110 CATALOGUE. 



name of Teleggo affords a proof of its identity with the Javanese Teledoo. 

 The first authentic scientific account is given by Mons. G. Cuvier, 

 about the year 1812, in the fourth volume of the first edition of the 

 Ossemens fossiles, from specimens brought to France by Mons. Lesche- 

 nault de la Tour from Java, about the year 1803, and deposited in 

 the Paris Museum. In the first edition of the Regne Animal, I. p. 151, 

 published in 1817, the same author arranges it under the genus 

 Mephitis, with the following remark : " Toutes celles qui viennent 

 d'Amerique ont une queue longue et touffue ; mais Mons. Leschenault 

 en a dernierement rapporte une de Java, qui n'a point de queue de tout." 

 The genus Mydaus was established some years later by Mons. Fr. 

 Cuvier, and has been adopted, with a few exceptions, by zoologists : the 

 details of the teeth are given in the author's Dents des Mammiferes. In 

 the year 1820, this animal was described in Horsfield's Zoological 

 Researches in Java, from specimens contained in the Company's 

 Museum, from which description the following is an extract : " The 

 Teledu has a peculiar external character and physiognomy. Although 

 it generally agrees in size with the Polecats of Europe and America, the 

 circumstances which influence its appearance are entirely different. 

 The heavy form of the body, as well as the head gradually narrowed to 

 an obtuse point, call to mind the figure of a hog. The shortness and 

 strength of the neck, and the manner of walking, by placing the entire 

 sole of the foot on the ground, contribute further to give to the animal 

 a sluggish appearance. The eyes are placed high in the head, and in 

 their size and disposition have considerable resemblance to those of a 

 hog : the eyelids are rigid, and well provided with eyebrows consisting 

 of minute bristles : the irides are of a dark colour, and the pupil is 

 circular. The ears are nearly concealed by the hairy covering of the 

 body ; but these organs are provided externally with an oblong concha, 

 which surrounds the posterior part, and passing the lower extremity of 

 the meatus auditorius, forms a small curve inward. No whiskers are 

 perceptible, but a few long straggling hairs arise from the upper lip. 

 The covering of the Teledu is adapted to the elevated and cold regions 

 which it inhabits. The fur is composed of long delicate hairs, silky at 

 the base, which are closely arranged, and afford a very warm coat to 

 the body. On the sides of the neck the hairs are lengthened, and have 

 a curved direction upward and backward ; on the top of the head, 

 meeting from before and behind, they form a small transverse crest, and 

 on the abdomen they are thinly disposed, and afford in some parts a 

 view of the naked skin. The colour of the hairs is blackish-brown, 

 more or less intense on every part of the body, except the crown of the 



