EXTINCT HYAENAS 495 



The Hon. W. H. Drummond, referring to the spotted hyaena of Southeastern 

 Africa, notices the damage these animals do to cattle, more especially cows ; and 

 then mentions certain instances where they have attacked human beings. 

 " Cowardly when there is the faintest suspicion of danger, daring when there is 

 none, stealthy and cunning to the last degree, and provided with great powers of 

 scent and hearing, added to immense strength, there is no animal so universally 

 hated, or that causes more trouble and annoyance to both hunters and the peaceful 

 natives." Common as they are in Southeastern Africa, spotted hyaenas are, how- 

 ever, but very seldom seen, as they are quite as nocturnal as their striped cousin, 

 retiring to their holes at the earliest dawn. " Regular beaten paths," he continues, 

 "lead to these burrows, along which they invariably go, both when corning out 

 and returning ; indeed, unless they scent food, they always make use of paths in 

 their nocturnal rambles, whether made by themselves or by men or game. In a 

 primitive state there is no doubt that they are chiefly dependent upon the lion for 

 their daily food, and it is equally certain that they must be able to go without eat- 

 ing for immense periods. The old hunters declare that their numbers have much 

 increased within their memory in the districts in which there is most hunting, and as 

 so much game goes away and dies unseen of its wounds, which the hyaenas are easily 

 able to find by the blood track which they leave, to say nothing of the amount of 

 meat that is purposely left for want of a use for it, there is every reason to think that 

 they must find man a better purveyor than the lion, and increase accordingly." 



EXTINCT HYENAS 



The occurrence of fossil remains of the spotted and striped hyaenas in the 

 caverns and other superficial deposits of Europe has been already mentioned. In the 

 antecedent Pliocene period there were, however, a number of hyaenas belonging 

 to species now extinct; some of these being nearly allied to the existing forms, while 

 others differed markedly in the number and characteristics of their teeth. These ex- 

 tinct hyaenas are found over the greater part of Europe from France to Italy, Greece, 

 and Hungary and also in Persia, India, and China. Colvin's hyaena from Northern 

 India, of which a portion of the lower jaw is figured on p. 488, and the robust hyaena 

 of Italy were nearly allied to the spotted species, while the Pikermi hyaena of Greece 

 differed from all living species in having four premolar teeth in the lower jaw. The 

 Siwalik hyaena of Northern India and the Grecian hyaena were allied to the striped 

 species, but both have an additional molar behind the lower flesh-tooth, while the 

 former has four lower premolars. Again, the long- jawed hyaena from Northern 

 India and a nearly-allied species from Greece differ from existing forms in their long 

 jaws and the compressed form of the premolar teeth, of which there were four in the 

 lower jaw. These two species make a marked approach to the civets, but this is still 

 more evident in a smaller extinct hyaena from Europe, referred to a distinct genus 

 under the name of Palhy&na. In this there were four premolar and two molar teeth in 

 each jaw, so that the total number of teeth was forty, or the same as in the true civets, 

 and this extinct species was so nearly allied to the extinct civet mentioned on p. 484 

 as the ictithere, that the two families may be regarded as passing one into the other. 



