SPOTTED HY^NA EARTH-WOLF. 



157 



which there is a full-page illustration, Plate 

 VII., representing a troop in the act of falling 

 on the carcass of an antelope, while the jackals 

 respectfully await their share, is that form 

 which has the widest geographical distribution. 

 It is found in all the temperate and warm parts 

 of Africa and Asia, from the shores of the 

 Atlantic to those of the Pacific. Formerly it 

 swarmed in Algeria; 

 but in spite of its in- 

 clination to haunt the 

 vicinity of human 

 dwellings it is gradu- 

 ally retreating, espe- 

 cially before the Eu- 

 ropean colonists, who 

 are not restrained 

 in their attacks upon 

 this animal by the 

 superstitions which 

 the Arabs entertain 

 with regard to it. The 

 large black trans- 

 verse stripes on the 

 reddish-yellow fur at 

 once distinguish it 

 from the allied 

 species. 



The tubercled 

 tooth in the upper 

 jaw is quite rudimentary, and often disappears 

 altogether in the adult animal. Notwithstand- 

 ing this mark of a carnivorous dentition, and 

 in spite of its comparatively large size, this 

 species is the most cowardly of all. 



The tubercled tooth persists in those species 

 which are peculiar to South Africa. In the 

 Spotted Hyaena {Hycena crocuta], fig. 71, 

 which formerly used even to visit the streets 

 of Cape Town, brown spots are irregularly 

 distributed over the reddish-yellow fur. In 

 certain districts this animal is still dreaded as 

 a beast of prey, since it is not disinclined to 

 pursue living game. In the Brown Hyaena 

 (H. brunnea) the hair on the back is of a 

 uniform brown colour and not very stiff, and 



Fig. 72. The Earth-wolf or Aardwolf (Proleles Lalandii}. 



ultimately becomes very long, so as to fall 

 down over the body and form a sort of mane. 

 The brown hyaena mostly roams about the 

 sea-shore, and feeds on refuse cast up by the 

 sea; but it also attacks flocks of domestic 

 animals. 



All these hyaenas have the same noisy 

 nocturnal mode of life, and the same disgust- 

 ing habits. But while 

 the other two species 

 utter broken howls, 

 abruptly changing 

 from an unsteady 

 bass to a high-pitched 

 tenor, the spotted 

 hysena expresses its 

 various feelings by a 

 sort of yelping, ex- 

 tremely penetrating, 

 diabolical laughter, a 

 genuine laugh of de- 

 spair at once terrible 

 and comic. This 

 form is not so easily 

 tamed as the striped 

 species. It is said to 

 be more stupid than 

 the latter, but the 

 differences in respect 

 of mental qualities 

 cannot be great. Dulness of sense and vora- 

 city are the most prominent attributes of both. 

 A very abnormal genus is formed by an 

 animal which is moreover rather rare, the 

 Earth-wolf, or Aardwolf of the Dutch settlers 

 at the Cape, where it is to be found. Its 

 scientific name is Proteles Lalandii, fig. 72. 

 Judging from its bearing and general aspect 

 one might regard the animal as a rather 

 small striped hyaena, but its fore-feet are five- 

 toed like those of the Canidae, and the stripes 

 with which it is marked are further apart 

 than in the hyaena, which it otherwise re- 

 sembles externally. And, after all, the re- 

 semblance is only external, and disappears 

 on an examination of the skull and dentition. 



