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Show 112 MAMMALIA: on t h e i r Ie gs, a nd they have not the small m. olar immediately be-hiad the canine tooth. Their pouch extends mto_ the an~s. One species only is known, a native of Africa- Piv. tetradac. t y,1a , Gm .,. Buff. XIII ' viii ' a little less than the Mangouste of India.(l) CRossAROHus, Fred. Cuv. The muzzle, teeth, pouch, and walk of the Surikates, the toes and genital organs of the Mangoustes. One species only is known-Crossarch~s obscurus, ~red. Cuv., from Sierra Leone, of the size of the Surikate; grey1sh brown; cheeks a little paler, and a hairy tail. We should here mention a singular animal from the south of Africa, known only while young, which, to the five anterior toes, and the four hind ones, and the slightly elongated head of the Civets, adds the raised feet, the short hind ones, an~ the mane of the Hyena; it also singularly resembles the striped. Hyena in the colours of its fur. The thumb of the fore foot IS short and higher; it is the Proteles Lalandii, Isid. Geoff. Mem. du Mus. XI 354, pl. xx. Inhabits caverns. Thein~lividual specimens that have been examined, and which were all young, had but three small false molars, and one small tuberculous posterior molar. It seems as though their teeth had never come to perfection, as often happens in the Genets.(2) The last subdivision of the Digitigrada has no small teeth of any kind behind the large molar of the lower jaw. The animals contained in it are the most cruel and sanguinary of the class. They form two genera. HY.JENA, Storr. The Hyenas have three false molars above and four below, all conical, blunt, and singularly large; their superior carnivorous tooth has a small tubercle within and in front, but the inferior has none, presenting only two stout trenchant points : with these pow· erful arms they are enabled to crush the bones of the largest prey. The tongue is rough, each foot has four toes like that of the Suri· kate, and under the anus is a deep and glandular pouch, which in· duced some of the ancients to consider them as hermaphrodites. So powerful are the muscles of the neck and jaw, that it is almost (1) The Zenik ofSonnerat, Voy. II, pl. xcii, appears to differ from the Surikate merely because it is roughly drawn. (2) See my Ossemens Fossiles, tom. IV, p. 388. CARNARIA. 113 · ossible to wrest any thing from between their teeth that they ::e once seized, and, among the Arabs, their name is the symbol of obstinacy. It sometimes happens that an anchylosis of the cervical vertebra: is the consequence of these violent efforts, and this has caused it to be said that they have only one single bone in the neck. They are nocturnal animals, inhabiting caves; are extremely voracious, and feed chiefly on dead bodies, which they seek for even in the grave. A thousand superstitious traditions are connected with them. Three species are known, the H. vulgm·is, Buff. Supp. III, xlvi. (The Striped Hyena.) Grey; blackish or brown stripes crosswise; a mane along the whole of the nape of the neck, and black, that stands erect when the animal is angry. It is found from India to Abyssinia and Senegal. H. brunnea, Thunb., Acad. of Stockh. 1820, part I, pl. ii; H. villosa, Smith. Lin. Trans. XV, pl. xix. (The Brown Hyena.) Of a deep greyish brown; black stripes on the legs only. From the south of Africa, where the inhabitants of the Cape call it le Loup du rivage, or the Shore Wolf. H. crocuta, Schreb. XCVI, B. (The Spotted Hyena.) Grey or reddish, sprinkled with black spots. It is likewise from the south of Africa, and is the Tiger 1folj of the Cape. There have lately been found in several cavern!l of France, Germany, and England, many bones of a lost species of Hyena -H. spelrea, which appears to have resided there, and to have left the bones of many other animals, which bear evident marks of its teeth, and even its own feces. ( 1) FELis, Lin. Of all the Carnaria the Cats are the most completely and powerfully armed. Their short and round muzzle, short jaws, and particularly their retractile nails, which, being raised perpendicularly, and hidden between the toes, when at rest, by the action of elastic ligament, lose neither point nor edge, render them most formidable animals, the larger species especially. They have two false molars above, and two below: their superior carnivorous tooth has three lobes, and a blunted heel on the inner side, the inferior, two pointed and trenchant lobes, without any heel : they have but a very small tuberculous tooth above, without any thing to correspond to it below. The species of this genus are very numerous and various With regard to size and colour, though they are all similar with re- (l) See Buckland, Ueliquia: Diluviana:, and Vol. IV of my Oss. Foss. 2d ed. ' VoL. I.-P ' |