PALM-CIVETS — BINTURONG 



169 



the large bare soles of its feet and a peculiar divergence between its first digits and 

 the others. It ranges from Sikhim to Borneo, its habits being probably very 

 similar to those of the other members of the group. Hardwicke's palm-civet 

 (Hemigale hardwickei) is a transversely banded member of the group, which forms 

 a genus by itself; it is a native of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. The 

 last named-island is the home of an allied striped species, Dvplogale Itosei, which 

 likewise represents a genus by itself. 





IKk. 



MALAY PALM-CIA'ET. 



Binturo A distant relative of the palm-civets is the weird binturong 



(Arctictis binturong), which is probably an extremely ancient type of 

 animal, and is peculiar among the Carnivora on account of its prehensile tail, being 

 the only known placental mammal with a truly prehensile tail in the Old World. It 

 is the only representative of its genus, and has rather a wide distribution in the Malay 

 Province. It differs from the palm-civets by walking on the whole soles of its feet, 

 as is indicated by the large tract devoid of hair on the hind-pair. The claws are 

 short and partially retractile, and the short ears are surmounted with long tufts of 

 hair. With the exception of a whitish edge to the ears, the whole of the long and 



