THE CIVETS. 



189 



yellowish-gray, with marbled patches of black ; 

 the short, sharp-pointed head shows some 

 longitudinal stripes ; the pointed tail is ringed, 

 the ears are pretty broad but short, the pupils 

 have vertical slits, the very short feet have 

 five toes armed with retractile claws. The 

 genet has in all 42 



teeth. The molars 

 have several cusps, 

 the upper carnas- 

 sial is oblique 

 and sharp. The 

 premolars have 

 only a single sharp 

 lobe; the canines 

 are sharp and re- 

 curved. The musk- 

 pouch on the hip 

 is not very deep. 



The genet is 

 nocturnal in its 

 habits, but by day 

 does not sleep so 

 soundly that it is 

 not awakened by 

 the approach of an 

 enemy or the pass- 

 ing of its prey. 

 Unparalleled is 

 the suppleness and 

 flexibility with 

 which it crawls on 

 its belly like a ser- 

 pent in order to 

 surprise a victim, which it finally seizes with 

 a spring. In dodging and gliding it is a true 

 artist, and indeed an elegant artist, and, thanks 

 to the facility with which it can insinuate 

 itself through the narrowest openings, it is a 

 pretty dangerous enemy for the poultry-yards. 

 There it behaves like the marten, slaughtering 

 all the fowls it can catch. In spite of these 

 depredations it is not very fiercely pursued, 

 for it renders good service by the destruc- 

 tion of noxious rodents, and, if we leave out 

 of account occasional outbreaks of blood- 



|p*r^|^|fe>rr; 



Fig. 91. —The Asiatic or Indian Civet ( Viverra Zibetha). 



thirstiness, it manifests on the whole a gentle 

 and agreeable disposition, and can even be 

 .so far tamed as to respect the poultry-yard 

 of its master. It is pretty frequently kept in 

 certain districts as a domestic animal in place 

 of the cat. Its strong musk odour, however, 



does not make it 

 welcome to every 

 one. It is often 

 hunted for its fur; 

 but not much is 

 known about its 

 general mode of 

 life in a free state. 

 Two species of 

 Civet-cats, the 

 African civet {Viv- 

 erra Civcttd), fig. 

 90, and the Asiatic 

 or Indian civet 

 {V. Zibetha), fig. 9 1 , 

 have acquired a 

 certain reputation 

 through yielding a 

 fragrant substance 

 known as civet, 

 which is still prized 

 in the East, and 

 was formerly much 

 used in medicine. 

 Now the use of 

 this scent with us 

 is confined to the 

 perfumer, and even 

 with him it is getting more and more replaced 

 by true musk derived from the musk-deer. In 

 front of the anus, but in its immediate vicinity, 

 there is found in the civet-cats a longish slit 

 which leads into a wide pouch divided by a 

 partition into two hairy pockets, into which 

 open a large number of glands secreting a sort 

 of wax like that which is formed in the ears. 

 These pouches are present in both sexes. In 

 certain districts in Africa as well as in India a 

 large number of these animals are often kept 

 in cages for the sake of the civet, which is 



