86 Mustelid^. MAMMALIA. Mustelidjk. 
the vent. The animal has the power of ejecting this 
secretion to. a distance of about two feet. “ The fetid 
matter itself is of a viscid nature ; its effects depend on 
its great volatility, and they spread through a great 
extent ; the entire neighbourhood of a village is infected 
by the odour of an irritated teledu, and in the imme- 
diate vicinity of the discharge it is so violent as in 
some persons to produce syncope.” Dr. Horsfield gives 
the following admirable account of its habits and sin- 
gular geographical distribution: — “The teledu is 
confined exclusively to those mountains which have 
an elevation of more than seven thousand feet above 
the level of the ocean ; on these it occurs with the 
same regularity as many plants. The long-extended 
surface of Java, abounding with conical points which 
exceed this elevation, afford many places favourable 
for its resort. On ascending these mountains, the 
traveller scarce!}^ fails to meet with our animal, which, 
from its peculiarities, is universally known to the inha- 
bitants of these elevated tracts ; while to those of the 
plains, it is as strange as an animal from a foreign 
country. A traveller would inquire in vain for the 
teledu at Batavia, Semarang, or Surabaya. In my 
visits to the mountainous districts, I uniformly met 
with it; and, as far as the information of the natives 
can be relied on, it is found on all the mountains. 
Most of these mountains and ridges furnish 
tracts of considerable extent fitted for the cultivation 
of wheat and other European grains. . . . These 
grounds and plantations are laid out in the deep vege- 
table mould, where the teledu holds its range as the 
most ancient inhabitant of the soil. In its rambles in 
search of food, this animal frequently enters the plan - 
tations, and destroys the roots of young plants ; in this 
manner it causes extensive injury, and on the Tengger 
Hills particularly, where these plantations are more 
extensive than in other elevated tracts, its visits are 
much dreaded by the inhabitants. It burrows in the 
earth with its nose in the same manner as hogs, and in 
traversing the hills its nocturnal toils are observed in 
the morning in small ridges of mould recently turned 
up. The mydaus forms its dwelling at a slight depth 
beneath the surface, in the black mould, with consider- 
able ingenuity. Having selected a spot, defended 
above by the roots of a large tree, it constructs a cell 
or chamber of a globular form, having a diameter of 
several feet, the sides of which it makes perfectly 
smooth and regular; this it provides with a subter- 
raneous conduit or avenue about six feet in length, the 
external entrance to which it conceals with twigs and 
dry leaves. During the day it remains concealed, like 
a badger in its hole ; at night it proceeds in search of 
its food, which consists of insects and their larvae, and 
of worms of every kind. It is particularly fond of the 
lumbrici, or earthworms, which abound in the fertile 
moulds. These animals, agreeably to the information 
of the natives, live in pairs, and the female produces 
two or three young at a birth. The motions of the 
mydaus are slow, and. it is easily taken by the natives, 
who by no means fear it. During my abode on the 
mountain Prahu, I engaged them to procure me indi- 
viduals for preparation ; and, as they received a desir- 
able reward, they brought them to me daily in greater 
numbers than I could employ. Whenever the natives 
surprise them suddenly, they prepare them for food ; 
the flesh is then scarcely impregnated with the offensive 
odour, and is described as very delicate. The animals 
are generally in excellent condition, as their food 
abounds in the fertile moulds. . . The mydaus is 
not ferocious in its manners ; and taken young, like 
the badger, it might be easily tamed. An individual 
which 1 kept some time in confinement afforded me an 
opportunity of observing its disposition ; it soon became 
gentle and reconciled to its situation, and did not at 
any time emit the offensive fluid. I carried it with me 
from Mountain Prahu to Blederan, a village on the 
declivity of that mountain where the temperature was 
more moderate. While a drawing was made, the ani- 
mal was tied to a small stake ; it moved about quietly, 
burrowing the ground with its snout and feet, as if in 
search of food, without taking notice of the bystanders, 
or making violent efforts to disengage itself. On earth- 
worms being brought, it ate voraciously ; holding one 
extremity of a worm with its claws, its teeth were 
employed in tearing the other. Having consumed 
about ten or twelve, it became drowsy, and making a 
small groove in the earth, in which it placed its snout, 
it composed itself deliberately, and was soon sound 
asleep.” 
THE NYENTEK {Helictis moschattis) is a rarer 
animal than the teledu, and more circumscribed in its 
geographical area of distribution. It is about sixteen 
inches in length, not including the tail, which measures 
six inches more ; this organ is bushy, terminating in 
long thick hairs. The head is small, gradually narrow- 
ing into an obtusely-pointed muzzle. The jaws are 
furnished with twenty- two mclars, the tuberculated 
pair above being small and widened transversely. The 
nostrils are notched at the side. The moustaches are 
few in number, long, and bristly. The ears are com- 
paratively large ; the eyes being rather prominent. The 
limbs are thin, terminating in five-toed plantigrade feet. 
The claws are shorter than those of the teledu, and 
are more strongly curved. This animal, says Dr. 
Horsfield, who described it as a species of Gulo, “ is 
somewhat smaller than the English pole-cat. The 
form of its body, in comparison with other gluttons, is 
rather slender ; it is thickly covered with fur, consisting 
of long hairs closely arranged, silky at the base, of a 
brown colour and somewhat glossjq with a slight tint 
of reddish-brown ; in certain lights it appears diversi- 
fied, greyish, and tawny. This fur covers the greatest 
part of the body and head, and the whole of the tail 
and extremities ; the colour of these parts is conse- 
quently brown, with occasional shades of rufous and 
tawny; the sides of the head, the neck, the throat, 
breast, and a broad spot on the top of the head, which 
passes, gradually decreasing in breadth, to the middle 
of the back, are white, with an obscure tint of isabella 
yellow of different degrees of intensity. This colour 
also exists, less distinct, in a longitudinal band along 
the lowest part of the abdomen.” Little or nothing is 
known of this animal’s habits, which are thought by 
Dr. Horsfield to be similar to those of the ratel. 
THE SKUNK {Mephitis americana), Plate 10, fig. 
33. — Various species of skunk have been described. 
