CARNIVORA. 
2,59 
THE CAPE GLUTTON, OR RATEL. LE RATEL. 
Viverra Mellivoray et V. Capensis. L. 
The modem genus gulo includes many species, 
taken from the ursi, viverrm, and mustelae of Linnaeus 
and other systematical writers. In the plantigrade 
step of these animals they are assimilated to the 
bears ; but in the carnivorous character of the teeth 
they approach the weasels. Identified, therefore, 
with neither, they are properly separated from both ; 
and the present animal is presumed to be the same 
as the Cape weasel and honey weasel of Pennant and 
Shaw. 
The opposite figure of the ratel is from a specimen 
in the museum of the Surgeons’ College ; and we 
shall add Col. Hardwicke’s account of the animal, 
as found in India. 
“ The claws are unequal ; those of the fore feet 
very long, and awl-shaped ; the* three middle ones 
much longer than the two lateral ; the interior toe 
very remote from the rest; the claws of the hind 
toes remarkably short, nearly equal, and bearing no 
comparison to the strength of those of the fore feet. 
“ This animal is found in several parts of India, 
along the courses of the Ganges and Jumna, in the 
high banks which in many parts border those rivers. 
