403 



PREHENSILE WEESEL. 



Viverra Caudivolvula. V-Jtava nigro-mixta, cauda unicolore pre- 



hensili. Lin. Syst. Nat. Gmel. p. 91 . 

 Yellow W. shaded with dusky, with prehensile tail. 

 Yellow Macauco. Pennant Synops. Quadr.p. 138. 

 Yellow Wjeesel. Pennant Quadr. 2. p. 59. 

 Le Kinkajou Potot. Bttff". suppl. 3. p. 2$i. pi. $i. 



THIS animal was first described by Mr. Pen- 

 nant in his Synopsis of Quadrupeds, under the 

 name of the Yellow Macauco, a title which was 

 afterwards changed to that of Yellow Weesel, in 

 which genus it forms a kind of anomalous species, 

 having a prehensile tail. It is nineteen inches in 

 length from the nose to the tail, which is seven- 

 teen inches long. The nose is short and dusky; 

 the eyes small; the ears short, broad, and flap- 

 ping, and placed at a great distance from each 

 other : the head flat and broad ; the cheeks swell- 

 ing out; the tongue very long: the legs and 

 thighs short and thick; with five toes to each 

 foot; claws large, slightly hooked, and flesh-co- 

 loured. Its colour yellow, shaded with dusky. 

 A blackish or dusky list runs down the back from 

 head to tail, and a similar one half way down the 

 belly. This animal is of gentle manners, active 

 and playful, and hangs by its tail occasionally, in 

 the manner of the prehensile-tailed Monkies. It 

 is supposed to be a native of Jamaica. 



