460 
CARNIVORES. 
procured a packing-case, which he converted into a 4-trap, and set, properly baited, 
one night in his room. Next morning he found that the box had fallen, with a 
tenant inside. The tube of a sulphuretted-hydrogen bottle was then inserted 
through a hole bored in the side of the box, and the latter, after an interval, lifted, 
when the dead body of a palm-civet was disclosed. 
The name of toddy-cats is applied to these animals from the partiality they, in 
common with the fox-bats, display in Southern India and Ceylon for the palm- 
juice, or toddy, collected by the natives in vessels suspended on the trees. Like 
the other members of the group, the Indian palm-civet, when irritated, gives forth 
a most unpleasant odour. 
The Malay palm-civet (P. h&rmaphroditus), which is represented in the 
accompanying illustration, occurs throughout the countries to the eastward of the 
THE MALAY PALM-CIVET (\ liat. Size_). 
Bay of Bengal, as far as Siam, and is distinguished from its Indian congener by the 
presence of a pale-coloured band running across the forehead, and also by the 
general presence of stripes across the back in the adult condition. In both the 
preceding species the “ whiskers ” are black, but in the golden palm-civet (P. 
aureus) of Ceylon, and also the brown palm-civet (P. jerdoni ) of Southern India, 
they are respectively rufous and dark brown; the body-colour of those two species 
being nearly the same as that of their whiskers. On the other hand, the 
Himalayan palm-civet (P. grayi), which occurs throughout Sikhim and Assam, is 
readily distinguished by its white whiskers; while it is further characterised by 
the great backward production of the bony palate of the skull. The golden palm- 
civet is said to be less carnivorous than the other species. 
The Chinese palm-civet (P. larvatus), of which we give a figure on the 
next page, is closely allied to the Himalayan palm-civet, but differs by the 
browner tinge of its greyish fur, and by the markings on the head being 
very distinct, and black and white in colour. It has also a broad white band 
