373 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



scriptions which had been given of them appeared to repre- 

 sent animals altogether similar ; and in some systematic cata- 

 logues, where they had been distinguished from each other, 

 it was by characters which had no foundation in truth. The 

 differences, however, between these two animals have now 

 ceased to be a subject of doubt or controversy ; they have 

 both been possessed, alive, by the French menagerie, and 

 their external appearance alone is quite sufficient to pre- 

 vent any possible chance of their ever being confounded to- 

 gether in future. 



They are animals which, certainly, in physiognomy and 

 form, exhibit many mutual relations. In the principal points 

 of organization they entirely resemble — they have the same 

 teeth, the same organs of sense, motion, and generation. 

 Respecting these, under the article of the Genet, we shall 

 add as much to our author's description as may be necessary. 

 Here we propose to institute a comparison between the Civet 

 and the Zibeth, which will form the subject of our next 

 description. This last animal has the body pretty generally 

 covered with black spots, which are round and small, upon 

 a gray ground, occasionally tinted with brown, The Civet 

 has transversal bands, upon a gray ground, narrow, and 

 parallel with each other on the shoulders, larger on the 

 body and the thighs, and which are sometimes so much 

 approximated and curved as to form eye-like spots, like 

 those of the Panther ; eight or ten rings, of a blackish 

 brown, cover the tail of the Zibeth, while on that of the 

 Civet there are but four or five, and its extremity, for about 

 six inches, is entirely black, while the tail of the Zibeth is 

 of the same colour only for about two inches at the tip ; this 

 last has on the sides of the neck four black bands on a white 

 ground : the Civet has also a white with black bands, but 

 only three in number, and there are some trivial differences 

 in the position of the bands in each of these animals. 

 The Zibeth has a white spot under the eye, and the muzzle 



