136 Zoological Society. 



have already proved to exist, that they assume an unlooked-for de- 

 gree of interest ; and, having kept for some time a living specimen 

 of the common Paradoxurus, I think a few of the observations I have 

 made upon it may on this account be interesting, in connection with 

 the structural peculiarities which the receipt of a dead one has enabled 

 me to remark. 



The claws are as retractile as in the domestic Cat, although from 

 the absence of the long and soft hair, with which the sides of the toes 

 are clothed in the latter animal, they are fully exposed when in the 

 retracted position. But on examining the claws of the Paradoxure, 

 it becomes obvious that the raising of the point from the ground is 

 not the only means employed by Nature to maintain their sharpness. 

 Every one must have observed in the common Cat, as well as in the 

 larger species preserved in our menageries, the habit of occasionally 

 scratching or dragging with the claws against the surface of any hard 

 substance, a process not apparently calculated to improve their sharp- 

 ness, but obviously intended to aid the shelling off of the outer layer 

 of the claw, which is continually renewed by growth from the root, 

 and the blunted point is thus occasionally replaced by a new one. I 

 have not observed this habit in the living Paradoxurus ; but on ex- 

 amining the claws of the dead one, I noticed that some of them were 

 much larger than others, these being worn and blunted at the point, 

 while the smaller ones were sharp ; also that the series of claws on 

 each fqot were irregular as to their sizes, and that the corresponding 

 claws on the opposite feet in some cases differed greatly in size ; so 

 that it would appear, that in the absence of the scratching propensity, 

 the claws scale off naturally, and to a much larger extent at a time 

 than in the Cats. I have occasionally noticed my living specimen with 

 a claw apparently loose, but the casting off of the outer layer of the 

 nail is a difficult thing to verify by actual observation. 



On one occasion, my specimen having escaped from his cage, on my 

 seizing him by the neck for the purpose of replacing him therein, he 

 made use of his claws to defend himself, just as a cat would naturally 

 be expected to do ; while it is well known that any animal of the dog 

 tribe, being seized in that manner, is helpless,, having no instinct 

 prompting him to make use of his extremities against his captor ; in 

 this tribe also the paws are never used for seizing, but only for the 

 purposes of locomotion, and to steady the prey upon the ground, 

 while the teeth perform their office. The positions sometimes assumed 

 by the Paradoxurus in a state of repose, also resemble those of the 

 cat ; for instance, it frequently lowers the body between the fore-paws, 

 approximating the shoulder to the foot, while the elbow remains raised 

 by the side : the canine animals, on the other hand, never crouch with- 

 out applying the elbow to the ground. The Paradoxurus again re- 

 sembles the Cat in the habit of occasionally bending the head verti- 

 cally beneath the neck while asleep, a position never assumed by the 



In all the anatomical characters which in my former communica- 

 tion I assigned to the Felidae (in which family the viverrine section is 

 included), the Paradoxurus fully agrees ; those presented by the gene- 



