GENETS. 



455 



civets, the genets may be distinguished by the greater proportionate length 

 and slenderness of their bodies, and their shorter legs, as well as by their 

 longer and more tapering tails, and their shorter and blunter claws. Then, again, 

 the hind-foot of a genet will be found to differ from that of a true civet by having 

 a narrow naked surface extending for a long distance in the under-surface behind 

 the pads. Another point of difference is to be found in the absence in the genets 

 of a pouch for containing the secretion ; a character in which they agree with the 

 fossa described on p. 449. All these animals have short and soft fur, of which the 

 ground-colour is brownish-yellow or greyish. Down the middle of the back runs 







THE GENET ( nat. size). 



a black line, while the sides of the body are marked with black or brown spots ; 

 and there are also characteristic dark and light markings on the head and face. 

 The black rings on the tail, which are variable in number, are generally narrower 

 than the intervening white spaces. 



As the true civets are mainly Oriental in their distribution, having only one 

 species beyond the limits of that region, so the genets are chiefly African. The 

 common genet (Genetta vulgaris), which occurs in the northern part of Africa, is, 

 indeed, the only species found beyond that continent, its range extending into 

 Spain, the south of France, and South-Eastern Asia. In 1890 a single specimen 

 was recorded from the department of Eure, in the north of France. It is definitely 

 known from Asia in Syria, but may also occur in South-East Persia. Of the four 



