Those who have spoken of this animal have taken it for a ferret, to
which indeed it has a great resemblance; but it differs in characters
sufficiently strong to warrant our considering it as a distinct
species. The vansire, or, as it is called by some, the Madagascar
weasel, of which place it is a native, has twelve grinders in its
upper jaw, while the ferret has only eight; and the lower grinders,
though ten in number in both animals, are neither alike in shape nor
situation. Besides, the vansire differs in the colour of its hair from
all ferrets, though those, like every other animal which man is careful
of rearing and increasing, vary so much in colour, that there is a
difference even between male and female.
To us it appears, that the animal mentioned by Seba as the _weasel
of Java_, and which, he says, the natives call _koger-angan_, and
afterwards spoken of by Brisson by the name of the _ferret of Java_,
may possibly be the same animal as the vansire, at least it comes
nearer to the vansire than to any animal at present known; but
Seba's description is not sufficiently complete to establish a just
comparison, which is absolutely necessary to form a solid and explicit
judgment.