16 MAMMALIAN GALLERY. 



similar to, the last, of which there are four or five African species, 

 one of them, the Common Genet (G. vulgaris), extending into 

 Europe as far north as Central France. (4) The Palm-Civets 

 (Paradoocurus) , long-bodied, short-limbed animals, with short ears, 

 long powerful hairy tails, naked soles, and semi-retractile claws, 

 common in India and the Malay Archipelago. They are arboreal 

 in their habits, and feed either on rats, lizards, small birds and 

 eggs, or on vegetable food, such as rice and fruit. (5) The 

 Mungooses (Herpestes, &c.) 5 of Africa and India, with naked soles, 

 and long, straight, non-retractile claws. They feed on reptiles and 

 birds, rats and mice, eggs, &c., and are often domesticated for the 

 purpose of clearing houses of vermin. They are most useful in 

 destroying poisonous snakes, whose bites they avoid by their won- 

 derful watchfulness and agility ; the stories of their having recourse 

 to some plant as an antidote to the snake's poison are entirely 

 without foundation. There are about 30 species of Mungooses 

 known, of which the most noticeable are the Egyptian Mungoose 

 (Herpestes ichneumon], which is found also in Spain, and feeds 

 largely on the eggs and young of the crocodile ; and the Grey 

 Mungoose (Herpestes griseus), the species tamed in India. Some 

 years ago the latter was introduced into the island of Jamaica, where 

 rats had multiplied on the sugar-plantations to such an extent as 

 to inflict the greatest losses upon the planters, who were nearly 

 ruined. In a short time the Mungooses cleared the plantations of 

 the vermin, and are now under the protection of the law. 



Allied to the Mungooses are several aberrant animals found in 

 Madagascar, among which may be specially mentioned the curious 

 Eupleres goudoti, exhibited in Case 18, which obtains the beetles 

 and worms on which it lives by burrowing in the earth with its 

 elongated snout. 



[Cases The second Suborder of the Carnivora, the CYNOIDEA, consists 

 17-20.] O f a s i n g.} e f am ily^ the Canidce, or Dogs, Wolves, and Foxes. 

 They are on the whole lightly built animals, of great speed and 

 endurance, obtaining their prey, as a rule, by running it fairly 

 down, rather than by pouncing upon it in the manner of the Cats 

 and their allies. They are digitigrade, and have, with a single 

 exception, five toes on their fore and four on their hind feet ; 

 their palms and soles are always hairy, the only naked parts being 



