NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



securely concealed by day and only issues forth in 

 search of food by night. 



This genet, when standing fully upright with 

 legs straightened, is about eight inches in height 

 at the shoulder. Its low stature is owing to the 

 extreme shortness of its legs in comparison with 

 its body, which measures two feet from the nose 

 to the root of the tail, and the latter is eighteen 

 inches in length. The body colour of the animal 

 is grey, with a slight yellow tinge ; a black stripe 

 extends down the centre of the back from the 

 shoulder to the root of the tail ; the neck and 

 shoulders are more or less marked and striped with 

 black ; the body is covered with squarish spots, 

 the larger of which are over an inch in diameter, 

 arranged in three rows running longitudinally. 

 The long tail is ringed black and white, the black 

 rings being the broader. The distinguishing dif- 

 ference between the Large-spotted Genet and the 

 Small-spotted species is stated to be that in the 

 former the tail tip is black, and in the latter it is 

 white. This is by no means a constant guide, for 

 several specimens of the Small-spotted Genet from 

 the eastern part of the Cape Province which I have 

 examined, have the tip of the tail black. The 

 Large-spotted Genet, however, as its name implies, 

 can easily be distinguished from the others because 

 of the comparative largeness of the black body-spots, 

 which are arranged in three irregular rows. 



10 



