Order 3. CARNARIA. 81 



The Musangs {Paradoxuriis, F. Cuv.) — 



Possess the teeth and most of the characters of the Genets, with which they were long confounded : 

 hut their general form is stouter, and their gait plantigrade: what more particularly distinguishes 

 them, however, is the spiral inclination of the tail*, which is not prehensile. 



Only one species is known, the Pougonnd of India (P. tupus, F. Cuv.), termed Palm Marten by the French in 

 India. [No less than ten or twelve have since been discovered, chiefly from India and the great Asiatic islands, though 

 some inhabit Africa. They feed much on fruit, but are also tolerably carnivorous, springing upon their prey from 

 a place of ambush : gait slow and plantigrade, with the hea'd and tail lowered, and the back arched; but they 

 also advance by rapid digital bounds, and are excellent climbers, constructing a nest on the forked branches of 

 trees. They are easily tamed, and, when angry, growl and spit like Cats : sleep rolled up in a ball, &c. 



As the Dogs may be considered the highest of the Carnivora, and the Cats the most eminently predaceous, so 

 the Musangs may be regarded as presenting the fairest average of a member of this division. Their dentition is 

 scarcely distinguishable from that of the Dogs ; but, on reverting the cranium, their cerebral cavity is seen to be 

 proportionally smaller. 



Various species of Musang have been named as separate subgenera by different systematists. Ambliodon, Jourd., 

 is the Ictide dorde of M. F. Cuvier ; and Pagima, Gray, refers to tlie young of P. larvatiis. P. Derbiamis, Gray, 

 a species approximating the Genets, of a fulvous-grey colour, with broad cross bands of dark brown, is the 

 Hemigalea zebra of Jourdan. Most of them present the streaks and spots of the Genets, but on a darker 

 ground-tint. 



Se> eral aflTect the vicinity of human habitations, and are very destructive to poultry, their eggs, &c. 



The Cynogale {Cynogak, Gray; Limictis, Blainv.) — 

 Is an aquatic representative of the preceding, to which it hears a similar relation to that which the 

 Otters hold with the Weasels. Its false molars are large, compressed, sharp, and slightly notched or 

 serrated ; and entire dental system, together with its external characters, generally modified for a pis- 

 civorous regimen. 



One species only is known (C. Beiirietfii, Gr. ; Viv. and Lim. carehai-ias, Bl.) — A native of Sumatra, uniform dark 

 brown ; the ears small : head, and also colouring, very similar to that of a common Otter : its tail, however, is 

 cylindrical.] 



The Mangoustes {Manffusta, Cuv. ; Herpestes, IlLf) 



The pouch voluminous and simple, and the anus situate within its cavity ; [bony orbits of the skull 

 most usually perfect.] Their hairs are annulated with pale and dark tints, which determine the 

 general colour of the eye. [Tail long as in the preceding subdivisions, and bushy towards its 



insertion. 



The species are very numerous ; and] that of Egypt (Viv. ichneumon, Lin.), so celebrated among the ancients by 

 the name of Ichneumon, is grey, with a long tail terminated by a black tuft ; it is larger than our Cat, and as 

 slender as a Marten. It chiefly hunts foi the eggs of the Crocodile, but also feeds on all sorts of small animals ; 

 brought up in houses [where, in common with its congeners, it is readily domesticated, and exhibits much intelli- 

 gence and attachment], it pursues Mice, reptiles, &c. By the Europeans at Cairo it is designated Pharaoh's Rat, 

 and Nems by the natives. The ancient allegation of its entering the throat of the Crocodile, to destroy it, is quite 

 fabulous. The common Indian species (Viv. mungos, Lin.) is celebrated for its combats with the most dangerous 

 serpents ; and for having led us to a knowledge of the Ophiorhiza mungos as an antidote to their venom. [Some 

 are less vermiform in their make, and higher on the legs : one, termed the Vansire by Buflbn, forms the division 

 Athylax of M. F. Cuvier ; others compose the Galidea and Ichneumonia of M. Is. Geoffrey : Cynictis, Og., includes 

 several species with only four toes to each foot ; and Lasiopus and Mongo, Auct., are additional dismember- 

 ments of this genus. The Urva of Mr. Hodgson appears also to be a Mangouste, with incomplete orbits.] 



The Surikate {Ryzcma, 111.) — 



Resembles the Mangoustes, even to the tints and annulations of its fur ; but is distinguished from 

 them, and from all the Carnivora hitherto mentioned [save the Lycaon picta and Cynictis, just indi- 

 cated], by having only four toes to each foot. It is also higher upon the legs, and does not possess 

 the small molar immediately behind the canine. The pouch extends even into the anus. 

 Only one is known (Viv. tetradactyla, Gm.), a native of Africa, and rather smaller than the Mangouste of India. 



The Mangue (Crossarchus, F. Cuv.), — 

 Has the muzzle, teeth, pouch, and gait of the Surikate ; the toes and genital organs of the Man- 

 goustes. 



* In those which I have seen alive, including P. fypiif, this cliarac- ' + Tliis term is more generally ad.ipted. The name Iihneiiwnn, 



ter was not perceptible : the individual figured by M. F. Cuvier pre- formerly applied to the animals of this genus, has been transferred 



kentHign morbid deformity, an analogous instance of which occurred to a very extensive ^oup "f Hyraenopterous Insects. — Ed. 



in a Leopard formerlv exhibited in London. — Ed. p 



