CHAPTER XIV 

 CARNIVORES continued 



CIVETS, AARD-WOLF, AND HYENAS 



The Carnivores described in the present chapter are those which exhibit the 

 nearest affinity to the cats ; and they are arranged in three distinct families. The 

 first of these families includes the civets and their allies, and is represented by a 

 large number of species ; the second contains only a single species, the African 

 aard-wolf ; while the third is formed by the hyaenas, of which there are three 

 species now living. The whole assemblage is strictly confined to the Old World 

 both at the present day, and mainly also in earlier epochs of the earth's history ; * 

 and all of the species are inhabitants of the warmer regions of that hemisphere, 

 none of them ranging into the strictly northern countries. 



These animals agree with the cats (and thereby differ from all other Carni- 

 vores) in certain characteristics connected with the skull, and also in regard to the 

 anatomy of their soft parts. The most obvious feature in connection with the skull 

 is to be found on the under surface in the region of the internal portion of the ear. 

 Here the so-called bulla, lying immediately behind the cavity, for the articulation 

 of the lower jaw, is always inflated into a bladder-like form ; the internal cavity of 

 this bladder-like chamber being, except in the hyaenas, divided into two compart- 

 ments by a vertical partition of bone. 



THE CIVET TRIBE 

 Family 



Under the general title of civets may be included not only the animals to which 

 that term is properly applicable, but likewise a number of more or less closely- 

 allied Carnivores, such as genets, ichneumons or mungooses, palm-civets, linsangs, 

 etc. This assemblage includes a much more diversified group than that represented 

 by the Cat family, and is, therefore, much less easy of definition ; the difficulty 

 being considerably increased by one very aberrant species from Madagascar 

 which connects the more typical members of the family very closely with the 

 cats. 



*An extinct Carnivore recently described from North America has been referred to the hyaenas. 



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