CARISIVORA. 117 
whence they are called vermiform animals, and a 
verminium genus by John Ray. 
The head is small and oval, and the forehead 
flattish j the jaws are rather short ; the external ears 
are short, and rounded; the tongue is nearly smooth; 
their legs are very short in proportion to the length 
of their bodies, having five toes before and behind, 
armed with strong, curved, acute claws, which, in 
many of the species, are very slightly retractile. The 
tail is of a moderate length. They have no glandular 
pouch near the anus, the true viverrm excepted, but 
they have some small glands placed there, that 
secrete a fatty substance, which has a strong, and, 
to many, a very disagreeable odour, although it is 
highly prized by others*. 
Their teeth differ, and seem to indicate, that they 
are not all equally carnivorous ; for if a calculation 
were made mathematically of the relative propor- 
tions of fiat to cutting surfaces among them, some 
families would be found to vary from others in this 
particular. Cuvier, with his accustomed minuteness, 
notices and takes advantage of the varieties in 
number and conformation of the cheek-teeth, to 
distinguish the p.utorii, or polecats ; the mustelw, 
* There is no sense on which people have such a difference of 
opinion as that of odour; for there are many scents, which are so 
disagreeable to some, that they can scarcely bear to be in the room 
with them, while others do not smell them at all, as that of the iris 
persica. Several of the senses seem in this predicament ; for Dr. 
Wollaston has proved it to be the case with hearing, in his celebratecl 
paper on sounds inaudible to certain ears.- — J. E. G. 
