460 



CARNIVORES. 



procured a packing-case, which he converted into a 4-trap, and set, properly baited, 

 one night in his room. Next morning he found that the box had fallen, with a 

 tenant inside. The tube of a sulphuretted-hydrogen bottle was then inserted 

 through a hole bored in the side of the box, and the latter, after an interval, lifted, 

 when the dead body of a palm-civet was disclosed. 



The name of toddy-cats is applied to these animals from the partiality they, in 

 common with the fox-bats, display in Southern India and Ceylon for the palm- 

 juice, or toddy, collected by the natives in vessels suspended on the trees. Like 

 the other members of the group, the Indian palm-civet, when irritated, gives forth 

 a most unpleasant odour. 



The Malay palm-civet (P. hsrma^^hroditus), which is represented in the 

 accompanying illustration, occurs throughout the countries to the eastward of the 



THE MALAY PALM-CIVET (} nat. size). 



Bay of Bengal, as far as Siam, and is distinguished from its Indian congener by the 

 presence of a pale-coloured band running across the forehead, and also by the 

 general presence of stripes across the back in the adult condition. In both the 

 preceding species the "whiskers" are black, but in the golden palm-civet (P. 

 aureus) of Ceylon, and also the brown palm-civet (P. jerdoni) of Southern India, 

 they are respectively rufous and dark brown ; the body-colour of those two species 

 being nearly the same as that of their whiskers. On the other hand, the 

 Himalayan palm-civet (P. grayi), which occurs throughout Sikhim and Assam, is 

 readily distinguished by its white whiskers ; while it is further characterised by 

 the great backward production of the bony palate of the skull. The golden palm- 

 civet is said to be less carnivorous than the other species. 



The Chinese palm-civet (P. larvatus), of which we give a figure on the 

 next page, is closely allied to the Himalayan palm-civet, but differs by the 

 browner tinge of its greyish i'ur, and by the markings on the head being 

 very distinct, and black and white in colour. It has also a broad white band 



