8G 



MfSTELIDJ 



-MAMMALIA. MUSTELID.K. 



the vent. The animal has the power of ejecting this 

 secretion to a distance of about two feet. " The fetid 

 matter itself is of a viscid nature ; its effects depend on 

 its great volatility, and they spread through a great 

 extent ; the entire neighbourhood of a village is infected 

 by the odour of an irritated teledu, and in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the discharge it is so violent as in 

 some persons to produce syncope." Dr. Horsfield gives 

 the following admirable account of its habits and sin- 

 gular geographical distribution: "The teledu is 

 confined exclusively to those mountains which have 

 an elevation of more than seven thousand feet above 

 the level of the ocean ; on these it occurs with the 

 same regularity as many plants. The long-extended 

 surface of Java, abounding with conical points which 

 exceed this elevation, afford many places favourable 

 for its resort. On ascending these mountains, the 

 traveller scarcely fails to meet with our animal, which, 

 from its peculiarities, is universally known to the inha- 

 bitants of these elevated tracts ; while to those of the 

 plains, it is as strange as an animal from a foreign 

 country. A traveller would inquire in vain for the 

 teledu at Batavia, Seraarang, or Surabaya. In my 

 visits to the mountainous districts, I uniformly met 

 with it; and, as far as the information of the natives 

 can be relied on, it is found on all the mountains. 

 Most of these mountains and ridges furnish 

 tracts of considerable extent fitted for the cultivation 

 of wheat and other European grains. . . . These 

 grounds and plantations are laid out in the deep vege- 

 table mould, where the teledu holds its range as the 

 most ancient inhabitant of the soil. In its rambles in 

 search of food, this animal frequently enters the plan- 

 tations, and destroys the roots of young plants ; in this 

 manner it causes extensive injury, and on the Tengger 

 Hills particularly, "where these plantations are more 

 extensive than in other elevated tracts, its visits are 

 much dreaded by the inhabitants. It burrows in the 

 earth with its nose in the same manner as hogs, and in 

 traversing the hills its nocturnal toils are observed in 

 the morning in small ridges of mould recently turned 

 up. The mydaus forms its dwelling at a slight depth 

 beneath the surface, in the black mould, with consider- 

 able ingenuity. Having selected a spot, defended 

 above by the roots of a large tree, it constructs a cell 

 or chamber ot a globular form, having a diameter of 

 several feet, the sides of which it makes perfectly 

 smooth and regular; this it provides with a subter- 

 raneous conduit or avenue about six feet in length, the 

 external entrance to which it conceals with twigs and 

 dry leaves. During the day it remains concealed, like 

 a badger in its hole ; at night it proceeds in search of 

 its food, which consists of insects and their larvae, and 

 of worms of every kind. It is particularly fond of the 

 lumbrici, or earthworms, which abound in the fertile 

 moulds. These animals, agreeably to the information 

 of the natives, live in pairs, and the female produces 

 two or three young at a birth. The motions of the 

 mydaus are slow, and it is easily taken by the natives, 

 who by no means fear it. During my abode on the 

 mountain Prahu, I engaged them to procure me indi- 

 viduals for preparation ; and, as they received a desir- 

 able reward, they brought them to me daily in greater 



numbers than I could employ. Whenever the natives 

 surprise them suddenly, they prepare them for food ; 

 the flesh is then scarcely impregnated with the offensive 

 odour, and is described as very delicate. The animals 

 are generally in excellent condition, as their food 

 abounds in the fertile moulds. . . The mydaus is 

 not ferocious in its manners; and taken young, like 

 the badger, it might be easily tamed. An individual 

 which 1 kept, some time in confinement afforded me an 

 opportunity of observing its disposition ; it soon became 

 gentle and reconciled to its situation, and did not at 

 any time emit the offensive fluid. I carried it with me 

 from Mountain Prahu to Blederan, a village on the 

 declivity of that mountain where the temperature was 

 more moderate. While a drawing was made, the ani- 

 mal was tied to a small stake ; it moved about quietly, 

 burrowing the ground with its snout and feet, as if in 

 search of food, without taking notice of the bystanders, 

 or making violent efforts to disengage itself. On earth- 

 worms being brought, it ate voraciously ; holding one 

 extremity of a worm with its claws, its teeth were 

 employed in tearing the other. Having consumed 

 about ten or twelve, it became drowsy, and making a 

 small groove in the earth, in which it placed its snout, 

 it composed itself deliberately, and was soon sound 



THE NYENTEK (Helictis moscliatus) is a rarer 

 animal than the teledu, and more circumscribed in its 

 geographical area of distribution. It is about sixteen 

 inches in length, not including the tail, which measures 

 six inches more ; this organ is bushy, terminating in 

 long thick hairs. The head is small, gradually narrow- 

 ing into an obtusely-pointed muzzle. The jaws are 

 furnished with twenty-two molars, the tuberculated 

 pair above being small and widened transversely. The 

 nostrils are notched at the side. The moustaches are 

 few in number, long, and bristly. The ears are com- 

 paratively large; the eyes being rather prominent. The 

 limbs are thin, terminating in five-toed plantigrade feet. 

 The claws are shorter than those of the teledu, and 

 are more strongly curved. This animal, says Dr. 

 Horsfield, who described it as a species of Gulo, " is 

 somewhat smaller than the English pole-cat. The 

 form of its body, in comparison with other gluttons-, is 

 rather slender; it is thickly covered with fur, consisting 

 of long hairs closely arranged, silky at the base, of a 

 brown colour and somewhat glossy, with a slight tint 

 of reddish-brown ; in certain lights it appears diversi- 

 fied, greyish, and tawny. This fur covers the greatest 

 part of the body and head, and the whole of the tail 

 and extremities ; the colour of these parts is conse- 

 quently brown, with occasional shades of rufous and 

 tawny; the sides of the head, the neck, the throat, 

 breast, and a broad spot on the top of the head, which 

 passes, gradually decreasing in breadth, to the middle 

 of the back, are white, with an obscure tint of Isabella 

 yellow of different degrees of intensity. This colour 

 also exists, less distinct, in a longitudinal band along 

 the lowest part of the abdomen." Little or nothing is 

 known of this animal's habits, which are thought by 

 Dr. Horsfield to be similar to those of the ratel. 



THE SKUNK (Mephitis americana), Plate 10, fig. 

 33. Various species of skunk have been described, 



