PALM-CIVETS. 457 



inches. The body has a greyish ground-colour, marked with about six very 

 broad and somewhat irregular brownish-black transverse bands extending across 

 the back, and separated by very narrow intervals. On the flanks and neck the 

 markings form broken longitudinal lines and spots, one very distinct line always 

 extending from behind the ear to the shoulder. The outer surfaces of the 

 fore-limbs and of the thighs are spotted ; and the tail has seven complete 

 dark rings, separated by narrower light interspaces; its tip, as in the genets, 

 being lighter. 



The spotted linsang (L. pardicolor), which is found from the South-Eastern 

 Himalaya to Yunan, is a somewhat smaller animal ; the length of the head and 

 body being only 15 inches. It is readily distinguished by its coloration; the back 

 being marked with longitudinal rows of large oblong spots, instead of the transverse 

 bands of the last species. 



A tame specimen of this beautiful animal was once kept by Mr. Brian Hodgson 

 in Xipal. He describes it as very docile, fond of notice, and never giving vent to 

 any kind of sound. It was free from the strong odour characteristic of the true 

 civets, and was fed upon raw meat. Mr. Hodgson states that in its wild con- 

 dition this species is equally at home on trees and on the ground; and that it 

 dwells and breeds in the hollows of decayed trees. It is not gregarious at all, and 

 preys chiefly upon small birds, upon which it is wont to pounce from the cover of 

 the grass. The times of breeding are said to be February and August, and the 

 litter to consist of two young, there being two litters each year. 



The African linsang (Poiana poensis), of which some of the distinctive 

 characters have been already mentioned, is found only on the West Coast, in Sierra 

 Leone and Fernando Po, and is, therefore, widely separated from its Oriental 

 relatives. The tail is somewhat longer than the head and body, measuring 

 upwards of 40 inches ; whereas the total length of the head and body is but 38 

 inches. The spots, as already mentioned, are smaller than in the Oriental linsangs, 

 and, with the exception of some stripes on the back of the head, and a line extend- 

 ing from the neighbourhood of the ear to the shoulder, do not run together into 

 lines or patches. The tail is peculiar in that the light rings separating the large 

 dark bands are divided in the middle by very narrow dark rings. 



THE PALM-CIVETS. 

 Genus Paradoxurus. 



The palm-civets, tree-cats, or toddy-cats, as they are indifferently called, form 

 an Asiatic group, with a single outlying West African species, of civet-like animals, 

 differing in several important respects from all the preceding types, w r hich are more 

 or less closely allied. The number of the teeth is the same as in the true civets ; 

 but the individual teeth are usually much smaller in proportion to the size of the 

 skull; and the flesh-teeth are by no means of such a markedly cutting type. 

 There are also important distinctions in the structure of the skull. In most cases 

 the tail is uniformly-coloured, or only ringed at its base. Moreover, all these 

 animals are largely of arboreal habits. 



