192 



THE ANIMALS OF MADAGASCAR 



yet differs very markedly from all the rest of the group, and in the characters of 

 its teeth presents some approximation to the cats. In size this animal may be 

 compared to a slenderly built cat, with an enormously long tail, and short reddish 

 fawn fur. The five-toed feet are armed with sharp, retractile claws, and the entire 

 sole of the foot is naked and applied to the ground in walking. The question of 

 the affinities of the foussa has given rise to considerable differences of opinion ; 

 some naturalists regarding the foussa as closely related to the cats, while others 

 associate it with the civets. According to the latest researches, its relationships 

 are with the civets, the whole structure of the animal, the arrangement of the 

 foot-pads, the structure of the skeleton, the development of the auditory bulla of 

 the skull, the brain, in some degree the teeth, the liver, and to a great extent the 

 muscles being decisive on this point. On the other hand, it cannot be placed in 

 the same sub-family with either the civets or the mongooses, since it possesses 



STRIPED MOXGOOSE. 



primitive features which are doubtless common to the ancestors of both. Very 

 noteworthy is the fact that some of these characters connect Cryptojorocta on the 

 one hand with the cats (Felis), and on the other with the under-mentioned Malagas}^ 

 genera Galidia and Eupleres. The latter relationship is of interest as affording 

 additional evidence as to the mutual affinity of the members of the mammalian 

 fauna of Madagascar, the ancestors of which would appear to have simultaneously 

 reached the area now inhabited by their descendants at a time when it was still 

 connected with the old Indo- African continent. It should be added that a second 

 species of foussa has been described under the name of C. onajori, but this may 

 perhaps be only a race of the typical species. Very little is known with regard 

 to the habits of the foussa, although it is credited with an excessively savage 

 disposition. All the other Carnivora are likewise Viverriclcu. 



The mongooses, which form the second group of Malagasy 

 Carnivora, differ greatly from those of the neighbouring continent, 

 this being especially the case with the striped Galidictis striata and G. vittata, 



Mongooses. 



