ORDER CARNASSIER. 381 



from the Mangoustes, with which, however, they have 

 a close analogy in the structure of their organs. This 

 lethargic state does not permit us to discover any thing like 

 intelligence in the Civets: it is probable, however, that 

 they have less of it in their wild state, but in captivity they 

 do nothing but eat and sleep. When they are irritated, 

 the musky odour which they spread becomes stronger ; and 

 from time to time it falls from the pouch, in small pieces, 

 about the size of a nut. 



The Civet is nearly two feet and a half in length ; the 

 tail is more than one foot, and the mean height of the 

 animal is about one foot three inches. 



The ancients appear to have been acquainted with no 

 species of this animal. As for the names of Civet and 

 Zibeth, they are but one and the same name, spelt dif- 

 ferently — Viverra Civetta is the scientific name. 



Though the Zibeth appears to have been many times 

 described, and known for a long period before Buffon, it 

 was, nevertheless, only from that illustrious writer that 

 naturalists learned to distinguish it from the Civet, with 

 which it had hitherto been confounded. Buffon himself 

 found so much resemblance between those animals, that 

 he doubted whether they should be considered as distinct 

 species or merely as varieties. This doubt might still sub- 

 sist, although Gmelin cut the difficulty short by separating 

 them, but for the observations of M. F.Cuvier; for the 

 Zibeth was not the subject of any other since the time of 

 Buffon. Buffon's uncertainty may be explained by the 

 bad state of the animals which he compared. The Civet 

 had been kept for a long time in a spirituous liquor, and 

 the Zibeth he did not see until after its death. It is well 

 known how much antiseptic liquids and disease will alter 

 and deteriorate all spotted furs. This alteration is quite 

 discoverable in the vague and indeterminate descriptions 

 which Daubenton gives of these animals, descriptions in 



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