GENETS. 
455 
civets, the genets may be distinguished by the greater proportionate length 
and slenderness of their bodies, and their shorter legs, as well as by their 
longer and more tapering tails, and their shorter and blunter claws. Then, again, 
the hind-foot of a genet will be found to differ from that of a true civet by having 
a narrow naked surface extending for a long distance in the under-surface behind 
the pads. Another point of difference is to be found in the absence in the genets 
of a pouch for containing the secretion; a character in which they agree with the 
fossa described on p. 449. All these animals have short and soft fur, of which the 
ground-colour is brownish-yellow or greyish. Down the middle of the back runs 
THE GENET (j liat. size). 
a black line, while the sides of the body are marked with black or brown spots; 
and there are also characteristic dark and light markings on the head and face. 
The black rings on the tail, which are variable in number, are generally narrower 
than the intervening white spaces. 
As the true civets are mainly Oriental in their distribution, having only one 
species beyond the limits of that region, so the genets are chiefly African. The 
common genet (Genetta vulgaris), which occurs in the northern part of Africa, is, 
indeed, the only species found beyond that continent, its range extending into 
Spain, the south of France, and South-Eastern Asia. In 1890 a single specimen 
was recorded from the department of Eure, in the north of France. It is definitely 
known from Asia in Syria, but may also occur in South-East Persia. Of the four 
