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Show 106 MESSRS. WATSON AND YOUNG ON THE [Jan. 14, to differ in several important particulars from that of the Viverridee, as well of the true Felidae. The enormous development of the muscles of the neck and fore quarters, together with minor points already referred to, serve at once to associate H. crocuta with the other species of the same genus, and to separate it from the remaining groups of the iEluroidea. Unfortunately, so far as we can ascertain, the myology of Proteles has not yet been worked out; but if we may base any conclusion regarding its muscular system upon the external configuration of the animal, that system will not differ materially from wbat we find in Hycena. A good description of the brain of other species of Hycena is still a desideratum. With the exception of Prof. Flower's observation that the brain of Proteles resembles that of a Hyaena (species unknown) in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, we possess no reliable information regarding the arrangement of the cerebral convolutions in the latter genus. So far as the information derived from a comparison of the brain of H. crocuta with that of Proteles goes, it shows that these two species are closely allied to one another, and that, as pointed out by Prof. Flower in Proteles, so also in H. crocuta, the brain occupies an intermediate position between that of the true Cats, in which the convolutions are slightly more complex, and that of the Viverrids, in which they are slightly less so. The vascular system of the Spotted Hyaena does not present any remarkable deviation from that of the Carnivora in general, except the mode of origin of tbe iliac arteries. In respect of the relative lengths of the small and large intestines, this species seems to deviate from the true Cats, in which, according to Meckel, these stand in the relation of 5 to 1, and to approach the Viverrids, in which the small is to the large intestine as 12 or 15 to 1, more than do the other species of the genus. The measurement of the comparative lengths of the small and large intestines, correlatives as these are of well-defined physiological processes, appears to us to be more important in determining the affinities of closely allied species than that of the relative length of the intestine and body of the animal, the latter varying much in accordance with the habits and mode of life, whilst the food may remain the same. The hyeenoid form of larynx is well marked in H. crocuta, and serves to distinguish it, together with its congeners, from the other groups of the Carnivora. So far the structure of H. crocuta agrees closely with what we find in other species of the genus. But when we come to the consideration of the reproductive organs we meet with an element of classification which, diverging as these organs do so strikingly from the Carnivorous and even Mammalian type, would, taken per se, justify us in establishing a separate genus for the reception of II. crocuta. The unnecessary multiplication of genera appears to us, however, to be open to objection, as tending to defeat the chief object of classification ; and therefore, in view of the close resemblance which otherwise exists between H. crocuta and other species of the genus, we think it advisable to retain for it the old generic title. And while we thus express ourselves, it may not be out |