42 Observations on the Manners and Structure 



genuinely feline character. The toes are five and similar 

 before and behind, whereof the two central are longest 

 and equal ; the two laterals, less advanced, are also equal 

 or nearly so ; and the innermost, still more withdrawn from 

 the front, are the least in size, as in the catfs anterior ex- 

 tremities. The animaPs action is purely digitigrade ; and the 

 feet throughout their soles are well furred, except the balls 

 or pads, which are nude and soft, five to support the ends, 

 and four to sustain the basses of the toes. There is also a 

 round metacarpal ball, but no metatarsal one. The long and 

 perfectly cylindric tail is equal to the body and neck in 

 length, and the hair upon it is scarcely longer or less smooth 

 than upon the body. The tongue is aculeated backwards 

 as in the cat ; and, like the cat's, the Prion odon is void 

 either of anal or pubic glands or pores, so that the living 

 animals are perfectly free from all offensive odour or peculiar 

 scent. The females have four teats, of which two are in- 

 guinal, and two placed entirely at the other end of the ab- 

 domen, may be called sub-sternal. The membraneous stomach 

 is bagpipe-shaped rather, the upper end being somewhat the 

 wider : its orifices are terminal, and it measures five and a 

 half inches along the greater arch, and one and three-quarters 

 along the lesser. The liver is six-lobed, and the small gall- 

 bladder half buried in a cleft of the largest lobe, whence 

 a large duct conducts the thin greenish-yellow bile into the 

 intestinal canal. The intestines, twenty-six to twenty- seven 

 inches long, are somewhat larger in diameter below the 

 caecum, which is fully three quarters of an inch long and 

 nipple-shaped, or cylindric with a round end. 



In the brilliancy of its colours and the smoothness of its 

 soft fur, this beautiful little animal rivals the leopards. The 

 ground colour is rich fulvous or ruddy yellow, and the marks 

 are jet black. Upon the neck the marks are linear ; upon the 

 body and limbs, globose. The head is nearly or quite un- 

 marked, but it is shaded with dusky black on the dorsal surface. 



