THE BINTUKONG. 



95 



like that of a New World Monkey. It is twenty-eight to thirty inches long from snout to root of tail, 

 and the tail itself is nearly of the same length. It is sometimes called the " black Bear Cat." 



" It is slow and crouching. In its habits it is quite nocturnal, solitary, and arboreal, creeping 

 along the large branches, and aiding itself by its prehensile tail. It is omnivorous, eating small 

 animals, birds, insects, fruit, and plants. It is more wild and retiring than Viverrine animals in 



BINTUROXG. 



general, and it is easily tamed ; its howl is loud." It walks entirely on the soles of its feet, and its 

 claws are not retractile. It ranges from Nepaul to Sumatra and Java. 



Altogether the Binturong is a decidedly interesting animal, and has been a great puzzle to 

 zoologists. It was formerly placed in the Racoon family, to many of the members of which it bears 

 a very strong resemblance ; but this resemblance is quite superficial, and brought about by the simi- 

 larity in the mode of life, &c. In the characters of the skull and teeth, it undoubtedly belongs where 

 we have placed it, among the Civet group. Thus it forms a capital warning to those zoologists whose 

 knowledge is only skin-deep, and who group animals entirely by their external character, without 

 taking into account the important points of fundamental structure, which should in every case be 

 considered first.* 



* N.B. The description of some members of the Viverridae, or Civet family, has been inadvertently omitted from our 

 chapter on that group, and will be found at the end of the article on the Land Carnivora (pp. 206 208). 



