CATALOGUE. 97 



according to Dr. Cantor, is loud, resembling that of some of the 

 Malayan Paradoxuri. 



The Binturong is omnivorous : plants, fruit, raw meat, small quadru- 

 peds, birds, and insects, constitute its principal food : sugar-cane is a 

 most favourite article ; and Dr. Miiller states that in the forests of 

 Java and Sumatra, which it seeks for its abode, the wild vegetable 

 productions supply its principal nourishment. In its habits it appears 

 to be more mild and retiring than the viverrine animals generally, 

 showing less of a sanguinary disposition. Dr. Cantor states, that when 

 taken young it is easily tamed ; and the third volume of the Calcutta 

 Journal of Natural History contains the following account of an indi- 

 vidual brought to Calcutta from Goalpara : " The specimen is a young 

 male. It is perfectly docile and tame, passing in and out of its cage 

 and climbing up the arm when extended to it. Its movements are 

 peculiarly gentle and graceful, often standing erect on the hind feet, 

 and generally using the tail as a support, twining it round some adjoin- 

 ing object. Its manners are playful, like those of a bear, affecting to 

 bite and use its claws. Its food consists of plantains, bread and milk, 

 and raw meat. It has vertical pupils, and appears to sleep much during 

 the day, becoming more lively at night." (C. I. N. H. III. p. 410.) 



The discovery of the Binturong is due to Major Farquhar, who 

 obtained an individual at Malacca, and communicated an account of it, 

 with a specimen and drawing, to the Asiatic Society. This account 

 not having been made public, it became the privilege of SirT. S. Raffles 

 to give the first authentic description of the animal in his Catalogue of 

 Sumatran and Malayan Mammalia, printed in the thirteenth volume of 

 the Trans, of the Linn. Society, where he states (p. 253), " It may be 

 interesting to give the following particulars as furnished to me by that 

 gentleman (Major Farquhar), in whose possession I saw a living 

 specimen in 1819." From the account here given the substance has 

 been extracted above. 



About this time M. Duvaucel noticed a living specimen in the mena- 

 gerie of the Governor- General at Barackpore, near Calcutta, probably 

 the individual presented by Major F. ; of which he made a drawing and 

 description for M. Cuvier, which was published in the forty-fourth fasc. 

 of the Mammif. of F. Cuv. and Geoffr. M. Temminck gives a copious 

 description of the Binturong in the second volume of his Monographs ; 

 it is also mentioned by Dr. Sal. Miiller, in his work Over de Zoogd. van 

 den Ind. Archip. p. 32. Brief notices are also given in the Journ. As. 

 Soc. Calc. X. p. 917-8, by Mr. Blyth, and in the second and third 

 volumes of the Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. pp. 458 and 410 respectively. 



