62 BULLETIN NO. VII. 
upon sweet vegetables like bananas as well as birds. It is 
beautifully marbled with black upon a yellow ground. The 
mampalon which dwells near the fresh waters of Borneo and 
Sumatra is an abberant form resembling the otter greatly and 
like it is aquatic, having webbed feet and is partially planti- 
grade. 
The ichneumons have already been referred to and many 
species are known. 
The suricate is asmall animal something over a foot long, 
inhabiting South Africa and remarkable for having but four toes 
and teeth of an insectivorous type. The food consists of small 
mammals, birds and insects and the animal is used by the 
natives, as is the ichneumon elsewhere, to destroy vermin in 
spite of a strong and to Europeans exceedingly offensive odor. 
In addition to the above we may mention the mangue, Cynictis, 
the binturong, and Arctitis. 
The Hycenide, or hyzna family area rather small group 
although it was in the last geological age of relatively greater 
importance. The living animals of this group are confined to 
the warm portions of the Eastern Continent and are nocturnal 
in habit. 
The external form is somewhat like that of a wolf but dif- 
fers especially in the great and disproportionate development 
of the fore legs. The head is large and the muzzle is short. 
The pupil is round and the ears pointed. The feet have four 
toes except in the Aard Varkor Earth Wolf of South Africa 
which has five on the fore feet. Progression is plantigrade 
and the claws not retractile. All hyznas have anal glands 
which emit an unpleasant smell and prevent the domestication 
of the animal. The lower jaw is very powerful and armed with 
strong crushing teeth. Their milk and permanent dentition 
are very different, the following being the formule; milk denti- 
tion 3.1:4:9—82, permanent detition 31.4} The dorsal vertebre 
number 14 or 15. The Proteles, or Aard Vark, differs con- 
spicuously from the true hyaenas especially in possessing 
small weak teeth. This animal is little known but is very 
retiring, burrowing with facility and possibly living largely 
upon insects and reptiles. The milk dentition is of a more 
carnivorous sort than the permanent set and furnishes evidence 
that the present anomalous nature of the teeth is due to retro- 
grade development. 
A third family the Cryptoproctide, contains only the genus, 
Cryptoprocta formed to include the Foussa of Madagascar 
