ORDER CARN&SSIER. 2?9 



D'Azzara, who describes this animal, at considerable 

 length, under the name of the Great Weazle, gives us no 

 account of its habits. It is said, however, to dig a retreat 

 for itself in the earth, and, as to its general habits, to re- 

 semble the Grison. It is an inhabitant of South America. 



There is a specimen, in the French Museum, drawn by 

 Major Hamilton Smith, and which, by his kindness, we are 

 enabled to present here. 



The Rattel is another species of Glutton, with a thick 

 and heavy body. The head is moderately large, devoid of 

 external ears ; the tongue aculeated ; the fur composed of 

 rough long hairs, ash-coloured on the forehead, upper part 

 of the head, neck, shoulders, back, and tail. It is black on 

 the muzzle, round the eyes, on the lower jaw, the ears, 

 under part of the neck, belly, breast, thighs, and legs, the 

 gray colour being separated from the black by a brighter 

 gray line, about an inch in width. 



This species seems to have been considered as exclusively 

 African, and is designated, by Linnaeus, under the addition 

 Capensis ; but General Hardwicke gives us an account, in 

 the ninth volume of the Linnsean Transactions, of an ani- 

 mal proper to India, which we shall, in part, subjoin, pre- 

 suming it to be the same as the species in question. 



He says, " The claws are unequal, those of the fore-feet 

 very long, and awl-shaped; the three middle ones much 

 longer than the two lateral ; the interior toe very remote 

 from the rest ; the claws of the hind toes remarkably short, 

 nearly equal, and bearing no comparison to the strength of 

 the fore-feet. 



" This animal is found in several parts of India, along 

 the courses of the Ganges and Jumna, in the high banks 

 which, in many parts, border these rivers. It is rarely seen 

 by day, but at night visits neighbouring towns and vil- 

 lages, inhabited by Mahomedans, and scratches up the re- 

 cently-buried bodies of the dead, unless they are quickly 

 covered with thorny bushes. 



