454 



CARNIVORES. 



home of the group. This is eonfinned \>\ what we know of their past history, for 

 the remains of an extinct species have been found in a cavern in Madras, and 

 those of two others in the Pliocene rocks of the SiwaHk Hills in the noiih of India ; 

 one of the species from the latter district being far larger than any existing civet. 



At a still earlier period — in the Lower Miocene and Upper Eocene — civets were, 

 inhabitants of Western Europe, their remains having been discovered both in 

 England and on the Continent. We have thus another instance of the deriva- 

 tion of the modern mammalian fauna of the East from the old European fauna, 

 to which we have alreadj' had occasion to allude. The old civets of Europe differ 

 somewhat in the characters of their teeth from the living species, but appear in 



THE BASSE (f nat. size). 



l^^cfe^^^ 



other respects to have been nearly allied. Very few of the existing genera of 

 mammals date so far back as the upper portion of the Eocene period, and civets 

 may be regarded as one of the oldest groups in the class. 



Omitting mention of an animal from Madagascar closely allied to the rasse, 

 and known scientifically as the Fossa — which must not be confounded with the 

 fossa mentioned above — our next representatives of the family are 



The Gexet.s. 



Genus Genctta. 



Among the little animals known as genets i.s one of the two members 

 of the civet family found in Europe. Although nearly related to the true" 



