168 THE MALAY PROVINCE 



15 inches. It inhabits the same countries as the preceding, and seems to live 

 principally on trees. Quite unknown are the habits of the golden cat (F. temminclei), 

 which is 40 inches long including the tail, and inhabits the south-eastern Himalaya, 

 Tenasserim, Sumatra, and Borneo, and probably also Burma and Malacca. It has 

 occasionally been brought alive to Europe. The flat-headed cat (F. planiceps), so 

 called on account of its flat, marten-like head, is a species confined to the Malay 

 Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. It is one of the few uniformly coloured cats, and 

 is the size of the domestic species, but with shorter legs and long soft fur. Its 

 colour above is deep dark reddish brown with silvery speckles, and whitish with 

 more or less brown speckles beneath. 

 Burmese Civet To the east of the Bay of Bengal the Indian civet is replaced by 



and Linsangs. the Burmese Viverra megasjnla, which ranges through Burma, the 

 Malay Peninsula, Cochin China, and Sumatra. Much more interesting are the 

 linsangs, which form a group of civets confined to the Malay countries and the 

 eastern Himalaya, although, like many Malay types, Vaey have a relative in the 

 forest-district of Africa. The Nepalese linsang {Lbnsanga pardicolor), which has 

 a tail almost as long as its body, is marked with large black spots on the very pale 

 brown of the back and sides, but is unspotted below. The head is brown with, in 

 many cases, a black spot behind each ear ; there are four vertical bands on each side 

 of the neck, and two wider bands start behind the ears ; these latter do not break 

 up into spots so much as is the case with those behind the shoulders. These bands 

 are continued in rows of large round spots, interrupted by smaller ones in the 

 middle, all along the back, while the sides are marked by three rows of square- 

 shaped or round spots, becoming smaller towards the lower-parts. The spots which 

 compose these rows form cross-lines ; and a more or less regular spotting is also 

 noticeable on the outer sides of the limbs, except the feet, which are pale brown and 

 unspotted. The tail is marked with from eight to ten alternately dark and light 

 rings of almost equal width, and thereby contributes much to the beauty of this 

 graceful little civet. The length of the head and bod} 7 is from 14 to 15 inches, and 

 that of the tail from 12 to 13. The linsang is at home both on the ground and on 

 trees; it sleeps and rears its young in holes in branches or the trunks, and is generally 

 solitary. It catches small birds by jumping on them from a hiding-place in the 

 grass. In February and August the female produces a pair of kittens. No dis- 

 agreeable civet-like smell emanates from this beautiful little animal. In Tenasserim 

 the Nepalese linsang is replaced by the Burmese species (L. maculosa), of whose 

 habits nothing is known. 



The palm-civets are represented by the Malay Paradoxwrus 

 Palm-Civets. r . r J . 



hermajjhroditiLS, which ranges from the Bay of Bengal to Siam, the 



Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. Another kind, the Himalayan palm- 

 civet (P. grayi), ranges from Simla into Assam, Arakan, and the Andamans. It is 

 more of a vegetable-feeder than the Indian palm-civet, but, like the latter, is partly 

 carnivorous, devouring birds and small mammals. It lives in mountainous forests, 

 sleeping in hollows in trees, where it probably gives birth to four young at a time. 

 It is said to do great damage to the banana-plantations in the Andaman Islands. 

 A third kind, the small-toothed palm-civet (Arctogalidia leucotis), is distinguished 

 by the smallness of its teeth, with the exception of the canines, as well as by 



