PALM-CIVETS. 
457 
inches. The body has a greyish ground-colour, marked with about six very 
broad and somewhat irregular brownish-black transverse bands extending across 
the back, and separated by very narrow intervals. On the flanks and neck the 
markings form broken longitudinal lines and spots, one very distinct line always 
extending from behind the ear to the shoulder. The outer surfaces of the 
fore-limbs and of the thighs are spotted; and the tail has seven complete 
dark rings, separated by narrower light interspaces; its tip, as in the genets, 
being lighter. 
The spotted linsang ( L. par dicolor), which is found from the South-Eastern 
Himalaya to Yunan, is a somewhat smaller animal; the length of the head and 
body being only 15 inches. It is readily distinguished by its coloration; the back 
being marked with longitudinal rows of large oblong spots, instead of the transverse 
bands of the last species. 
A tame specimen of this beautiful animal was once kept by Mr. Brian Hodgson 
in Nipal. He describes it as very docile, fond of notice, and never giving vent to 
any kind of sound. It was free from the strong odour characteristic of the true 
civets, and was fed upon raw meat. Mr. Hodgson states that in its wild con¬ 
dition this species is equally at home on trees and on the ground; and that it 
dwells and breeds in the hollows of decayed trees. It is not gregarious at all, and 
preys chiefly upon small birds, upon which it is wont to pounce from the cover of 
the grass. The times of breeding are said to be February and August, and the 
litter to consist of two young, there being two litters each year. 
The African linsang (Poiana poensis ), of which some of the distinctive 
characters have been already mentioned, is found only on the West Coast, in Sierra 
Leone and Fernando Po, and is, therefore, widely separated from its Oriental 
relatives. The tail is somewhat longer than the head and body, measuring 
upwards of 4 Of inches; whereas the total length of the head and body is but 38 
inches. The spots, as already mentioned, are smaller than in the Oriental linsangs, 
and, with the exception of some stripes on the back of the head, and a line extend¬ 
ing from the neighbourhood of the ear to the shoulder, do not run together into 
lines or patches. The tail is peculiar in that the light rings separating the large 
dark bands are divided in the middle by very narrow dark rings. 
The Palm-Civets. 
Genus Paradoxurus. 
The palm-civets, tree-cats, or toddy-cats, as they are indifferently called, form 
an Asiatic group, with a single outlying West African species, of civet-like animals, 
differing in several important respects from all the preceding types, which are more 
or less closely allied. The number of the teeth is the same as in the true civets; 
but the individual teeth are usually much smaller in proportion to the size of the 
skull ; and the flesh-teeth are by no means of such a markedly cutting type. 
There are also important distinctions in the structure of the skull. In most cases 
the tail is uniformly-coloured, or only ringed at its base. Moreover, all these 
animals are largely of arboreal habits. 
