THE CIVET, OR MUSK CAT. 
Viverra CrIveTTa. Linn. 
THE group of animals to which we have next to turn 
our attention is perhaps the most puzzling, and cer- 
tainly the least understood, among the true Carnivora ; 
hence there exists no little difficulty in defining its 
limits and distinguishing the species which compose it. 
Under the generic name of Viverra, Linneus compre- 
hended a series, or, to speak more properly, a congeries, 
of quadrupeds, differing from each other so remarkably 
in form, in structure, and in habits, as to render it 
absolutely impossible to find characters by which they 
might be circumscribed and isolated from their fellows. 
His definition of the genus therefore, although purposely 
H 2 
