[    137  ] 
XVI.  Notice  of  a  Mammiferous  Animal  from  Madagascar,  constituting  a  New  Form  among 
^/le  Viverridous  Carnivora.    By  E.  T.  Bennett,  Esq.,  F.L.S.,  Sec.  Z.S. 
Communicated  April  9,  1833. 
]Wr.  TELFAIR,  the  President  of  the  Mauritius  Natural  History  Society,  and  a  most 
active  and  liberal  Corresponding  Member  of  our  body,  has  recently  presented  to  us  an 
animal  obtained  by  him  from  Madagascar,  which  exhibits  a  combination  of  characters 
hitherto  unnoticed.  I  hasten,  therefore,  to  lay  before  the  Society  some  account  of  it, 
although,  owing  to  the  youth  of  the  individual,  my  description  of  it  must  at  present  be 
in  some  respects  incomplete. 
It  belongs  to  the  family  of  Viverridce  among  the  Carnivorous  Mammalia,  having  the 
prickly  tongue,  the  two  tubercular  molar  teeth  in  tbe  upper  jaw,  and  the  other  characters 
by  which  the  Civets  are  distinguished  from  the  Cats  on  the  one  side,  and  from  the  Bogs 
on  the  other.  It  approaches  more  nearly  than  most  of  the  other  forms  of  this  family 
to  the  Felidce,  having  the  claws  on  both  feet  truly  retractile,  and  furnished  with  the 
retractile  ligaments ;  those  of  the  anterior  limbs  being  also  acute  both  at  their  points 
and  edges.  In  these  respects  it  agrees  with  Paradoxurus,  F.  Cuv.,  as  it  does  also  in 
the  nakedness  of  the  soles  of  its  feet,  and  in  the  union  of  the  toes  almost  to  their  ex- 
tremities by  an  interdigital  membrane.  From  Paradoxurus,  however,  it  differs  by  its 
short,  smooth,  and  adpressed  fur,  giving  it  an  appearance  remarkably  distinct  from 
animals  covered  by  loose,  spreading,  and  soft  hairs  ;  by  the  uniformly  haired  coat  of  its 
slender  cylindrical  tail,  the  equal  covering  of  which  on  all  its  surfaces  appears  to  indi- 
cate that  this  organ  is  not  capable  of  being  curled  in  the  manner  so  remarkable  in  the 
Paradoxuri ;  and  especially  by  the  possession  of  a  pouch  surrounding  the  anus,  which 
does  not  exist  in  that  genus.  In  Paradoxurus  Typus,  F.  Cuv.,  there  are  instead  of  anal 
pouches  two  bare  patches  in  the  female ;  one  surrounding  the  anus,  composed  of  nu- 
merous small  follicles  ;  the  second,  surrounding  the  vagina,  and  of  the  size  of  a  crown 
piece,  barer,  and  of  a  similar  glandular  nature.  In  the  Madagascar  animal  there  is,  on 
the  contrary,  no  naked  space  surrounding  the  anus  or  the  vagina  ;  the  skin  covering  the 
intervening  space  is  equally  hairy  with  the  adjoining  parts  ;  and  there  is  a  pouch  sur- 
rounding the  anus,  of  moderate  depth,  and  of  half  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  posterior 
margin  of  this  pouch  is  more  distant  from  the  anus  than  the  anterior ;  and  the  anterior 
edge  is  united  to  the  anus  by  a  fold  of  the  naked  skin  of  the  pouch,  forming  a  franum. 
On  account  of  its  possessing  an  anal  pouch,  I  propose  to  designate  the  genus,  of  which 
this  animal  may  be  regarded  as  the  type,  by  the  name  of  Cryptoprocta.  The  species 
may  be  named  Cryptoprocta  ferox. 
