52 CATALOGUE. 



in the district of Blambatigan, situated at the eastern extremity of the 

 island of Java. It inhabits the extensive forests, which, with the ex- 

 ception of the capital of Banyuwangi, and a few small villages, cover 

 this district, but it is very seldom captured. Of its habits, the natives 

 could give me but little information. This deficiency is in part supplied 

 by Dr. Cantor, who obtained an individual during his researches in the 

 Malayan Peninsula, respecting which he states : 



Mr. Rappa, for many years a dealer in objects of natural history at 

 Malacca, who previously had been supplied with a figure and description 

 of Prionodon gracilis, reported in a memorandum accompanying the 

 specimen that it had been captured in the jungle at some distance from 

 Malacca. It was unknown to himself and to the natives. At first the 

 animal was fierce and impatient of confinement, but by degrees it 

 became very gentle and playful, and when subsequently suffered to 

 leave the cage, it went in search of sparrows and other small birds, 

 displaying great dexterity and unerring aim in stealthily leaping upon 

 them. Fruit of every description it refused. 



Dr. S. Miiller, in the work above cited, informs us, in confirmation of 

 the preceding remarks, that " the Prionodon is one of the rarest mam- 

 malia of India, he having, during the period of his researches in the Ar- 

 chipelago, obtained only two individuals, one of which was captured at 

 an elevation of about 4,000 feet above the ocean, on the mountain Pan- 

 gorango, situated south of Batavia. The other was from the district 

 Indrapura, in Sumatra. In its habits this small but very bold and rapa- 

 cious quadruped resembles the Herpestes and Viverrse, while its form, 

 short and close fur, and its colour, shows an affinity to the Gats : it 

 may therefore be considered intermediate, between Felis and Viverra." 



86. PRIONODON PARDICOLOR, Hodgson, Calcutta 

 Journal of Nat. Hist. II. p. 57. Journ. A. 8. Beng. 

 X. p. 909. 



Linsang pardicolor, Gray, Mamm. in Br. Mus. p. 49. 



Catal. of Hodgson s Coll. p. S. 

 HAB. Sikim and Nepal, near the Himalayas. 

 A. Presented by B. H. Hodgson, Esq. 



In the second volume of the " Calcutta Journal of Natural History," 

 1842, p. 57, &c., Mr. Hodgson gives the following copious details of 

 this new species of Prionodon. " The teeth answer exactly to Dr. Hors- 

 field's formula of Prionodon, whilst the feet are most completely feline, 

 with the requisite exception of the fifth posterior digit, which is here 



