532 CARNIVORA 
of the head and body is 38 inches, and that of the tail about 40 
inches. It is probable that this animal should really be regarded 
as a slightly aberrant species of the genus Prionodon. 
The five following genera differ in several important respects 
from all the preceding, and collectively constitute the Paradoxurine 
section of Professor Mivart. With the exception of one African form, 
they are mainly Oriental. In this section the auditory bulla is 
frequently in two portions, the posterior moiety in one case being 
unossified, and it is always much narrowed in front (Fig. 239). 
The palate (as in the figure) may be much produced behind the 
molars ; and the teeth are often but slightly sectorial, and may be 
very small. The long tail is in most cases not ringed. 
Paradoxwrus1—Dentition: 1 3, ¢4, p 4, m 2; total 40. The 
blunt and rounded form of the cusps of the hinder premolar 
and the molar teeth distinguishes this genus from most of the 
members of the family. Vertebre: C 7, D 13, L 7, 8 3, C 29-36. 
Head pointed in front. Ears small, rounded. Body long. Limbs 
moderate. Palms and soles almost entirely naked, and joining the 
foot-pads without the intervention of any hairy space. Claws com- 
pletely retractile. Pupil vertical. Tail long, non-prehensile ; in 
the Indian species without rings. The Paradoxures or Palm-Civets 
are less strictly carnivorous than the other members of the family. 
They are mostly about the size of the common Cat, or rather larger, 
and are partly arboreal in their habits. The species are rather 
numerous, and present considerable variations in the details of the 
form and size of their molar teeth ; in only a few does the bony 
palate extend behind the molars. They are restricted geographic- 
ally to Southern Asia and the Indo-Malayan archipelago. The best 
known species? are P. niger, P. hermaphroditus, P. jerdoni, P. aureus, 
P. grayt from India and Burma, P. philippinensis of the Philip- 
pines, P. larvatus of Southern China and Formosa, P. leucomystax 
of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo, and P. musschenbroeki 
of Celebes. The name Paradoxurus was applied from the mistaken 
notion that the tail was prehensile. Mr. Blanford® gives the 
following account of the habits of P. niger: “The common Palm- 
Civet, Tree-Cat, or Toddy-Cat, is a familiar animal in most parts of 
India, though, being thoroughly nocturnal in its habits, it is but 
rarely seen in the daytime. It is arboreal, passing the day gener- 
ally in trees, either coiled up in the branches, or in a hole in 
the trunk, and in places where cocoa-nut palms are common it 
frequently selects one of them for a residence. Mango groves 
are also a favourite resort. It not unfrequently takes up its 
abode in the thatched roofs of houses ; Jerdon found a large colony 
1 F. Cuvier, Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes, No. 186 (1821). 
* See W. T. Blanford, Proc. Zool. Sov. 1885, p. 780. 
* Fauna of British India, ‘‘ Mammalia,” p. 108 (1888). 
