1908.] IX THE MUSTELINE CARNIVORA. 955 



young ones, being white, and others black. As a rule, however, 

 they are dark brown or blackish with the head and neck grey, 

 and there seems to be nearly always a conspicuous large yello^v 

 patch upon the chest. They eat a variety of food, and one that 

 lived some years in the Zoological Gardens was fed upon dates, 

 bananas, figs, and a little cooked meat. That the Tayra has in 

 a wild state the same savage disposition when attacking or attacked 

 as other mustelines, har-dly admits of a doubt ; but very little 

 appears to have been reeoixled of its habits. 



Some years ago Mr. 0. Thomas pointed out to me the 

 obvious resemblance between Qalera harhara and the South- 

 American Bush-dog, Si?eothos venaticus ; and it occuri-ed to me 

 that it might be mimetic. But I do not at present know enough 

 of the bionomics of the two species, to feel justified in doing more 

 than put forward this view as a theory for future confirmation or 

 refutation. In its favour it may be urged that there are no 

 reasons fov supposing that the dog is protected in any way from 

 larger carnivora, and it is apparently much rarer than Galera. 



A well-known European carnivoi'e with much the same style 

 of body-coloration as the Grison is the Badger (Jleles meles), 

 which is hoary grey above and black below and on the legs. The 

 coloration of the head, however, is very difl^'erent from that of the 

 Ratel, Grison, or Tayra, for it is white with a broad black band 

 •extending on each side from the muzzle across the eye to the ear, 

 which is itself white-rimmed ; and the chin and throat are black. 



Badgers are slow and leisurely in their movements, and have 

 earned a reputation for stupidity by the fearlessness and indifler- 

 ence of their manner towards things in general. Their diet is 

 mixed, but they subsist to a very great extent upon vegetable food. 

 In no sense are they dependent for a livelihood, so far as is known, 

 upon the capture of wary mammals or birds. When attacked, 

 they are notoriously most savage and formidable antagonists, 

 being gifted with exceptionally strong jaws, a thick, highly flexible 

 and loose skin, and wonderful tenacity of life. They also possess 

 stink-glands which exude a j^owerful and unpleasant odour. 

 The scent of the secretion has given rise to the epithet ' stinking- 

 brock,' and forms the basis of the well-known simile ' smells 

 like a badger.' 



At dusk, when badgers emerge to feed, they are rendered con- 

 spicuous by the whiteness of the head ; and looking into our 

 badger's cage in the Gardens in the evening, I have often been 

 struck by the ease with which the whereabouts of the animal 

 could be detected, especially when on the move, by the whiteness 

 of this region. 



Other species of Meles and the Indian Sand- Badger {Arctonyx 

 collaris) seem to agree with the European Badger in all resjsects 

 essential to the present argument in the matter of coloration and 

 mode of life ; and the same I sus^Dect is true of the American 

 form, Taxidea americana. 



A very unusual style of coloration is also presented by the 



