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LYNXES AND CIVET CATS.

The fur of

It is of a

The length of the body and head is about three feet. its winter coat is in demand for various purposes. darkish grey, tinged with red, with dark spots and patches. There is a species which extends more to the south, known as Lyncus pardinus.

The AMERICAN BAY LYNX or WILD CAT (Lynx rufus, Felis Canadensis, Geof.) differs from the common lynx in having shorter fur and longer pencils to the ears. There is a variety of this, perhaps even a distinct species (L. maculatus), whose fur, spotted with brown, is as valuable as the others. The specimens of the Bay lynx from the Columbia River are generally carried direct to China, without passing through the hands of European furriers. As a rule, the colder the climate the fuller and more valuable the fur. The lynx is found on the Mackenzie River as far north as 66°, and is not uncommon in the woods of Canada, especially in the Lake district.

The Canadian Lynx is said by Temminck to be identical with the lynx of Northern Europe. It has a light, though warm, hoary fur; the natural colour is of a beautiful grey or rusty brown, spotted with dark and rufous. Dyed of various colours, it is much used by the Chinese, Greeks, Persians, and others, for cloak linings, robes, and muffs, &c., being exceedingly soft, warm, and light.

The imports of these skins by the Hudson's Bay Company range between 5,000 and 16,000 yearly. In the 13 years ending 1868 the total imports by the Company had reached 330,000 skins. Of late years there has been a large increase in these skins. A few hundred are obtained annually in Alaska. In 1851 we imported 8,415; in 1858, 15,688; in 1861, 8,415; in 1875, 15,000.

CIVET CATS.-The AFRICAN CIVET (Viverra civetta) is most abundant in the hottest parts of Africa and in Abyssinia. It is chiefly remarkable for the highly odoriferous secretion, from which the perfumers used to prepare the old-fashioned "musk." Musk

has now given way to some extent to patchouli, and to far purer and more delicate floral perfumes; so that civets are no longer in the demand which former periods of fashion created for them.

The skin of the civet has a yellowish-grey ground colour, with long hair on the back, large dusky spots disposed in longitudinal rows on each side. Furriers often confound this skin, which is light and soft, with that of the Zibet and Genet.

The pouch situated near the genitals is a deep bag, sometimes divided into two cavities, whence a thick, oily, and strongly musklike fluid is poured out. When good, this odoriferous substance

is of a clear yellowish or brown colour, and of about the consistence of butter; undiluted, the smell is powerful and very offensive, but when largely diluted with oil or other ingredients, it becomes an agreeable perfume. Important medical virtues were formerly attributed to the civet; it, however, no longer forms an article in the materia medica, and even as a perfume has been laid aside.

Until the time of Buffon, the difference between the African and Asiatic species was unobserved, both being of nearly the same form and colour, but the number of dark marks on the tail is different in the two.

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THE ZIBET AND GENET.

ZIBET (Viverra Zibetha).-The skin of the Asiatic species differs somewhat in its markings from its African congener. The animal furnishes the same secretion, and has been found in the Philippine Islands. The caudal rings of this species hold an unvarying character, and are uniformly six in number, pale, upon a black ground.

The Muskars, a low class of woodmen, eat their flesh. In South India the secretion is much employed by the native practitioners under the name of kustre. In Travancore there was, and probably is still, an establishment kept up at the expense of the Government, in which these animals were kept and reared for the sake of their secretion. It has a disagreeable ammoniacal odour, and acrid, pungent taste. There is another species called the Rasse (V. malaccensis) found in Java, Singapore, and other Eastern districts, which yields the same perfume.

GENET OF SPANISH CAT (Viverra genetta, Lin.).—This animal, about the size of a small cat, has a beautiful soft fur of a pale reddish grey, the sides of the body being spotted with black, and a dark line running along the back. It is a native of the western parts of Asia, and is found also in Spain. The skin makes a soft

and light fur, but it is imitated by the furriers with grey rabbitskins dyed. The civet furnished by this species is less powerful than that of the others. There are one or two other varieties of genets.

WILD CIVET CATS.

235

The WILD CAT of Formosa (Felis viverrina, Hodgson) is much sought after by the Chinese for its soft pretty skin, to make cuffs and collars for their coats; 4s. 6d. being the usual price for a single skin. In the collection of furs in the Museum the skin of the wild cat of India and of the black cat will be found.

The skin of the Viverra pallida is also valued for lining to great-coats. The poorer classes, who are unable to purchase the dearer furs, make use of these cheaper yet pretty skins. The Chinese eat the flesh of this animal, although it has a strong civet odour.

CHAPTER VIII.

CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS-continuea.

This chapter deals with the dog tribe—the varieties of the domestic dog, the Esquimaux dog and dog sledges. The tax on dogs in various countries. The wolf-statistics of the ravages it commits, and the use made of its skin. Foxes-variety and value of the skins of this animal as furs, wholesale trade in them by the Hudson's Bay Company-statistics of imports. Racoon and bear skins. Badgers.

THE DOG (Canis).-All zoologists agree that there is no trace of the dog to be found in its primitive state of nature, although wild dogs exist in India, America, and Australia. Some have been led to believe the wolf is the original dog, but none of the native wild dogs have ever returned to the true form of the wolf. This question, however, is one not requiring to be discussed at any length here.

Sir John Richardson states that the great resemblance which the domestic dogs of the aboriginal tribes of America bear to the wolves of the same country, was remarked by the earliest settlers from Europe, and has induced some naturalists of much observation to consider them to be merely half-tamed wolves. The Esquimaux dogs are not only extremely like the grey wolves of the Arctic circle in form and colour, but they also nearly equal them in size.

If we consider the numerous varieties of the dog, from the King Charles to the Newfoundland; the harrier and the bulldog; those raised for food in China and the South Sea Islands to the sheep dog-from the smallest to the largest-the variation in size is fully one hundred fold.

There is more apparent difference between one of these dogs and the wolf and the fox, which are its allies, than between other