1 
Carnivora. ] 
resembles somewhat tlie call of a hen to her chickens. 
It is about the size of the common Marten, and in 
color is a uniform black, slightly tinged with brown, 
with the exception of a large white patch, which 
covers the throat and upper portion of the chest. It 
is said to burrow in the ground for its breeding’ re- 
treat. Linnseus called it the Mustela barbara; and 
it was known to Prince Maximilian as IMustela 
gulina ; to Erxleben as M. galera. Illiger calls it 
Gulo canescens ; Retz and Desm, Gulo barbatus ; 
Trail, Yiverra polioce|)hala ; Schreb, Viverra vulpe- 
cula ; Brown and Buffon, Galera subfusca. It is 
found in the Brazils and various parts of tropical 
America. 'I'hree varieties are mentioned by Gray, 
one as having the. head and shoulders gray-brown, 
another with head grayish, and a third having a 
dark grizzled head. Two extinct species of Galera 
are found in the Post Pliocene of North America. 
Family— VIVERRID^E. 
This family is represented in America by only one 
genus, and one species only of that genus. One 
hundred species are enumerated by Wallace as in- 
habiting the Old World. One species, the Genette. 
is indigenous to the southern part of Europe. They 
are mostly animals of a medium size, with a slender 
and elongated body, a pointed muzzle, and a long 
and annulated tail. Most of the species have hairy 
soles, while in others they are bare. Their walk is 
plantigrade. They have the two anal glands of the 
Mustelidce, with others in the anal and pubic regions 
peculiar to them. 'I’he African form, the Civet Cat, 
furnislies to commerce the well-known musky mat- 
ter, called Civet, a secretion from some of the peculiar 
anal glands. Dr. Gray has a careful revision of the 
Viverridm in Proc. Zodl. Soc., London, 1864, in which 
he divides the group into thirty-six genera. Two 
prominent sub-divisions of the group include the Cat- 
footed and the Dog-footed, so called by the same 
author. Tlie former are represented by the Civets 
and the Paradoxuri. The latter are queerly denom- 
inated such from some fancy of an observing natural- 
ist tliat the individuals of the group have a way of 
exhibiting their tails in extraordinary contortions; 
hence the two terms, paradox and ttrics — “ unexpect- 
ed tailed.” 'I'lie other group includes the Ichneu- 
mons. Fossil remains of both groups have been 
found in Miocene strata in the south of France. 
The Ictitherium is one genus found in the Miocene 
of Greece. Soricictis, Tylodon and Palmonyctis are 
other extinct genera found in the same localities. 
AMERICAN CIVET {Bassaris astuta.) — Fig. xii. — 
'I'liis being tlie only creature in America at all in 
affinity with this family, it is most certainly ap- 
propriate to call it as above. The IMexican terms 
Cacomi.xle and Tepemaxthalon are local, and less 
distinctive. Bassaris, from the Greek, indicates a 
supposed resemblance to the Fox. In Mexico and 
California it is called Mexican or Ring-tailed Cat. 
Dr. Newberry gives the following account of this 
unique animal in the IL S. Pacific R. R. Report 
on Mammah: “’This beautiful animal, which was 
formerly supposed to be peculiar to Texas and 
Mexico, has since been found somewhat abundantly 
in California. The district in which it occurs, if not 
exclusively, certainly most abundantly, is that in- 
cluding the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada, on the 
eastern side of the great trough of San Joaquin and 
Sacramento. In this half-wooded region, the home 
of the gold hunter, it is well known. The miner 
calls it the Mountain Cat. It frequently enters his 
tent and plunders his provision bag. When caught, 
as it often is, it becomes so familiar and amusing, 
and does so much to relieve the monotony of the 
miner’s life, that it is highly valued, and commands 
quite a large price. The Bassaris is, perhaps, equally 
Fig. xii. 
efficient as a mouser with the common Cat, is much 
more playful, and, to a large number of the members 
of every community who are Cat-haters, might be a 
desirable substitute.” Mr. Charlesworth sent some 
specimens of the Bassaris to the British Museum, 
and remarks that it is sometimes called Basset, and 
that the Mexican term is pronounced Cacomistle. 
He says it is abundant in the city of ^lexico, and 
that it frequents the barns and out-houses, like the 
Cat, seeming never to be met with far from the 
abodes of man. Its habits are nocturnal. Its ravages 
among the hen-roosts and pigeons earn for it an un- 
desirable reputation, differing in this respect from 
the same among the miners of California, where it 
proves a pleasing pet. It has two or three at birth. 
Mr. Waterhouse observes that the skull has all the 
characters of the Paradoxuri. 
Extinct Forms allied to Dogs and Cats. 
Canidoi . — Fossil remains of Canine animals have 
been known more than one hundred years. In 1772 
they were found in the caves of Franconia, in Europe. 
Schmerling found bones of the domestic Dog in the 
caverns of Liege. The common Wolf of the present 
day seems to have existed in these caverns at the 
same period; and the two were probably co-existent 
with pre-historic Man. Remains of the Dog were 
found by Lund in the caverns of Brazil, and they are 
regarded as bearing a close relation to those of the 
species now existing in the same region. 
Canis . — Fossil extinct species of this genus have 
been taken from Upper Miocene deposits of the Si- 
