CARNARIA. 85 



covered with long liair, and liavc n tuft at caoh ear. The tail is long, hairy, and has a propensity to 

 cnrl, as if preliensilc ; [\\hich it really is : tticir whiiskers are long and conspicuous]. 



They arc also natives of India, for (lU:' tirst knowledge of wliicli we are indebtL'd to M. du Vancel. ( tne sjiecies 

 {let. albifroiiH, F. Cuv.) is ?:rey, with the tail and sides of the muzzle black; of the size of a lari^e Cat; from 

 lioiitan. Another (let. nicr, F. Cuv.) is black, with a whitish muzzle, and as !arg;e as a stout Uog ; from Malacca. 

 [The latter is merely the male, and the other the female of the same sjiecies, wliich is rather a slow-moving; 

 animal, allied to the last in habit, of a timid disposition, and easily tamed. The lcfi.de dorcc, F. Cuv., is a 

 species of Riusang {Paradoxurus). ] 



The Coatimondis [Nasua, Storr), — 

 To the dentition, tail [wliich however is longer], nocturnal life, and slow dragging gait of the 

 Ilaccoons, add a singularly elongated and moveable snout. Their feet are semi-pahnate, notwitli- 

 standing which they cliud:) trees [with great facility, and descend them head foremost, clinging by 

 their hind feet, which they almost reverse]. Tlieir long claws serve them to dig with ; [and they feed 

 voraciously on earth-worms, slugs and snails, also on small nianinialians (which tiiey catch adroitly), 

 birds and their eggs, together with fruits and vegetables]. They inhabit the Avarm parts of America, 

 and suljsist on nearly the same food as our Martens. 



The Red Coatimoudi {V/vcrra na^-uay Lin. ; N. rufa, Desni.) — Rufo-fulvous, the muzzle and caudal annulations 

 brown. And the Brown Coatimondi {V. narica, Lin. ; N. fuse a, Desm.)— Brown, with white spots over the eye 

 and snout. [These animaks employ their claws to divide flesh, which they thus tear and separate before devour- 

 ing it.] 



The Kinkajou (Cercoleptes, Illigcr) — 

 Can scarcely he introduced elsewhere than in this }dace [wliich is unqncstionahly its true position]. 

 To the plantigrade gait, it joins a very long tail, prehensile, as in the Sapajous*, a short muzzle, slender 

 and extensile tongue, with two pointed grinders before, and three tuberculous ones backward, [the 

 lirst of wliich latter represents the carnivorous tooth]. 



But one speciL'S is known {Viverra caiidivo/.vi/la, Gin.), from the warm parts of America and some of the Great 

 Antilles, where it is named Potto-f : size of a Fitchet, [and larger] ; the fur woolly, and of a yellowish [or o:oldeii] 

 brown : nocturnal, and of a mild and ;;entle disposition ; subsisting on fmits, honey, milk, blood, &c. [It is emi- 

 nently an arboreal quadrui)ed, ^\liich mo^'cs with a cautious y;ait, recalling- to mind some of the Qnadnimaiia. 



There is a Mexican animal to which Lichtenstein has assigned the generic name Bassari.';, and which 

 Blainville and others have associated with the Viverrinc genera, but which I greatly suspect must 

 rather be jjlaccd near the Kinkajou, though I have not at present the means of ascertaining its cha- 

 racters. In form it is not unlike a Musang {Paradoxurus.) X 



The remaining genera are only semi-plantigrade (that is, they do not bring the heel quite 

 to the ground), and possess but one tuberculous grinder, \\hieh varies greatly in extent of 

 surface : none of them become torpid in winter; and they all emit, when alarmed, a defensive 

 odour, \A Inch in many is horribly fetid.] 



The Badgejis {MeJes, Storr), § — 

 M'hicli Linnseus placed, together with the Raccoons, in his genus of Bears, have one ver;^ small tooth 

 behind the canine, then two pointed molars, followed in the upper jaw by one which we begin to 

 recognize as carnivorous, from the trace of a cutting character which it exhibits on its outer side ; 

 behind this is a square tuberculous tooth, the largest of the series ; and, on the lower jaw, the last but 

 une likewise commences to bear some resemblance to the inferior carnivorous tooth ; but as there 

 arc two tubercles on its inward border as elevated as its cutting point, it performs the office of a 

 tuberculous one; the last below is very ^mall. [The Badger, in fact, has precisely the same den- 

 tition as the ^Yeasels and Otters, iiresenting a modification of that {\\iQ for less carnivoruus regimen.] 

 These animals have the tardy gait and nocturnal habit of all the preceding ; their tail is short, [and 



*■ O.ic -vhicli 1 liail iLn oppurlunity ol Mij,h-iii|;. -.^^ 

 in ;i room, posscKseU the pru-li ensile powtT ol llie t 

 iimUcrate de(,Tce, merely rcstini; sli^rl'tly oii thi 

 sfilTc'itcrl [Urouyliout its length, (iiid never eoiled in 



S.p.,i0UH.^E«. 



I Tills term, ftpplicii by Oil- nc|,Toes in Afncii to 

 (PfTadi'tirtis), has been introduced by tbem, aud i 

 c.iuiCTios.-Eo. 



1 Stroni,' presumptive evidence th/it the Basset {B(iss':ris) docs not 

 appert:iiii to the Vi\-errine g-roup, is iifTorded by tlic restriction of the 

 geograpliic ranjje of the latter to the eastern hemisphere, in everj- 

 other inslniice. The preaeii'jc or abacnue of a L-cecum would deeitle 

 the •|ii!.'s(ioi:. 



