258 VIEW OF THE EXTINCT FAUNA OF BRAZIL. 



repetition of this singular fact might almost tempt one to 

 ask, whether it be not possible that the last genus that re- 

 mains to be described, the hyaena, may not be similarly cir- 

 cumstanced ? I must, however, observe, that however well 

 founded such a supposition may appear, when it regards an 

 animal like the antelope, whose timidity and shyness with- 

 draw it from the neighbourhood of man, and whose speed 

 and activity enable it to distance all pursuit, it loses its force 

 when it regards an animal whose habits incline it rather to 

 seek man's proximity ; and whose voracity and fearlessness 

 at the same time render it so bad a neighbour, that its exist- 

 ence can scarcely remain unobserved. The existence, there- 

 fore, of the hyaena, in that ancient period to which our fossils 

 belong, is a phenomenon that fairly authorizes the conclusion, 

 " that the last extinct, and so remarkably rich a Fauna, which 

 inhabited the elevated plains of tropical South America, 

 among its great abundance of peculiar American forms, con- 

 tained also some which are now confined to the old world." 

 If we compare the relative numbers of species of this 

 family in the two periods, it is true that the list of fossil spe- 

 cies will not be so numerous as that of the recent ; but we 

 ought not, on that account, to conclude that the family of 

 Fer(B w^as poorer in species formerly than now, as will ap- 

 pear evident from the following considerations, and which 

 are equally applicablevto the next family. All the remains 

 which I have as yet obtained of the extinct Fauna of this 

 continent, have been disinterred from caves, and belong 

 partly to the predatory beasts which lived there, and partly 

 to the animals which served them for food, and which were 

 dragged in by them either entire or piecemeal. We could not, 

 therefore, expect to find in these receptacles of the bones of 

 their prey, the remains of such animals as either their nature 

 or habits withdrew more or less from the attacks of the larger 

 beasts. All the above described animals are those which 

 form the regular food of the larger predaceous classes; whence 

 we find their bones very abundant in these dens. But it is 

 a very different case with the smaller Ferce. The sharpness 

 of their senses keeps them away from danger ; and the va- 

 rious retreats they all possess, such as the tops of trees, or 

 holes underground, or, as in the otter's case, the water, pro- 

 tect them from almost any pursuit of the larger beasts, 

 which at once accounts for the extreme rarity of their bones 

 in these situations. If we give due weight to these consider- 

 ations, and at the same time remember the great proportional 

 number of species we have already found at the very first 

 glimpse we have cast over this antediluvian Fauna (there 



