NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 
securely concealed by day and only issues forth in 
search of food by night. 
This genet, when standing fully upright with 
legs straightened, is about eight inches in height 
at the shoulder. Its low stature is owing to the 
extreme shortness of its legs in comparison with 
its body, which measures two feet from the nose 
to the root of the tail, and the latter is eighteen 
inches in length. The body colour of the animal 
is grey, with a slight yellow tinge; a black stripe 
extends down the centre of the back from the 
shoulder to the root of the tail; the neck and 
shoulders are more or less marked and striped with 
black; the body is covered with squarish spots, 
the larger of which are over an inch in diameter, 
arranged in three rows running longitudinally. 
The long tail is ringed black and white, the black 
rings being the broader. The distinguishing dif- 
ference between the Large-spotted Genet and the 
Small-spotted species is stated to be that in the 
former the tail tip is black, and in the latter it is 
white. This is by no means a constant guide, for 
several specimens of the Small-spotted Genet from 
the eastern part of the Cape Province which I have 
examined, have the tip of the tail black. The 
Large-spotted Genet, however, as its name implies, — 
can easily be distinguished from the others because 
of the comparative largeness of the black body-spots, 
which are arranged in three irregular rows. 
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