IG 
MAMMALIAN GALLERY. 
similar to, the last, of which there are four or five African species, 
one of them, the Common Genet (G. vuJfjaris)^ extending into 
Europe as far north as Central France. (4) The Palm-Civets 
(Pfirucloxurus), long-bodied, short-limbed animals, with short ears, 
long powerful hairy tails, naked soles, and semi-retractile claws, 
common in India and the Malay Archipelago. They are arboreal 
in their habits, and feed either on rats, lizards, small birds and 
eggs, or on vegetable food, such as rice and fruit. (5) Tlie 
IMungooses (^Herpestes, &c.), of Africa and India, with naked soles, 
and long, straight, non-retractile claws. They feed on reptiles and 
birds, rats and mice, eggs, &c., and are often domesticated for the 
purpose of clearing houses of vermin. They are most useful in 
destroying poisonous snakes, whose bites they avoid by their won- 
derful watchfulness and agility ; the stories of their having recourse 
to some plant as an antidote to the snake’s poison are entirely 
without foundation. There are about 30 s])ecies of ]\Iungooses 
known, of which the most noticeable are the Egyptian ]\I ungoose 
{Herpestes ichneumon) , which is found also in Spain, and feeds 
largely on the eggs and young of the crocodile ; and the Grey 
Mungoose [Herpestes griseus), the species tamed in India. Some 
years ago the latter was introduced into the island of Jamaica, where 
rats had multiplied on the sugar-])lantations to such an extent as 
to inflict the greatest losses upon the jilanters, who were nearly 
ruined. In a short time the jMungooses cleared the plantations of 
the vermin, and are now under the protection of the law. 
Allied to the jMungooses are several aberrant animals found in 
[Madagascar, among which may be specially mentioned the curious 
Eupleres goudoti, exhibited in Case 18, which obtains the beetles 
and worms on which it lives by burrowing in the earth with its 
elongated snout. 
The second Suborder of the Carnivora, the Cynoidea, consists 
of a single family, the Canidee, or Dogs, Wolves, and Foxes. 
They are on the whole lightly built animals, of great speed and 
endurance, obtaining their prey, as a rule, by running it fairly 
down, rather than by pouncing upon it in the manner of the Cats 
and their allies. They are digitigrade, and have, with a single 
exception, five toes on their fore and four on their hind feet ; 
their palms and soles are always hairy, the only naked parts being 
