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Show 146 PROF, ST.-GEORGE M I V A R T O N T H E A L U R O I D E A . [Feb./, with (for the period) a very full account of the structure of the animal. The Civet and Zibet are well figured and described by Daubenton in Buffon's ' Histoire Naturelle,' vol. ix. pp. 299-342, pis. 31 to 35. Anatomical notes on these animals are also given by John Hunter, pp. 51-55 of vol. ii. of his « Essays and Observations/ collected and published by Professor Owen in 1861. A few notes " On the Internal Viscera of Viverra melanurus" have also been published by Hodgson in the ' Calcutta Journal of Natural History,' vol. ii. (1842) p. 56. Recently au account of the anatomy of the Civet, with one plate, has been published by Dr. J. Chatin in the Ann. des Sc. Naturelles, (5th series) vol. xvii. (1873), plate xxiii., wherein tbe heart and great vessels, the stomach and liver, and the caecum are represented. Lastly, we have in vol. xix. (1874) of the same work a paper by the same author on the " glandes odorantes des Mammiferes," wherein the scent and anal glands of the Civet and Zibet are described and figured (pis. i. and ii. figs. 1-13), and notes are added concerning Viverra tangalunga. The external form of the Civet and of the Zibet are given in F. Cuvier's M a m m . vol. ii. The skeleton of the Civet is represented on plate iv. of De Blainville's ' Osteographie' (Viverra), and the skull and dentition of the Civet and Zibet on his plates viii. and xii. ; details of tbe axial and visceral skeleton on plate ix.; and the distal part of the Zibet's humerus on pl. x. All the four species of Viverra agree in having a more or less white throat with transverse, curved, black bands ; all have the tarsus and metatarsus hairy beneath, as in the Felida ; all have the back with more or less elongate hair; and all are of large size, the head and body being from about 76" to 92", and the tail from about 31" to 43". V. tangalunga is the smallest species, and has been confounded with V. megaspila ; but the distinctions between the two species have been pointed out by Dr. Giinther in the Proc. Zool. Soc. 1876 (pp. 427, 428), wherein is a good representation of V. megaspila in both the adult and young condition. The young in this genus seem to be always darker than the adults. The young Civet (judging from a skin in the British Museum) is almost black, with a black tail (whitish beneath its root), and with a greyish mottling on tbe flanks and outside the thighs, greyish belly, and with white marks on tbe cheeks, upper lip, inside of ears, underside of throat, and side of the neck1 . I have not seen the skull of V. megaspila ; but, assuming that it closely resembles those of the other species, it may be said that in Viverra the auditory bulla is divided by a distinct groove into a small anterior part and a much larger and more inflated posterior portion. There is an internal septum (as in Felis). There is a distinct alisphenoid canal. The paroccipital process depends below the bulla, to which it is applied. The external opening of the auditory meatus is large and rounded ; it is rather its 1 Hodgson, in the ' Calcutta Journal of Nat. Hist.' vol. ii. (1842) p. 55, says that the eyes of the young are open when less than a week old ; also that the adults wander about singly and eat small mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects, and some roots. |