THE GENETTS. 
1ST 
GENETTS. 
A small, but rather important, gronp of the Yiverrine animals, is that the members of 
which are known by the name of the Genetts. These creatures are all nocturnal in their 
habits, as are the civets, and, like those animals, can live on a mixture of animal and vegetable 
food, or even on vegetable food alone. The Genetts possess the musk-secreting apparatus, 
which much resembles the pouch of the civet, although in size it. is not so large, nor does it 
secrete so powerfully smelling a substance as that of the civets. The secreting organ, although 
it resembles a pouch, is not so in reality, being simply composed of two glands, united to each 
other by a strip of skin. 
The best known of these animals is the Common, or Blotched Genett, an inhabitant of 
Southern Africa and of various other parts of the world, beiug found even in the south of 
BLOTCHED GENETT.— Genetta vulgaris. 
Prance. It is a very beautiful and graceful animal, and never fails to attract attention from 
an observer. The general color of the fur is gray, with a slight admixture of yellow. Upon 
this groundwork dark patches are lavishly scattered, and the full furry tail is covered 
with alternate bands of black and white. The muzzle would be entirely black but for a 
bold patch of white fur on the upper lip, and a less decidedly white mark by the nose. The 
feet are supplied with retractile claws, so that the animal can deal a severe blow with 
its outstretched talons, or climb trees with the same ease and rapidity which is found in the 
cat tribe. 
Another pretty species of this genus is the Pale, or Senegal Genett. 
The fur of this animal is whiter than that of the Blotched Genett, and the markings 
are rather differently arranged. Along the spine a nearly unbroken dark stripe is drawn, 
and upon the neck and shoulders the spots have a tendency to merge into each other 
and to form stripes, extending from the head along the neck and over the shonlders. On 
