Illustration from Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.
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Illustration from Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.
The zibet is probably the civet of Asia, or the East Indies, and of Arabia, where he is called Zebet or Zibet, an Arabian word, which signifies also the perfume of this animal. He differs from the civet in having a longer and thicker body, a thinner and flatter muzzle, which is somewhat concave on the upper part; while the muzzle of the civet is thicker, shorter, and a little convex. The ears of the former are also larger, and more erect. His tail is longer, and better marked with annular spots, and his hair is shorter and softer. He has no mane, or long hair on the neck and spine, no black spots under the eyes, or on the cheeks, which are remarkable characters in the civet. Several travellers have suspected that there were two species of civets; but no body has examined them so minutely as to furnish a distinct description. We have seen both, and, after a careful comparison, we think they are not only different species, but belong, perhaps, to different climates.
-- Buffon's Histoire Naturelle translated by William Smellie (1781).