96 



MAMMALIA. VIVERRID.E. 



courageously against every attack. The lungs are so 

 constructed that they cannot subsist for more than a 

 few minutes under water, but are necessitated to 

 reascend to the surface for breath. These opportuni- 

 ties are seized by the hunters, who would seldom 

 succeed if the otter could remain long under water, 

 where it swims with great rapidity and skill. The 

 hunters row in the little Aleutian baidars or boats 

 round the coast, and for some miles out to sea, being 

 provided with bows, arrows, and short javelins, which 

 they discharge as soon as they observe an otter. The 

 animal is seldom struck at first ; it immediately dives, 

 and as it swims very rapidly, the skill of the hunter is 

 displayed in giving the canoe the same direction a 

 that taken by the animal. As soon as the otter 

 reappears on the water, it is once more fired at, when 

 down it dives again ; and the pursuit is thus continued 

 until the creature becomes so weary that it is at length 

 easily struck. Sometimes the otters succeed in tearing 

 out with their teeth the arrows which have wounded 

 them, and often, especially if their young are with 

 them, boldly rush upon the canoes, and attack their 

 persecutors employing for this purpose their powerful 

 teeth and claws. These conflicts, however, uniformly 

 terminate in the defeat and death of the otter. The 

 hunt is safer when the canoes are numerous, but, with 

 experienced hunters, two boats are sufficient." 



FAMILY III. VIVERKHLE. 



This family embraces a large section of the Carnivora, 

 but the interest attaching to them being probably less 

 than that accorded to any other subdivision of the 

 Mammalia, we shall consequently devote a smaller 

 space to their consideration. By many naturalists the 

 hysenas are included in this group ; yet, as they are 

 clearly osculant between the civets and the cats, it is 

 our intention to consider them as a separate family. 

 The civets, properly so called, have usually forty teeth, 

 their dental formula displaying the ordinary number of 

 incisors and canines seen in the typical Carnivora, but 

 almost invariably presenting twenty-four molars that 

 is to say, six above and below on either side ; and of 

 these, the anterior sixteen are spurious, while, of the 

 remaining eight, six only are tuberculated a pair of 

 the inferior true molars being carnassial in their cha- 

 racter. The tongue is furnished with numerous sharp, 

 rough, horny papillae, which are directed backwards. 

 The feet are more or less digitigrade, being generally 

 pentadactylous, but in some cases tetradactylous the 

 claws being slightly raised during progression. Seba- 

 ceous glandular follicles exist in the anal region, capable 

 of secreting a more or less disagreeable foetid matter. 

 The various kinds of viverrine carnivore are widely 

 distributed over the eastern hemisphere. A solitary 

 species of civet, with long harr, large ears, and a small 

 pointed head, is known to inhabit Mexico. The natu- 

 ralist Lichtenstein has described and figured it under 

 the combined generic and specific title of flassaris 

 astuta. 



THE GAXET (Cryptoprocta ferox). This creature 

 is about the size of our common stoat. The body is 

 very slender, terminating posteriorly in a long hairy 



tail, having throughout an almost uniform thickness- 

 The head is narrow; the muzzle being short, with the 

 nostrils deeply notched laterally. The mouth and eyes 

 are comparatively small, more particularly the former. 

 The ears are remarkably large, conspicuous, and hairy ; 

 they have an oval outline, the margin being folded 

 upon itself posteriorly; the internal surface is also 

 marked by sinuosities. The whiskers are numerous 

 and strongly developed. The limbs are stoutish, and 

 of moderate length, the anterior pair being rather 

 shorter than the hind ones. The feet are plantigrade 

 and pentadactylous, the soles being naked, and the 

 digits furnished with compressed, retractile, incurved 

 claws ; those of the anterior feet being more sharply 

 pointed than the posterior series. The galet is a native 

 of the island of Madagascar. Although plantigrade in 

 its walk, most of the characters above recorded, as well 

 as thosa of the dentition, serve to indicate a close alli- 

 ance with the more highly carnivorous cats and dogs. 

 It is to Mr. Bennett that nffturalists are indebted lor 

 having early described this species in the first volume 

 of the Zoological Society's Transactions. 



THE DELTTNDTJNG (Prionodon gradlis) comes so 

 near to the cats in certain particulars, that Dr. Hors- 

 field originally described it as a species of Felis in his 

 valuable " Zoological Kesearches in Java." It was 

 discovered by him in the district of Blambangan at the 

 eastern extremity of the island in the year 1806. The 

 length of the body is about fifteen and a half inches, 

 not including the tail, which would give us rather more 

 than another foot. A glance at the excellent figure 

 presented in the work above quoted, is sufficient to 

 prove its distinctiveness as a separate species the 

 body being singularly elongated, vermiform, and rather 

 slimly built. The tail is also very long, cylindrical, 

 and particularly thick at the base, the outline of the 

 rump being prolonged, as it were, into that of the 

 extended caudal development. The head is tapering, 

 and sharply pointed in front. The nose is elongated, 

 naked, and furnished with Jaterally-placed nostrils. 

 The jaws are provided with thirty-eight teeth of which 

 there are twenty-two molars, five on either side above, 

 and six correspondingly opposed in each series below. 

 The eyes are placed far forward, and have a circular 

 pupil. The ears are rather small, short, rounded, and 

 somewhat irregular at the margin. Long whiskers 

 proceed from the upper lip, projecting backwards 

 beyond the head; others also rise from the angles 

 of the mouth, and from the interspaces between the 

 eyes and ears. The feet are five-toed and digiti- 

 grade, being clothed with hair above and below. 

 The digits are provided with minute, sharply-panted, 

 retractile claws. The delundung is an attractive and 

 elegant species. "On a ground of pale, yellowish- 

 white, which covers the throat, breast, belly, sides, 

 and part of the back and tail, the distinguishing 

 marks of a deep brown colour, inclining to black, 

 are arranged in the following manner: Four trans- 

 verse bands, gradually increasing in breadth, cover 

 the back at intervals between the limbs. On the rump 

 are two narrow bands; two longitudinal stripes take 

 their origin, one between the ears, the other near the 

 posterior angle of the eye on each side, and pass, with 



