VIVERRA RASSE. 
The entire length of our animal, from the end of the muzzle to the root of the 
tail, is one foot and eleven inches : the head measures five inches and one-fourth, and 
the tail twelve inches ; the distance between the ears, at the base, is ten lines. A 
very perfect specimen of the Viverra Zibetha, the Tanggalung of the Malays, 
forwarded from Sumatra by Sir Stamford Raffles, affords the means of shewing more 
distinctly the peculiarities of the Rasse, by a careful comparison. The Tanggalung 
is two feet six inches long ; the head measures six inches and three-fourths, and the 
tail eleven inches. The space between the ears is two inches. The proportions of 
the parts of the body of the two species are very different. The Viverra Zibetha is 
comparatively a stout animal ; the neck is short and thick, and the breast full and 
distended. The head, which in the Rasse is regularly attenuated, in form of a wedge, 
in the Tanggalung is swelled, rounded and bulging before the ears, and then very 
abruptly contracted to a short muzzle. The ears are ten lines distant in the Rasse, 
and two inches in the Zibetha; this character gives a very different physiognomy to 
the two animals. The tail is nearly cylindrical in the Tanggalung ; in the Rasse it 
is regularly and uniformly attenuated to a point, In the hairy covering, or fur, 
these two animals are essentially different; while it is rigid, coarse, and rather scantily 
disposed in the Rasse, it is close, soft to the touch, and provided with much down 
at the base in the Tanggalung, and its thickness affords a peculiarity to the tail of 
the latter. 
I shall now concisely enumerate the distinctions afforded by the external marks. 
The Viverra Zibetha has a single black line, of considerable breadth, in the highest 
part of the back, bounded on each side by a white line ; exterior to this is an inter- 
rupted line of a dark colour, while the rest of the back and sides is covered with 
smaller spots, disposed in such a manner as to give the appearance to these parts of 
being transversely undulated. In the Rasse eight regular parallel lines are clearly 
distinguishable. The upper parts of the head and neck present no difference in these 
two animals ; but the marks on the lateral and anterior parts of the neck are very dark 
in the Zibetha, while they are faint and indistinct in the Rasse. The rings are strongly 
marked, and pass uniformly around the tail in the Rasse; in the Viverra Zibetha 
they are irregularly defined, and scarcely perceptible on the under side of the tail 
The name Rasse, like many other Javanese names, is derived from the Sanskrit 
language ; and it is therefore entitled to be employed as a specific name, with the 
same propriety as Civetta and Zibetha, which are derived from the Arabic. Rasse, 
as employed by the Javanese, is a modification of Rasa, and is applied to our animal as 
producing an odoriferous substance. In the original, Rasa has various significations, of 
which flavour or taste appears to be the primary meaning; the others also relate chiefly 
