scarce visible: the tail rather thick; the legs 

 short, and the head large; the snout short and 

 somewhat pointed : the body seems of a thicker 

 form than is usual in this genus. 



This animal, when pursued, ejects a fetid liquid 

 accompanied by a smell as insufferable as that of 

 some of the American Weesels or Skunks, and 

 productive of the same effects. 



HONEY WEESEL. 



Viverra Mellivora. V. dorso cinereo, fascia laterali nigra, abdo- 

 mine nigro, unguibus longis subtus cavis, fossoriis. Lin. Syst. 

 Nat. Gmel.p. 91. 



W. with cinereous back, with a black lateral band } the abdomen 

 black ; the claws long and formed for burrowing. 



Ratel. Sparrm. act. Stockh. ifjj.t. ^.f. 3. 



THIS, according to Dr. Sparrman, feeds prin- 

 cipally on the honey of wild bees about the Cape 

 of Good Hope, which it finds in the holes of Jer- 

 boas, Rabbits, and other animals, as well as in hol- 

 low trees. To this, its most acceptable food, it 

 is guided, as Dr. Sparrman tells us, by a bird 

 called the Honey-Guide (Cuculus Indicator), 

 which utters a shrill note whenever it discovers 

 bees, on which it preys. This account of Sparr- 

 man's is greatly ridiculed by Mr. Bruce in his 

 Abyssinian travels. The Honey Weesel has a 



