THE RATEL. 
15 
with which it was associated by Sparrman, and after 
him by the generality of writers on zoology, or with 
the Gluttons, by the side of which Baron Cuvier has 
proposed to place it. It must of necessity form the 
type of a new genus, which may be further characterized 
by its thick, heavy, depressed body; its short stout 
legs, with five toes upon each foot, each of the toes 
surmounted by slightly arched unretractile claws, 
grooved along their under surface, and much longer 
on the anterior than on the posterior feet; its total 
want of external ears, their place being supplied by a 
slightly elevated margin surrounding an auditory open- 
ing of moderate size ; the prolongation of its snout, 
which terminates in a soft and naked muzzle ; and the 
roughness of its tongue, which resembles that of the 
Cats in the sharpness, elevation, and backward direc- 
tion of its horny papillse. 
The Ratel was first clearly described by La Caille, 
in his Voyage to the Cape, under the misapplied desig- 
nation of Blaireau puant. This unmerited epithet has 
in all probability given rise to the general opinion that 
it is also the animal referred to by Kolbe as the Stinck- 
binksen of the Dutch colonists ; but there is scarcely 
any part of his account of that disgusting creature 
which fairly warrants the inference. It is far more 
likely that his beast was the Zorille, to which alone, 
of all the animals of Southern Africa, its manners bear 
a close resemblance. Our animal was afterwards de- 
scribed with tolerable accuracy by Sparrman under its 
Hottentot and colonial designation, which it has ever 
since retained. Gmelin, and Shaw adopting his error, 
have, however, contrived, with their usual carelessness 
of compilation, to subdivide these synonyms in such a 
manner as to form two distinct species of the Ratel 
alone ; La Caille supplying them with their Viverra 
