232 



TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



fox, are the largest animals of the whole group. They 

 are found in Africa and India, and produce that sub- 

 stance, smelling so powerfully of musk, which has been 

 an object of commerce for centuries. 



The Indian civet extends from Southern China to the 

 Malay peninsula. It lives generally in a solitary fashion 

 in woods or thick grass during the day, whence it comes 

 forth at night, often entering houses. It is very de- 

 structive to poultry, and kills any birds or small beasts 

 it meets with, but it will also feed on snakes, frogs, 

 insects, eggs, fruit, and roots. The genets are but of 

 the size of small cats, and have long and slender bodies : 

 all of them are exclusively African except the common 

 genet, which is a native also of the south of France, 

 Spain, and South-Western Asia. A handsome species, 

 which has been named Poiana (Fig. 62), comes from Sierra 

 Leone ; and there is a small group of allied Indian forms 

 known as palm-civets and toddy cats, which also got 

 the name of paradoxures from F. Guvier on account 

 of a peculiarly curled condition of the tail. The long 

 tails of these animals are not truly prehensile, but 

 they can coil them to some extent, and in caged 

 specimens the coiled condition not unfrequently be- 

 comes confirmed and permanent. These animals are 

 found from China and Nepal, to Ceylon, Java, Borneo, 

 and the Philippine Islands. Mr. Blanford tells us that 

 the common species, the Indian palm-civet, is a familiar 

 animal enough in most parts of Hindostan, although 

 rarely seen by daytime, as it is thoroughly nocturnal. 

 It generally passes the day in trees, either coiled up in 

 the branches or in a hole in the trunk. Cocoanut palms 

 and mango groves are favourite resorts. It also not 

 unfrequently takes up its abode in the thatched roofs of 

 houses. It feeds much as the civet does, and when taken 



