DESULTORY SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY. 59 



proportion ; and the sagittal crest is more developed than in any 

 other animal. The neck, which is huge and furnished with prodi- 

 gious muscles, is so fixed and rigid that its vertebrae occasionally 

 become anchylosed : hence has originated the statement that these 

 animals have only one bone in the neck. With the same total num- 

 ber of dorsal and lumbar vertebrae as the Dogs and Lycaons, the 

 Hyaenas have two additional pairs of ribs, which alters the relative 

 number of those vertebrae, as commonly specified. All their ribs, 

 moreover, are considerably stouter and more massive, as is the rest 

 of the skeleton ; while the immense development of the spinal pro- 

 cesses, still maintaining a reference to their excessive strength of 

 jaw, occasions the arched form of the back, and contributes thus to 

 impart their characteristic physiognomy. The tongue, assuming the 

 character of the Viverridae and Felidas generally, is furnished with 

 a circular collection of reverted spines, which enables them to lick 

 the flesh from the bones of their prey ; and beneath the anus is 

 situate a deep and glandular pouch, wherein a fetid matter is se- 

 creted, having the appearance and consistence of tallow.* These 

 animals, finally, have a short and massive body, and long and crook- 

 ed fore-limbs, which bend considerably at the wrist-joint ; their hind 

 limbs are shorter, and claws adapted for scratching up the ground. 

 The ears are large and directed forward ; the eyes full and brilli- 

 ant, luminous in the dark, and incapable of bearing a strong 

 light ; and the pituitary membrane of the internal nostrils (the ori- 

 fice of which is large and broad in the cranium) amply developed. 



Hyaenas subsist, by preference, on corrupted flesh, and do not 

 habitually exercise their power of masticating bones, except by day, 

 leisurely, in their retreats. It is only in default of finding dead 

 carcases that they attack living animals, when they commit dreadful 

 havoc with the flocks, and even destroy cattle ; never venturing 

 however, to attack any creature that boldly confronts them, but 

 threatening, and using all the grimace in their power to frighten 

 them and induce them to flee, when the Hyaena is at once embold- 

 ened to pursue and seize them. Their plan is always to approach their 

 intended victim unawares, and maim it by a gripe behind, repeating 

 this cowardly procedure till it falls disabled. In no instance do they 

 attack the feeblest prey openly and in front ; while their finely sensi- 

 tive olfactory organ enables them to discover young or sleeping ani- 



* From the existence of this cavity, the orifice of which is, however, 

 transverse, the ancients were induced to believe that the Hyaena was her- 

 maphrodite. 



