484 ZOOLOGY. 
terminated by long curved nails. Some species, instead of a glandular 
pouch, have a simple fold beneath the tail. The habits are nocturnal. 
Four species of this genus are known: the wolverine or glutton (Gulo luscus) 
existing in the arctic regions of both hemispheres, another in Africa, and 
two in tropical America. 
“This animal,” says Buffon, who kept one alive for several months, “is 
pretty wild; he avoids water, and dreads horses, and men dressed in black. 
He moves by a kind of leap, and eats pretty voraciously. After taking a 
full meal, he covers himself in the cage with straw. When drinking he 
laps hke a dog. He utters no cry. After drinking he throws the remainder 
of the water on his belly with his paws. He is almost perpetually in motion. 
If allowed he would devour more than four pounds of flesh in a day; he 
eats no bread, and devours his food so voraciously, and almost without 
chewing, that he is apt to choke himself.” 
The French name of Glouton is an allusion to its avidity in swallowing 
its food. 
There is one fossil species of the genus Gulo from central Europe, and 
another from the Brazilian caverns, if it belongs not to another genus. 
The genus Taxotherium is extinct, and contains but one species from the 
tertiary basin of Paris. It belongs undoubtedly to this family, and comes 
perhaps nearer to Procyon than to any other genus. 
The genus Ratelus (the ratel) approaches the cats by its teeth, while its 
whole exterior is that of the grison or badger. The legs are short, five toes 
to each, and the nails very strong. One species, of the size of the badger, 
inhabits the Cape of Good Hope, where it digs up the earth with its long 
claws in search of the honeycomb of the wild bees. 
Fam. 8. CERCOLEPTIDZ. Composed only of one species, known by the 
name of potto in tropical America and the West Indies. It constitutes the 
genus Cercoleptes, which gave its name to the family. It has, according to 
Cuvier, a plantigrade walk, and possesses a prehensile tail. It climbs,like a 
lemur, with agility, is nocturnal in its habits, and feeds also on some vege- 
table substances, and we are told by Humboldt that it is fond of the honey 
of wild bees. It has puzzled all the systematic writers. 
Fossil remains found in France, described under the name of Palecyon, 
seem to belong to this family, or rather the Procyonide, if the present one 
is a mere deviation from the latter. The only species known had been pre- 
viously named Arctocyon primevus. 
Again, in the Brazilian caverns, there are remains found which bear the 
same relation to this tribe as the preceding genus. The genus Amphicyon 
has been proposed for them. It contains several species. 
Tribe 2. Digitigrada. 
The animals of this group, instead of placing the whole of the foot on the 
ground, walk on the ends of their toes. None of them pass the winter in a 
torpid state. 
Fam. 1. Musrenipz. The body is long and vermiform, with short 
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