CARNARIA. 85 



covered with long hair, and have a tuft at each ear. The tail is long, hairy, and has a propensity to 

 curl, as if prehensile; [which it really is : their Mhiskers are long and conspicuous]. 



They are also natives of India, for the first knowledge of wliich we are indebted to M. du Vaucel. One species 

 (let. aU/ifrons, F. Cuv.) is grey, with the tail and sides of the muzzle black ; of the size of a large Cat ; from 

 Boutan. Another (let. ater, F. Cuv.) is black, with a whitish muzzle, and as large as a stout Dog ; from Malacca. 

 [The latter is merely the male, and the other the female of the same species, which is rather a slow-moving 

 animal, allied to the last in habit, of a timid disposition, and easily tamed. The Ictide doree, F. Cuv., is a 

 species of Slusang (Paradoxvrits). ] 



The Coatimondis {Nasua, Storr), — 

 To the dentition, tail [which however is longer], noctui'nal life, and slow dragging gait of the 

 Raccoons, add a singularly elongated and moveable snout. Their feet are semi-palmate, notwith- 

 standing which they climb trees [vrith great facility, and descend them head foremost, clinging by 

 their hind feet, which they almost reverse] . Their long claws serve them to dig with ; [and they feed 

 voraciously on earth-worms, slugs and snails, also on small mammalians (which they catch adroitly), 

 birds and their eggs, together with fruits and vegetables]. They inhabit the warm parts of America, 

 and subsist on nearly the same food as our Martens. 



The Red Coatimondi (Viverra nasua, Lin. ; N. rufa, Desm.) — Rufo-fulvous, the muzzle and caudal annulations 

 brown. And the Brown Coatimondi (F. jjaricn, Lin. ; iV. /«jca, Desm.) — Brown, with white spots over the eye 

 and snout. [These animals employ their claws to divide flesh, which they thus tear and separate before devour- 

 ing it.] 



The Kinkajou (Cercolcptes, lUiger) — 

 Can scarcely be introduced elsewhere than in this place [which is unquestionably its true posi'ion]. 

 To the plantigrade gait, it joins a very long tail, prehensile, as in the Sapajous*, a short muzzle, slender 

 and extensile tongue, with two pointed grinders before, and three tuberculous ones backward, [the 

 first of which latter represents the carnivorous tooth]. 



But one species is known {Viverra caudivolvtila, Gm.), from the warm parts of America and some of the Great 

 Antilles, where it is named Poito-f : size of a Fitchet, [and larger] ; the fur woolly, and of a yellowish [or golden} 

 brown : nocturnal, and of a mild and gentle disposition ; subsisting on fruits, honey, milk, blood, &c. [It is emi- 

 nently au arboreal quadruped, which moves with a cautious gait, recalling to mind some of the Qtiadrumana. 



There is a Mexican animal to which Lichtenstein has assigned the generic name Basmris, and which 

 Blainville and others have associated with the Viverrine genera, but which I greatly suspect must 

 rather be placed near the Kinkajou, though 1 have not at present the means of ascertaining its cha- 

 racters. In form it is not unlike a Musang (Paradoxurus.) J 



The remaiuing genera are only semi-plantigrade (that is, they do not bring the heel quite 

 to the ground), and possess but one tuberculous grinder, which varies greatly in extent of 

 surface : none of tliem become torpid in \\'inter ; and tliey all emit, when alarmed, a defensive 

 odour, which in many is horribly fetid.] 



The Badgers {Meles, Storr), § — 

 Which Linnaeus placed, together with the Raccoons, in his genus of Bears, have one very small tooth 

 behind the canine, then two pointed molars, followed in the upper jaw by one which we begin to 

 recognize as carnivorous, from the trace of a cutting character which it exhibifs on iis outer side ; 

 behind this is a square tuberculous tooth, the largest of the series ; and, on the lower jaw, the last but 

 one likewise commences to hear some resemblance to the inferior carnivorous tooth ; but as there 

 are two tubercles on its inward border as elevated as its cutting point, it performs the office of a 

 tuberculous one ; the last below is very small. [The Badger, in fact, has precisely the same den- 

 tition as the Weasels and Otters, presenting a modification of that t\-pe for less carnivorous regimen.] 

 These animals have the tardy gait and nocturnal habit of all the preceding ; then tail is short, [and 



* One which I had an opportunity of studyiiiif, as it ran about loose 

 in a room, possessed the prehensile power of the tail in an extremely 

 moderate degree, merely resting; slightly ou this orgati, whieh it 

 stiffened throughout its length, and never coiled in the manner of the 

 SapHJous. — Eu. 



+ This term, applied by the negjoes in Africa to a Leinurinc animal 

 (^Peruduticus) , has been introduced by them, and misapplied in other 

 countries. — Ed. 



t Strong presumptive evidence tliat the Basset (BaijiWi) docs not 

 Hppertain to the Viverrine (froup, is afforded by the restriction of the 

 gco;;r;iphic range of the latter to the eastern hemisphere, in every 

 other instance. The presence or absence of a luccum would decide 

 the question. 



§ Taiiis of some systematisls : but this name is employed in Botany 

 for the Yew genus. — Ed. 



