The Genet (_fig. 112._) is a smaller animal than the civet. He has a
long body, short legs, a sharp snout, slender head, and smooth soft
hair, of a glossy ash colour, marked with black spots, which are round,
and separated on the sides, but so nearly united on the back as to have
the appearance of stripes along the body. Upon the neck and back it has
a kind of mane, which forms a black streak from the head to the tail,
the latter of which is as long as the body, and is marked with seven
or eight rings, alternately black and white; the black spots on the
neck also appear to form streaks, and it has a white spot under each
eye. Under the tail, and in the very same place with the civets, it has
a pouch, in which is secreted a kind of perfume, but is much weaker,
and its scent soon evaporates. It is somewhat longer than the marten,
which it greatly resembles in form, habit, and disposition; and from
which it seems chiefly to differ in being more easily tamed. Bellon
assures us, that he has seen them in the houses at Constantinople as
tame as cats, that they were permitted to run about without doing
the least mischief, and that they were called _Constantinople cats_;
_Spanish cats_; _genet cats_, _&c._ though, indeed, they have nothing
in common with that animal, except the skill of watching and catching
mice.[U] Naturalists pretend that genets inhabit only moist grounds,
and reside along the banks of rivers, and that they are never found on
mountains or dry grounds. The species is not numerous, or, at least,
not much diffused; for there are none of them in any part of Europe,
except Spain and Turkey. They seem to require a warm climate to subsist
and multiply in, and yet they are not found in India or Africa. The
_fossane_ has been called the genet of Madagascar, but that animal is
of a different species, as will hereafter be shewn.
[Footnote U: It is, perhaps, because they are only found in the Levant
and in Spain, that they are designated by their country; for the name
of _genet_ is not derived from any of the ancient languages, and is
probably only a new appellation taken from some place abounding with
them, a custom which is very common in Spain, where a certain race of
horses are called _genets_.]
The skin of the genet makes a light and handsome fur, it was
formerly fashionable for muffs, and consequently very dear; but the
manufacturers having got the art of counterfeiting them, by painting
the skins of grey rabbits with black spots, their value is abated,
from being no longer esteemed.