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.” [Illustration: AFRICAN CIVET.] The great naturalist, Cuvier, says of a Civet kept at Paris:--“Its musky odour was always perceptible, but became stronger than usual when the animal was irritated. At such times little lumps of odoriferous matter fell from its pouch. These masses were also produced when the animal was left alone, but only at intervals of fifteen or twenty days. This Civet passed nearly all day and the whole night in sleeping, rolling itself up with its head between its legs; it was necessary to threaten or even strike it to rouse it from its lethargy.” THE ASIATIC CIVET.[77] The Asiatic Civet, large Civet Cat, or Zibet, “inhabits Bengal, extending northwards into Nepaul and Sikkim, and into Cuttack, Orissa, and Central India on the south. It also extends into Assam, Burmah, Southern China, and parts of Malayana. It is said to frequent brushwood and grass, also the dense thorny scrub that usually covers the bends of tanks. It is very carnivorous, and destructive to poultry, game, &c., but will also, it is said, eat fish, crabs, and insects. Hounds, and indeed all Dogs, are greatly excited by the scent of the Civet, and will leave any other scent for it. It will readily take to water if hard pressed.”