782 MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON THE [NoV. 3, 



applying to a form of Paradoxurus is one by Buffon, who, in the 

 Supplement to his ' Histoire Natiirelle,' described an animal that 

 he called " La Genette de France," and evidently believed to be a 

 French species of Genet. As was, however, shown by F. Cuvier^, 

 the animal described and figured, which was from an unknown 

 locality, and had been purchased in London, was probably an Indian 

 Paradoxurus ; but even in this case the identification is somewhat 

 doubtful, for there were, according to Buffou, traces of annulations 

 on the tail. 



The next notices are in Schreber's ' Sangethiere,' where descrip- 

 tions by Pallas are given of animals named by the latter naturalist 

 Fiverra fiennaphrodita and V. zeylonensis. The following is a 

 translation of the description in German of V. liermaphrodita, 

 Schreb. Siiugeth. iii. p. 426 : — 



"The muzzle as far as and above the eyes is black, so are also 

 the long bristles of the beard {Barte, which would include the 

 vibrissa) and above the eyes, the ears, the throat throughout its 

 whole breadth, and the feet. In front of the ears the black has a 

 light grey margin. A white spot exists under the eye, and 

 another amongst the vibrissas, almost as in the Genet. The 

 hair is long, grey near the skin, black at the tip, consequently the 

 fur assumes a mixed, but more of a black colour. Over the back 

 tun three quite black stripes. The belly is lighter. The tail is 

 longer than tlie body, black at the end. The nails are yellow. 



"Over the penis there extends a longish naked spot as far as the 

 anus. Where this spot begins, the soft while skin makes a double 

 i'old with a raised division lying between. This has occasioned the 

 animal to be exhibited to ignorant people as a hermaphrodite." 



The description leaves no reasonable doubts that the animal was 

 a Paradoxurus. The size is said to have been between that of a 

 Civet Cat and that of a Genet. 



The description agrees well with the common Paradoxurus of the 

 Malay countries, now generally known as P, musanga. The 

 presence of the stripes on the back shows that the animal was in all 

 probability not the Indian form {P. niyer, v. fi/pus). The Malay 

 species has usually a broad white or wiiitish band across the forehead, 

 instead of merely a "light grey margin" ; but this is an extremely 

 variable character. The specimen, it is true, was said to be I'rom 

 Barbary, but no North-African mammal corresponds to the descrip- 

 tion. 



Tlie Viverra zeylonensis of Pallas" has also been identified by 

 Gray and others with a species of Paradoxurus found in Ceylon, 

 but in this case the identification is very much more doubtful. The 

 Ceylon species is of a uniform dull rufous or ferruginous colour 

 throughout, whilst in Pallas's description the coloration was said to 

 be grey above, overspread with brown, below paler, blackish on the 

 hinder parts of the back and on the tail ; and there is nothing by 

 which the animal can be satisfactorily determined. The vibrissse 



* Hist. Nat. Mamm., notes to pi. 186, La Martre des Palmiers ou Poiigouni. 

 ' Schreb. Siiugeth. iii. p. 4.51. 



