GENET{Genetta), a genus of carnivorous mammals belonging to the Viverridae or family of civets. It contains six species, all of which are found exclusively in Africa, with the exception of the common genet lfdenetta vulgaris), which occurs also throughout the south of Europe and in Palestine, where Tristram notes it as occurring on Mount Carmel. The fur of this species is of a dark grey colour, thickly spotted with black, and having a dark streak along the back, while the tail, which is nearly as long as the body, is prettily ringed with black and white. The genet is abundant in the south of France and in Spain, where it frequents the banks of streams, and feeds on the smaller mammals and on birds. In the vertically slit pupil of its eyes, and in the complete retractility of its claws, it approximates, along with the other species, to the cats, and correspondingly differs from the true civets, while the anal pouch which is so fully developed in the civet exists as a mere depression in the present genus, and contains only a faint trace of the highly characteristic odour of the former. In south-western Europe and in Africa it is sought after for its soft and beautifully spotted fur, while·in Constantinople it has been tamed and kept like a cat for destroying mice and other vermin.