404 
THE STORY OF THE FOSSA . 
mg'. The picture, unfortunately, does not convey a correct idea of the dispo¬ 
sition of the animal, the splendid, serpent-like, wavy motions of its body, 
which is of a light brown color tinged with red and gray. The muscular 
structure, however, shows a powerful, compact build. The limbs, though 
small, are well knit. The ears are large and rounded, while the tail measures 
more than three-fourths of the length of the head and body. The fossa has 
a total of thirty-six teeth, of which the hinder ones, both in form and number, 
closely resemble those of the cat. 
It is because the fossa is the largest of the flesh-eating animals of Mada¬ 
gascar that the lemurs flourish in that island. The fossa undoubtedly kills 
many of the smaller lemurs, but owing to the agility of those monkey-like 
little animals, it is difficult for even such an active, agile animal as the fossa 
to catch them—hence many escape because the fossa turns its attention to 
the pursuit of still smaller and easier prey. 
