HYAINAS 85

alone are padded. He has thirty-six teeth ; the true
civets have forty. There is only one true civet (Vzverra
ctvetta) in Africa; all the others are Asiatic. In
Miocene times there were civets in Europe, and even
in England. The genets are nearly all African,
though one of them (Genetta vulgaris) ranges into
the south of France, having, like the magot, pro-
bably crossed at Gibraltar before the straits existed.
The linsangs are all Asiatic but one, and he is found
on the West Coast of Africa; the palm-civets are
also Asiatic, with a single representative on the West
Coast of Africa. The binturong, or bear-cat, has a
genus to himself (Avctzetzs) ; he lives in the trees, as
do the palm-civets. Another of the family having a
genus to himself is the Cywogale of Malaysia, who is
happy in his varied fare, for not only does he climb
trees and eat fruit, but he hunts on land for mam-
malian flesh, and swims and dives in the water in
search of fishes and crabs. To the last group of
the Viverride belong the weasel-like mongooses of
which we have heard so much with regard to their
vermin-catching and snake-destroying powers. One
of these (Herpestes urva) devotes himself mainly to
the pursuit of frogs and crabs. Another (HZ. zchneu-
mon) has an insatiable appetite for crocodile eggs.
The sole representative of the Proteleide is the
African Aard-wolf, who is not unlike a hyzena, with a
pointed muzzle and long ears, and five toes instead
of four on his front paws. He feeds mainly on
white ants and carrion, and lives in a burrow of his
own making.

The hyenas are the most dog-like of the cats, and