The skull is not unlike what a Cat’s would be if it were put on the bed of Procrustes and pulled out; for, in correspondence with the length of the snout in these creatures, the face part of the skull is long in comparison with the brain-containing part. The cheek-arches, also, are by no means so broad as in the Felidæ, in correspondence with the less size of the jaw muscles. But the character of the base of the skull is pretty much the same. There is, as in Cats, the large swollen bulla, or ear-drum bone, the small opening flush with the outer wall of the bulla, and the clamping bone closely applied to its hinder wall.
TEETH OF CIVET.
The teeth of the Civets present many interesting differences from those of the Cat tribe. In the first place, in accordance with the less perfectly carnivorous habit of the group, the jaws are longer, and, consequently, not so powerful as in the Cat; the number of teeth also is considerably increased. The incisors and canines remain the same, but the premolars are increased to four, and the molars to two on each side of each jaw,[75] so that there are no less than forty teeth, instead of thirty only, as in the Cats. Then the form of the teeth is altered; the canines are of far less proportional size, not having the same amount of hard work to do as the great dog teeth of the Lion or Tiger; the grinders, too, lose their scissor-blade form, and exhibit on their upper surfaces little lumps, or cusps, thereby developing a grinding surface such as no Cat has. This is especially the case in the Paradoxures, or Palm-Cats, which have quite lost all carnivorous habits, and feed chiefly on the fruit of palm-trees.
THE AFRICAN CIVET.[76]
This animal, by its rough spotted skin, calls to mind the Hyæna, to which, however, it is inferior in size, being hardly three feet long. It differs also from our laughing friend in many more important particulars. Its legs are shorter, its tail longer and not so bushy, its snout more pointed, its ears shorter, and its expression less villainous-looking. It is found in the North of Africa and in Eastern Asia.
This animal is the chief of the civet producers, its scent-glands being large and secreting constantly. At the Zoological Gardens the specimen in captivity rubs the perfume against the walls of the cage, where it is scraped up by the keeper, for whom it is a not unimportant perquisite.
The hair is long, coarse, of a brownish-grey colour, and marked with interrupted transverse bands or spots. On the middle line of the back and between the shoulders its hair is longer, forming a sort of mane. The snout is white, the tail ringed with black.
“The Civet approaches, in its habits, nearest to the Foxes and smaller Cats, preferring to make its predatory excursions against birds and smaller quadrupeds in the night, although, like other Carnivora, it will occasionally attack its prey in the daytime. In a state of captivity it becomes in a degree tame, but never familiar, and is dangerous to handle. The young ones feed on farinaceous food—millet-pap, for instance—with a little flesh or fish, and when old on raw flesh. Many of them are kept in North Africa, to obtain the perfume which bears the name of the animal, and brings a high price.”
