DESULTORY SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY. 57 



Dr. Smith observes, " The Cape farmers are acquainted with two 

 species of what they denominate the Wilde Hond ; the one they 

 describe as larger, darker coloured, and much more ferocious than 

 the other.''* Sparrman had long previously published the same 

 hearsay report, except that the smaller kind, according to his ac- 

 count, would seem to be the darker.f 



The Tortoiseshell Lycaon is not uncommon in South Africa, and 

 is troublesome at the frontier settlements near the Cape. Dr. Bur- 

 chell, who brought a living specimen to this country, describes it 

 as swift, fierce, and active. " Sheep and Oxen,*' he relates, " are 

 particularly subject to its attacks ; t hefirst openly, but the latter 

 only by stealth, surprising them in their sleep, and suddenly biting 

 off their tail, which the large opening and great muscular power 

 of its jaws, enable it to do with ease." That respectable traveller, 

 however, does not mention that he personally witnessed this act, 

 although he saw cattle that were thus mutilated ; and we are dis- 

 posed, therefore, to suspect that the real culprit was the formidable 

 Spotted Hyaena, the teeth and jaws of which are fully adequate to 

 the performance of such a feat, which assuredly does not seem to be 

 the case w^ith those of the Tortoiseshell Lycaon, in which species 

 they are less powerful than in a common Pointer. A Spotted Hy- 

 aena, if not under apprehension of being molested, would covertly 

 attack the animal, by maiming it more severely ; but these cunning 

 and cowardly brutes would not improbably seize a hasty opportu- 

 nity of snapping off the tail of a large animal, and immediately 

 escape with it, if fearful of encountering danger. 



Dr. Burchell's specimen continued ferocious, while chained up in 

 his stable yard, for more than a year, and the man who fed it 

 " dared never to venture his hand upon it.*' It, however, became 

 familiar with a Dog, its companion. Another, formerly in the 

 Tower menagerie, arrived with a young Cape Lion, with which it 

 agreed perfectly till the Lion became too strong and rough in its 

 play, when the Lycaon was associated with a Striped and two 

 Spotted Hyaenas, and all lived tolerably well together in the same 

 den. If taken young, and suffered to run about, there is little 

 doubt it might be readily domesticated ; but those few individuals 

 which we have seen in captivity were all savage and unsafe to 



* African Zoology , p. 44. 



f " II y en a, dit-on, de deux especes ; les uns plus grands, d'une couleur 

 rougea-re avec des taches noires ; les autres moins grandes et plus bruns." — 

 French edition of Sparrman's Travels, i., 207. 



VOL. X., NO. XXVIII. 8 



