viveret

[ME., [ME., And before the Mynstre of this Ydole is a Vyvere, in maner of a gret Lake fulle of Watre: and there in Pilgrymes casten Gold and Sylver, Perles and precyous Stones, with outen nombre, in stede of Offrynges. Mandeville , Travels, p. 174. Viverra (vi-ver'ä), n. [NL., viverra , a ferret.] A Linnean genus of carnivorous quadrupeds which contained 6 species (now placed in different modern families), and which has by succe ive restrictions been confined to the true civets as the type of the family Viverridæ . See cuts under civet - cat and tanga lung . Viverridæ (vi-ver'i-dē), n. pl. [NL., has been made to cover a miscellaneous a ortment of animals, such as the coatis and ba a rids of the New World, some of the Mustelidæ, the kinkajou ( Cercoleptes ), the Crypto proc tidæ, etc. Excluding all these, the Viver ridæ constitute a natural and very extensive and diversified family of small cat-like or weasel-like carnivorous quadrupeds, digitigrade, or almost plantigrade, generally with long, low body, short legs, long and sometimes prehensile or curly tail, and long, sharp snout, and for the most part provided with peculiar anal glands secreting the substance called civet or a similar product. All the Viverridæ belong to the Old World, in the warmer parts of which their genera, species, and individuals abound. Their nearest relatives are the hyenas. In the æluroid series (see Eluroidea ) the Viverridæ are distinguished by the number of their teeth, which are thirty-four to forty, there being on each side of the upper jaw two molars (exсерtionally one), four premolars (exceptionally three), one canine, and three incisors; and on each side of the under jaw two molars, four premolars (exceptionally three), one ca nine, and three incisors; the upper molars and the back lower molar are tuberculate. The Viverridæ fall naturally into two main divisions, based primarily upon certain cranial characters, and distinguished outwardly by the arched toes and sharp retractile claws of the one section, as contrasted with the straight toes and blunt claws of the other: these are respectively styled æluropod or cat-footed, and cynopod or dog-footed. The former is the viverrine section in strictne , the latter the herpes tine section; each has several subfamilies. ( a ) To the viverrine section belong the typical civets and genets, forming the subfamily Viver rinæ; the prionodons, Prionodontinæ; the galidians, Galidiine; the palm-cats or paradoxures, with curly tails, Paradoxuring; the binturongs, Arctic tid inæ; the hemigales, Hemigalinæ; and the cynogales, Cynogalinæ. (See cuts under civet -cat, Cynogale, Galidictis, genet, musang, nandine, and tanga lung. ) (b) To the herpes tine section belong the numerous ichneumons, mongooses, etc., forming the restricted Her pest inæ, of which upward of 12 genera and many species are known; the cynictis, Cynicti dinæ; the Rhino gal inæ; and the suricates, Cro arch in a. (See cuts under Cynictis, ichneumon, and Suricata.) In all, there are some 30 genera of Viverridæ, of 11 subfamilies of 2 sections. Besides furnishing the civet of commerce, the Viverridæ take the place of ordinary cats and weasels in destroying smaller vermin, and some of them are of the greatest service, owing to their destruction of venomous reptiles, crocodiles' eggs, etc.