On the Civet of the continent of India. 55 



Civets, and constituted them a new group, which is equal- 

 ly distant from Viverra on one side and Genetta on the 

 other. 



The Viverrula are not one-third of the size of the 

 Viverra ; they have the true Vermiform structure ; the 

 thumbs are more remote than in Viverra ; and the animals 

 are enabled, and wont with their more acute and more feline 

 talons, to climb with facility, a faculty wholly denied to the 

 Viverra. Lastly, whereas the latter are more common in 

 the mountains than in the plains, the former are exclusively 

 confined to the plains, where they appear to be spread 

 universally from Cape Comorin to the base of the Himalaya. 

 How many distinct species India possesses of the small, 

 as well as of the large Civets may perhaps be disputed, but 

 Bengalensis, Indica, et Rasse, certainly appear to be distinct, 

 whilst, if Civetta et Zibetha be justly sundered, our present 

 subject, or Melanurus, may prove to be independent of 

 either. The young I procured are believed, with some rea- 

 son, to have belonged to this species, which therefore would 

 appear to produce four perfect young ones at a birth, at the 

 beginning of summer (the teats are six and ventral) ; and 

 as these helpless little creatures were found on the bare 

 ground, the species would seem seldom or never voluntarily 

 to seek the shelter of holes or burrows, though I have known 

 it do so for safety when pursued. 



These animals, in the mountains, dwell in forests or de- 

 tached wood and copses, whence they wander freely into the 

 more open country by day (occasionally at least) as well 

 as by night ; for I have seen one killed at noon three miles 

 from cover, in the midst of the fields of this valley. They 

 are solitary and single wanderers, even the pair being seldom 

 together, and they feed promiscuously upon small mammals, 

 birds, eggs, snakes, frogs, insects, besides some fruits and roots. 

 In the Tarai the larger Viverrae are found in uncultivated 

 copses, and they are said further to protect themselves by 



