CATALOGUE. 67 



HAB. Central region of Nepal, where it is very common, 

 Hodgson. 

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



The genus Paguma was established and defined by Mr. J. E. Gray, 

 in the year 1831. (See Proceed. Zool. Soc. 1831, p. 95.) Although 

 nearly allied to Paradoxurus, it is fully entitled to the generic rank 

 assigned to it by Mr. Gray, who states, after giving the essential 

 character,* " that in the number and disposition of its teeth, this genus 

 agrees with Viverra, from which, however, it differs in their confor- 

 mation. It is much like Ictides in colouring, but has about the face 

 the pale marking of Paradoxurus. The skin has the odour of civet. 

 From the genus Viverra, it is distinguished by the shape of its skull, 

 the cerebral cavity being in it much larger, the space between the eyes 

 broader, and the nose much broader and shorter." To this may be 

 added that its hairy covering, or fur, is dense, woolly, and somewhat 

 lengthened, being suited to the high regions of which it is native, while 

 in the true Paradoxuri, which are found in Bengal and the Indian Archi- 

 pelago, the fur is shorter and bristly. Another peculiarity of the Pa- 

 guma is its uniform exterior, which is only slightly undulated or varie- 

 gated with darker and lighter shades, without the prominent dark 

 longitudinal bands and spots, which distinguish the Paradoxuri. 



This species was first described by Mr. E. T. Bennett, from a living 

 specimen in the gardens of the Zoological Society. " The fur of the 

 animal, unlike that of Par. typus, F. Cuv., and some other closely- 

 related species, is nearly of equal length, and is dense, and in some 

 degree woolly. Its colour above, is light fulvous brown, showing in 

 certain lights a strong cinereous tinge, owing to the black tips of many 

 of the hairs. Beneath, it is lighter, and has a more cinereous tinge. 

 The limbs are ash- coloured, and deeper in intensity towards the feet, 

 which are black. The tail is, throughout, of the same colour with the 

 body. The ears are rounded, covered with hairs, and nearly black. 

 The face is black, with the exception of the forehead, of a longitudinal 

 dash down the middle of the nose, and of a blotch-like short oblique 

 band under each eye, these markings being gray. There are no traces 

 of longitudinal bands or spots on the body. The separate hairs are 



* Dentes primores f sequales ; laniarii ^ * ; molares f f ; quorum utrinque in 

 maxilla superiori, 3 falsi parvi compressi, 1 camivorus brevis obtuse 3 lobus cum 

 processu interno centrali, 2 tuberculares subquadrati interne sub-angustati antice 

 non product! ; in maxilla inferiore 4 falsi, 1 carnivorus, 1 tubercularis. Pedes 

 postici plantigradi, ad calc&neum usque nudi callosi. Caudalonga attenuata. 



