the times of Belon we are told (by him) that Genets were common and tame at Constantinople.
Poiana, containing a single African species, a spotted and entirely Genet-like animal, has been separated as a distinct genus. Dr. Mivart, however, holds it to be a Prionodon which has acquired a Genet-like tarsus.
Arctictis, containing but one species, A. binturong, the Binturong, is in some ways an exceptional form. It is a black arboreal creature of not very wide range in the Oriental region, with a fully prehensile tail. This feature and its plantigrade foot with naked sole have led to its being regarded as more allied to the Arctoidea. It is, however, undoubtedly an ally of Paradoxurus. The caecum is small, or may be quite absent. The dentition is I 3/3 C 1/1 Pm 4/3 M 2/2. The structure of the animal has been investigated by Garrod.[1]
The genus Fossa is a Viverrine confined to Madagascar. There is but one species, F. daubentoni, the "Fossane." It is distinguished from Viverra by the presence of two bare spots on the under surface of the metatarsus in the hind-limb, and by the absence of a scent pouch. The animal is not much spotted and striped, but the striping in the young is much more marked.
Of the genus Paradoxurus there are some ten or a dozen species, belonging entirely to the Oriental region. The teeth are as in Viverra, but occasionally the molars are reduced to one. The pupils are vertical. The tail though long is not prehensile, "but the animal appears to have the power of coiling it to some extent, and in caged specimens the coiled condition not unfrequently becomes confirmed and permanent" (Blanford). This fact accounts for the name Paradoxurus; for a prehensile tail is hardly to be expected in an animal of the zoological position of the Palm Civets, and yet its occasional twisting led originally to the view that it was so. The genus has scent glands. The dentition is I 3/3 C 1/1 Pm 4/4 M 2/2. P. niger, the Indian Palm Civet, is, like other species, not often to be seen in a wild condition. It is arboreal, and, like other members of the genus, feeds upon a mixed diet, consisting of all kinds of small Vertebrata and insects, varied by fruit. Another species, P. grayi, is so distinctly vegetarian in its habits that it makes considerable havoc in pine-apple beds in the Andaman Islands.
- ↑ Proc. Zool. Soc. 1873, p. 196.
