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V.  On  the  Characters  and  Description  of  a  new  Genus  of  Carnivora,  called  Cynictis. 
By  W.  Ogilby,  Esq.,  A.M.,  F.L.S.,  R.  Ast.  S.,  Z.S.,  S^c. 
Communicated  March  12,  1833. 
That  the  work  of  Creation  was  originally  complete  and  perfect  in  all  its  parts,  that 
no  hiatus  existed  among  natural  bodies,  or,  in  other  words,  that  no  individual  stood 
completely  apart  from  surrounding  groups,  but  that  all  were  connected  by  a  uniform 
gradation  of  intermediate  forms  and  characters,  is  a  law  of  natural  history  which  every 
day's  experience  tends  more  strongly  to  confirm.  It  is  true  that,  even  at  the  present 
time,  many  instances  might  be  brought  forward  in  the  animal  kingdom,  of  insulated 
groups,  apparently  united  by  no  connecting  links  ;  and  many  others,  more  particularly 
among  the  larger  Hoofed  Quadrupeds,  in  which  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any 
such  connecting  links  exist  in  the  actual  state  of  things  :  but  in  the  one  case  we  have 
daily  opportunities  of  verifying  the  general  law  by  the  discovery  and  introduction  of 
new  animals  from  remote  and  unexplored  regions ;  and  in  the  other,  the  combined  re- 
searches of  modern  zoology  and  geology  have  brought  to  light  numerous  genera  and 
species,  long  since  swept  from  the  surface  of  the  earth  by  various  convulsions  of  na- 
ture and  the  consequent  changes  produced  in  the  physical  character  of  the  globe, 
which  fill  up  the  chasms  that  would  otherwise  appear  among  the  forms  and  characters 
of  existing  animals. 
The  little  animal  which  forms  the  subject  of  the  present  memoir,  afibrds  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  truth  of  these  reflections.  It  forms,  in  truth,  the  type  of  a  genus 
which  connects  the  family  of  the  Civets  with  that  of  the  Dogs,  in  all  their  most  essential 
characters;  participating  with  the  one  in  its  organs  of  mastication,  and  with  the  other 
in  those  of  locomotion,  and  consequently  ranging,  with  the  Proteles  of  M.  Isidore 
GeofFroy-St.-Hilaire,  as  a  second  genus  intermediate  between  these  two  groups.  The 
Proteles,  however,  partakes,  in  some  degree,  of  the  characters  of  the  Hyanas ;  the  pre- 
sent animal,  as  we  shall  presently  demonstrate  more  at  large,  is  more  immediately  in- 
terposed between  the  Dogs  and  Ichneumons,  to  the  latter  of  which  it  bears  a  pretty  close 
resemblance  in  external  form  and  appearance.  The  name  Cynictis,  by  which  I  propose 
to  distinguish  this  genus,  is  intended  to  express  the  double  relation  which  it  bears,  on 
the  one  hand  to  the  Dogs,  and  to  the  Viverra  generally  on  the  other.  The  legs  are 
high,  and  completely  digitigrade  ;  the  toes  long,  and  well-separated  from  one  another ; 
the  claws  long,  curved,  and  moderately  sharp,  like  those  of  the  kindred  genera  Her- 
pestes  and  Ryzcsna ;  the  forms  of  the  head  and  body  are  likewise  similar ;  but  in  the 
number  of  its  toes  the  Cynictis  is  intermediate  between  these  two  genera,  there  being 
