76 



DESCRIPTION OF THREE 



of the food. The stomach is a smooth membranous bagpipe, exhibiting on 

 its outer surface the faintest indication merely of muscular fibre. 



The above remarks relative to the organization and habits of the Hir- 

 sute Paradoxurus are, in the main, equally applicable to the two following 

 species which I shall therefore characterise principally by such differences 

 as they exhibit. 



Paradoxurus Nipalensis, Mihi. The more peculiar habitat of this 

 species is the central region oi Nepal, where it is very common : but it is also 

 found in the northern, and occasionally on the confines of the southern, 

 region. It never quits the untamed forest, and very seldom the moun- 

 tainous country. The intestines of this species are somewhat longer than 

 in the last, or six times the length of the body and head ; and the crowns of 

 its molar teeth are rather flatter — indications of a less carnivorous habit 

 than are supported by the relative manners of the living animals as seen by 

 me in confinement, as well as by the contents of the stomachs of such as 

 were killed in the state of freedom. I kept an individual of this species for 

 four years ; and, though I took no pains to tame it, it exhibited many more 

 signs of docility than I ever witnessed in P. Hirsutns. The stomach too of 

 one which I shot in the forests of the central region contained only seeds, 

 leaves, grass, and unhusked rice. The caged animal was fed on boiled-rice 

 and fruits, which it preferred to animal food not of its own killing. When 

 set at liberty it would lie waiting in the grass for sparrows and mynas, spring- 

 ing upon them from the cover like a cat ; and when the sparrows, as fre- 

 quently happened, ventured into its cage to steal the boiled rice, it would 

 feign sleep, retire into a corner, and dart on them with unerring aim. 

 Birds, thus taken by itself, it preferred to all other food. 



This animal was very cleanly, nor did its body usually emit any offensive 

 odour, though when it was irritated, it exhaled a most fetid stench caused 

 by the discharge of a thin yellow fluid from four pores, two of which are 

 placed on either side the anus just within the sphincter. The organs 



