United States or Saint Kitts and Nevis ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Three species which have a tolerably wide range in the Archipelago, are: The curious Lemur, Tarsius spectrum, which is found in all the islands as far westward as Malacca; the common Malay Civet, Viverra tangalunga, which has a still wider range; and a Deer, which seems to be the same as the Rusa hippelaphus of Java, and was probably introduced by man at an early period.
But within eight or nine degrees of latitude from the Cape, we find the largest and most minute of creation. We have the ostrich and the little creeper among the birds. Among the beasts we have the elephant, weighing 4,000 lbs., and the black specked mouse, weighing a quarter of an ounce. We have the giraffe, seventeen feet high, and the little viverra, a sort of weasel, of three inches.
Of all the carnivorous animals of the Archipelago the only one found in the Moluccas is the Viverra tangalunga, which inhabits both Batchian and Bouru, and probably come of the other islands.
Gray has described as Cuscus ornatus; the little flying opossum, Belideus ariel; a Civet cat, Viverra zebetha; and nice species of bats, most of the smaller ones being caught in the dusk with my butterfly net as they flew about before the house.
Many circumstances respecting their ravages, and the modes of destroying them, will occur in the course of the work. THE MUSANG, A SPECIES OF VIVERRA. W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc. THE LANDAK, Hystrix longicauda. Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc. THE TANGGILING OR PENG-GOLING-SISIK, A SPECIES OF MANIS. W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fct. N. Cardon fct.
The Indians often spoke to us of a little nocturnal animal, with a long nose, which surprises the young parrots in their nests, and in eating makes use of its hands like the monkeys and the maniveris, or kinkajous. They call it the guachi; it is, no doubt, a coati, perhaps the Viverra nasua, which I saw wild in Mexico.
Among the beasts we have the elephant, weighing four thousand pounds, and the black specked mouse, weighing a quarter of an ounce. We have the giraffe, seventeen feet high, and the little viverra, a sort of weasel, of three inches.
The fur is ash-gray, mottled with black spots, and the tail is divided by numerous black rings. It is of the genius Viverra, and is exceedingly fierce when attacked. It preys chiefly upon fowls, hares, rats, etc.
Word Of The Day