88 
Mustelid,® MAMMALIA. Mustelid/e. 
alligators, which in general were stupidly tame. On 
going into the room in the morning, I found the grison 
at large, and one of the alligators dead, with a hole 
eaten under the fore-leg, where the great nerves and 
bloodvessels were torn through ; and the other alligator 
began snai)ping furiously at every one wdio attempted 
to approach it.” The same eminent naturalist else- 
where remarks that this grison “ was as tame and 
Fig 
alTectionate as a dog ; and she follow'ed me,” he adds, 
“ wherever I w'ent about the house, w'as extremely 
frolicsome and playful, and wars delighted at being 
caressed. She would thi'ow herself on her back, and 
seize the hand that fondled her with all four of her 
paws and her mouth at the same moment, pressing it 
with her teeth, btit never sufficiently hard to cause the 
slightest degree of pain. She was extremely fond of 
2k 
Tlie Grison (Galictis vittata) 
eggs, which she ate in a very singular manner. On 
one being given her, she first played wdth it for some 
time, running backwards and at the same time pushing 
it under her belly with her fore-feet. At length she 
wmuld fix one of her sharp canine teeth through the 
shell, and lick or suck as much of the contents as 
would tlow through the oriiice. Then, again inserting 
her tooth, a piece of the shell was broken out so as to 
enable her to insert her tongue ; and, finally, the egg- 
shell was broken to pieces and each fragment carefully 
licked clean.” The grison is an inhabitant of the 
northern regions of Brazil, the specimens hitherto seen 
in this country having heen brought from Guiana and 
Paraguay. A brief, but very accurate description of a 
fine example captureil by Mr. Edmonston at Demerara, 
is described by Dr. Traill in the third volume of the 
Wernerian Society’s Transactions, It measured nearly 
three feet in length, including the tail which gave nine 
inches. In the list of Mustelidce preserved in the 
British Museum, this species is denominated Grissonia 
vittata. 
ALLAMAND’S GEISON (GalicHs AUamandi), ap- 
pears to be a well-marked form. Mr. Bell has given a 
beautiful figure of it, accompanied with another of th.e 
above, in the second volume of the Transactions of the 
Zoological Society. According to his description, 
‘■this species, though evidently distinct from the former, 
exhibits the same general character of colour and 
marking, with some remarkable dilferences, however, 
which, though not easily expressed in a specific phrase, 
are tangible and important. The whole of those parts 
which in the former species are j'ellowisn, are here per- 
fectly Avhite ; and those which are blackish-browm in 
the former, are in this pure black. The basal portion 
of the hairs on the back, therefore, is black, and the 
apical quite white, forming a pure blackish-grey or 
black, with white points and lines, whilst all the under 
parts of the throat and part of the belly are black. 
The fascia extending from the forehead to the sides 
of the neck is also white. This fascia does not extend 
in the specimen described so far back as in the former 
species. The hairs of the whole body are very short 
in comparison, and much stift'er and more closely set. 
The animal is considerably larger, and the tail, as far 
as can be ascertained from a stuffed specimen, short in 
]u'oportion.” As in the foregoing, its habits corre.spond 
with those of the weasels generally. 
THE ZORILLA {Zorilla striata ). — Several forms de- 
scribed under the generic title of Zorilla, are probably 
merely varieties of one and the same species. Perhaps 
two or three of them may fairly be regarded as distinct 
Their differentiation obtains chiefly in respect of coloui 
and other superficial characters, which, however, are 
in too many instances the only distinctions the zoolo- 
gist can rely on, as he may have none other to guide 
liim. The zorilla, known to the colonists at the Cajie 
of Good Hope by the name of muishond, possesses 
eighteen molar teeth, four being placed on either side 
above, and five correspondingly opposed on each side 
below. The prepared skeleton exhibits five vertebral 
segments in the lumbar region of the spine, while there 
are no less than fifteen pair of libs. The fur is of a 
