72 DESULTORY SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY 



fewer transverse streaks than the Striped Hyaena, a long, thick 

 mane, particularly upon the shoulders (where the hairs measure six 

 inches in length), and fine brushy tail, as before remarked. We 

 will copy Dr. Andrew Smith's more particular description of it. 



"Length, from nose to base of tail, three feet; of tail, thirteen 

 inches: height at the shoulder seventeen inches, at croup about 

 fifteen. Muzzle black, thinly covered with some fine reddish fur ; 

 hair between the eyes nearly black ; the upper and lateral parts of 

 the head pencilled black and reddish-white, each hair being annu- 

 lated with these colours; under surface of the lower jaw black ; ears 

 with a thin covering of blackish hairs externally, their inner sur- 

 face bare, excepting the margins, which are covered with a whitish 

 hair. Woolly hair of the neck and body very abundant ; and yel- 

 lowish-white, clouded with subrufous towards the surface, blackish 

 towards the body : bristly hairs abundant on the upper part of the 

 neck and centre of the back, where they form the mane, and are 

 annulated black and white ; on the sides they are scanty, yellowish- 

 white, and much longer than the woolly hair. On each side of the 

 neck, a little below the mane, a longitudinal blackish stripe ; on the 

 body and shoulders a number of vertical stripes ; and on the extre- 

 mities towards the body several transverse bands of the same colour, 

 on a ground-tint similar to that of the body. Lower parts of the 

 extremities deep black in front, and on the sides ; rufous- white be- 

 hind : throat, breast, and belly, yellowish-white : tail, towards its 

 root, variegated yellowish-white and black ; the last two-thirds ap- 

 pearing nearly black, the hairs being only yellowish-white towards 

 their bases. In the female, the woolly hair has scarcely any of the 

 subrufous tints which are abundant in old males, and the mane is 

 not so dark : indeed, all the colours may be stated to be of a lighter 

 hue.*'* The young, when very small, resemble the adults. 



This animal has hitherto been met with principally in South 

 Africa, where, according to Dr. Smith, it is not very abundant; but 

 it appears that a specimen has likewise been killed in Upper Egypt,t 

 though whether of the exact same species remains to be ascertained. 

 Should it prove so, which is not generally the case with the quad- 

 rupeds of North and South Africa, the probable inference would 

 be, that its principal habitat is within the tropics. 



It is a very timid animal, and social with its own kind. " Under- 



• African Zoology^ p. 48. 



+ M. Is. Geof. St. Hilaire, Annales des Sciences Naturelles, torn, iv., 252, 

 new series. 



