28 VERTEBRATES I MAMMALS. 



the end of the tail black ; feet very large, densely furred 

 beneath in winter. 



HYENAD^E, OR HYENA FAMILY. This Family com- 

 prises digitigrade Carnivora, which have the fore legs 

 longer than the hind ones, the claws non-retractile, feet 

 four-toed, tongue rough, the dental formula, incisors 3 -f^, 

 canines ^, premolars ^, molars ^ The premolars 

 are very large and blunt, and these animals are able to 

 crush the bones of the largest prey, and swallow the frag- 

 ments without the slightest mastication. So powerful 

 are the muscles of the neck and jaws, that it is almost 

 impossible to wrest anything from between their teeth ; 

 and among the Arabs their name is the symbol of ob- 

 stinacy. Hyenas live in caves, are nocturnal, voracious 

 almost beyond the power of description, and feed chiefly 

 upon prey which they find dead. Many superstitious 

 traditions are connected with them. They belong to 

 Africa and Asia, and the largest have a total length of 

 five feet or more. 



The Striped Hyena, H. vulgaris, Buff., of Africa and 

 India, is gray with dark stripes, and a mane which is 

 erect when the animal is angry. 



The Brown Hyena, H. brunnea, Thumb., and the Spot- 

 ted Hyena, H. crocuta, Schr., inhabit Southern Africa. 



In the caves of England and on the continent of Eu- 

 rope are found in abundance the bones of an extinct 

 species of Hyena, H. spelcea, together with the bones 

 of many other extinct animals, which bear unmistakable 

 marks of its teeth. 



CANID.E, OR DOG FAMILY. This Family comprises 

 digitigrade Carnivora without retractile claws, and with 

 all the feet apparently four-toed ; the forward ones, how- 

 ever, with a rudimentary thumb high up. 



The Genus Canis Wolves is distinguished by the 



