88 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



those of the two families just named. They are mostly long-bodied, short-legged animals, with stiffish 

 fur, a long tail, and a sharp muzzle. They walk on their toes, of which they have five on each foot 

 like Cats ; many of them, however, keeping the wrist and ankle much nearer the ground than 

 Cats do, and being consequently distinguished as semi-plantigrade. They also wander from the 

 regular Cat-structure in the matter of their claws, which are only half retractile, the elastic ligament 

 not attaining the same perfection as in the Cats. Thus we conclude that in this respect, at any rate, 

 the Civets are less specialised than the Cats proper ; they approach more nearly to the central plan 

 Mammalian structure, and are less perfect as Carnivores. We shall see that the same is the case with 

 respect to their other characters, such as the skull and teeth. 



The skull is not unlike what a Cat's would be if it were put on the bed of Procrustes and pulle 

 out ; for, in coi'respondence with the length of the snout in these creatures, the face part of the skull 

 is long in comparison with the brain-containing part. The cheek-arches, also, are by no means 

 broad as in the Felidce, in correspondence with the less size of the jaw muscles. But the character of 

 the base of the skull is pretty much the same. There is, as in Cats, the large swollen bulla, or 



ear-drum bone, the small opening flush 

 with the outer wall of the bulla, anc 

 the clamping bone closely applied 

 its hinder wall. 



The teeth of the Civets present 

 many interesting differences from those 

 of the Cat tribe. In the first place, in 

 accordance with the less perfectly 

 carnivorous habit of the group, the 

 jaws are longer, and, consequently, not 

 so powerful as in the Cat ; the number 

 of teeth also is considerably increased. 

 The incisors and canines remain the 

 same, but the premolars are increased 

 to four, and the molars to two on each 

 side of each jaw,* so that there are 

 no less than forty teeth, instead of 

 thirty only, as in the Cats. Then the 



form of the teeth is altered ; the canines are of far less proportional size, not having the same 

 amount of hard work to do as the great dog teeth of the Lion or Tiger ; the grinders, too, lose their 

 scissor-blade form, and exhibit on their upper surfaces little lumps, or cusps, thereby developing 

 grinding surface such as no Cat has. This is especially the case in the Paradoxures, or Palm-Cats, 

 which have quite lost all carnivorous habits, and feed chiefly on the fruit of palm-trees. 



TEETH OF CIVET. 



THE AFRICAN CIVET.t 



This animal, by its rough spotted skin, calls to mind the Hyaena, to which, however, it is inferior 

 in size, being hardly three feet long. It differs also from our laughing friend in many more 

 important particulars. Its legs are shorter, its tail longer and not so bushy, its snout more pointed, 

 its ears shorter, and its expression less villainous-looking. It is found in the North of Africa and 

 Eastern Asia. 



This animal is the chief of the civet producers, its scent-glands being large and secreting 

 constantly. At the Zoological Gardens the specimen in captivity rubs the perfume against the walls of 

 the cage, where it is scraped up by the keeper, for whom it is a not unimportant perquisite. 



The hair is long, coarse, of a brownish-grey colour, and marked with interrupted transverse 



* The dental formula is, therefore, incisors,* |^, canines, ^, premolars, ~, molars, \~~ =i 

 t Viverra civetta. 



