MUSTELIDAZ 577 
the latter. In spite of these differences the two are, however, so 
nearly allied that they might almost be considered as local races of 
a single widely spread species. 
The following account of the Indian species is extracted from 
Dr. Jerdon’s Mammals of India: “The Indian badger is found 
throughout the whole of India, from the extreme south to the foot 
of the Himalayas, chiefly in hilly districts, where it has greater 
facilities for constructing the holes and dens in which it lives ; but 
also in the north of India in alluvial plains, where the banks of 
Fia, 264.—The African Ratel (Mellivora ratel). 
large rivers afford equally suitable localities wherein to make its 
lair. It is stated to live usually in pairs, and to eat rats, birds, 
frogs, white ants, and various insects, and in the north of India it 
is accused of digging out dead bodies, and is popularly known as 
the grave-digger. It doubtless also, like its Cape congener, 
occasionally partakes of honey. It is often very destructive to 
poultry, and I have known of several having been trapped and 
killed whilst committing such depredations in Central India and in 
the northern Cirecars. In confinement the Indian badger is quiet 
and will partake of vegetable food, fruits, rice, etc.” 
A fossil species of Mellivora, apparently closely allied to the 
existing forms, occurs in the Pliocene Siwaliks of India. The same 
deposits have also yielded remains of an extinct genus described as 
Mellivorodon. 
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