1S7 



HY.ENINA. 



HY^EtflNA. 



138 



Tachet<?e (Canit crocuta, not of Linnaeus, as Cuvier quotes it, but of 

 Gmelin). 



Dr. J. E. Gray, in his method ('Annals of Philosophy,' 1825), brings 

 the Hyaenas under the family Pelidce, which he divides into two sec- 

 tions ; the first consisting of those genera which have no tubercular 

 grinders in the lower jaws ; the second consisting of those which have 

 tubercular grinders in both jaws. The first sub-family of the first 

 section (which also includes Fdina) is Hyenina, consisting of the 

 genera Hyaena (Brisson) and Protein* (Geoffrey). [AARD-WOLF.] 



M. Lesson arranges the genus Hyaena under his third section of the 

 tribe of Digitigrades, which section consists of those genera which are 

 without a small tooth behind the great molar of the lower jaw. Its 

 situation is between Protele and the Cats (Felit), and three species are 

 recorded, the same as those mentioned by Cuvier, but two of them 

 with different names; thus, the Spotted Hyaena is termed Hyama 

 Captnti* (Desm.), and the Brown Hyaena, or Hyene Brune, is named 

 Hyana rufa (G. Cuv.). 



The species are entirely confined to the Old World, Africa, and 

 Asia. 



Hycena striata, the Striped Hyaena. This is the "Toivo and Hyaena 

 of the ancients ; the Canit Hyaena of Linnaeus ; H. ttriata of Zimmer- 

 man ; H. etdgara of Desmarst ; and U. antiguorum of Temminck. 

 H. orimtalu, of Tiedemann, the Hooandor of Buffon, Bennett, and 

 other writers. Ground colour uniform brownish-gray, rather darker 

 above than beneath. Sides marked by several irregular, distant, 

 transverse, blackish stripes or bands, which are more distinct on the 

 lower part. Towards the shoulders and haunches these stripes become 

 oblique, and they are continued in regular transverse lines on the 

 outside of the legs Front of the neck, muzzle, and outsides of the 

 ears black ; the latter broad, moderately long, and nearly destitute of 

 hairs, especially on the inside. Hairs of the body long, particularly 

 on the back of the neck, and on the spine, where it forms a full and 

 thick mane, which may be said to be continued even upon the tail, 

 the latter being furnished with strong tufted hairs of considerable 

 length. Mane and tail both marked with blackish spots or stripes, 

 variously and irregularly placed. Individuals vary much in colour 

 and markings. (Bennett.; 



Striped lljtcna (Hyana itriata}. 



It seems uncertain whether this is the animal alluded to in the 

 Bible. Some translate the words rendered in our copies of the Holy 

 Scripturrs 'the valley of Zeboim' (1 Sam. xiii. 18; Neheni. xi. 34) as 

 ' the valley of Hyaenas ;' and the ' Seventy' render the words given by 

 the English translators as 'a speckled bird,' and ' a bird of divers 

 colours ' (Jer. xii. 9), as 'the cave of the Hyaena,' Zir/JAoioi' 'Toiirji, while 

 others would substitute one of the Hebrew letters composing the 

 word in Samuel for another, and make the reading 'vipers,' as if certain 

 streaked serpents were meant. Bochart (and Scheuchzer seems to 

 agree with him) shows that by the Tsabhua, or Tseboa, the word 

 occurring in the ninth verse of the twelfth chapter of Jeremiah, the 

 Hyaena was intended, and, if this opinion be correct, there can be 

 little doubt that ' the valley of Zeboim ' means ' the valley of 

 Hyaenas.' Dzuba and Dubba are, it appears, Arabic names for this 

 specie*. 



Whatever may be the opinions as to the Striped Hyaena being 

 alluded to in those passages of Scripture which we have quoted, there 

 can be no doubt that it is the'Toiro of Aristotle (' Hist. Aniin.,' vi. 32 ; 

 viii. 5) and the Greeks. The most monstrous fables were rife 

 respecting this animal, and the extent to which they had reached may 

 be mippomd when we find Aristotle (vi. 32) taking pains to demon- 

 strate the absurdity of the assertion that the animal was bisexual, or 

 a true hermaphrodite. He declares that the genital parts of the 

 male resemble those of the wolf and dog, and that the part which had 

 been taken for the female organ is an opening with an imperforate 

 bottom placed under the tail. This, ag we have seen, is characteristic 



of the genus. Aristotle describes the parts with great minuteness ; 

 but notwithstanding his accuracy, we find Pliny (viii. 30, and xxviii. 8), 

 and -Kliau (i. 25, and vi. 14), slating not only that the Hyaena is 

 bisexual, but that it changes the sex, being a male one year, and a 

 female another. It is true that Pliny, in the passage first quoted, 

 after stating "Hysenis utramque esse naturam, et alternis annis 

 mares, alternis foeminas fieri, parere sine mare, vulgus credit " adds, 

 " Aristoteles negat." But he leaves the subject there ; and continues 

 in such a strain, in both the books quoted, that his authority has 

 been cited in support of these and other absurdities. Thus we are 

 told that magicians looked on it with the greatest admiration, as 

 possessing the magical power of alluring men. 



It would be a waste of time and space to enumerate all the won- 

 derful powers that were attributed to it ; but among other accom- 

 plishments it was said to imitate the language of men, in order to 

 draw to it shepherds whom it devoured at leisure, and to have the 

 power of charming dogs so that they became dumb. 



The animal does not seem to have made a part of the Roman 

 shows till a comparatively late period. The third Gordian appears 

 to have been the first who so introduced it ; ten are said to have 

 made their appearance at the games given by the emperor Philip, 

 about A.D. 247. 



The early modern naturalists repeated the fables of the ancients. 

 Even Belon, who was a good observer, gives " Le Portrait de la Civette, 

 qu'on nommoit anciennement Hyaena." This figure is by no means 

 bad for the time, and beneath in the small quarto volume ' Portraits 

 D'Oyseaux, Animaux,' &c., &c., is the following quatrain : 



" Voyant cecy, tu voy de la Civette 

 Le vray portrait : qui rend abondamment 

 Par son conduit le muse, pour excrement, 

 Odcur, que plus u sentir on souhaitc." 



And this is the more curious when we find the same author ('Aquat.') 

 giving a very fair cut of the Striped Hyaena (which Gesner, Aldro- 

 vandus, and Jonston copied) as the sea-wolf, an amphibious animal, 

 satiating itself with fish, and seen on the shore of the British Ocean. 



Pennant notices the propensity of this species to violate the reposi- 

 tories of the dead, and greedily devour the putrid contents of the 

 grave. He also states, that it preys on the herds and flocks ; but adds, 

 on the authority of Shaw ('Travels'), that for want of other food it 

 will eat the roots of plants, and that it will feed on the tender shoots 

 of palms. He speaks of it as an unsociable animal, solitary, and 

 inhabiting the chasms of the rocks, and says (also on the authority of 

 Shaw), that the superstitious Arabs, when they kill one, carefully bury 

 the head, least it should be applied to magical purposes; as the neck 

 was of old by the Thessalian sorceress 



" Viscera non Lyncls, non dirro nodus Hyaena) 

 Defuit." 



" Nor entrails of the spotted Lynx she lackn, 

 Nor bony joints from fell Hyaenas' backs." Lucan Rowe. 



After referring to the wild opinions of the ancients on this subject, 

 he remarks, that it is no wonder that an ignorant Arab should attri- 

 bute to its remains preternatural powers. 



"They are," continues Pennant, "cruel, fierce, and untameable 

 animals, with a most malevolent aspect; have a sort of obstinate 

 courage, which will make them face stronger quadrupeds than them- 

 selves. Kaempfer relates that he saw one which had put two lions to 

 flight, regarding them with the utmost coolness." (' Synopsis Quadr.') 

 This is a somewhat extraordinary translation of a passage in the 

 second fasciculus of Kaompfer's ' Amccnitates Exoticae,' where he relates 

 that he went to see a male Hyaena (Kaftaar), which a certain rich 

 Gabr, or fire-worshipper, kept as a curiosity, the animal having been 

 taken when a suckling. It was muzzled by means of a rope fastened 

 round its jaws, led out, and the rope lengthened so as to enable the 

 animal to run more freely ; and Kaempfer goes on to say, " Narrabant 

 Gabri, sic fraenatum nuper se opposuisse duobus leonibus, quos, 

 adspectante serenissiino,* in fugam verterit." Kaempfer gives a 

 figure which, though rude, cannot be mistaken for any animal but a 

 Striped Hyaena. Pennant seems to have beeir aware of his miscon- 

 struction, for afterwards, in his ' History of Quadrupeds,' he stops at, 

 " put two lions to flight," omitting, " regarding them with the utmost 

 coolness." 



In the last-mentioned work Pennant remarks, that it will venture 

 near towns; and quotes Niebuhr as authority that it will, about 

 Gambron, in the season when the inhabitants sleep in the open air, 

 snatch away children from the sides of their parents. 



It has been the custom, among other fabulous assertions, to state 

 that the Hyaena is not to be tamed : now, as Mr. Bennett observes, 

 in the ' Tower Menagerie,' there is scarcely any animal that submits 

 with greater facility to the control of man. He speaks of the 

 docility and attachment to his keepers manifested by the Striped 

 Hyaena, especially when allowed a certain degree of liberty, which the 

 animal shows no disposition to abuse, though those which are carried 

 about from fair to fair in close caravans are surly and dangerous from 

 irritation and ill-treatment. The individual which Mr. Bennett 

 figures wag remarkably tame, and confined in the same den with one 



* The king of Persia, apparently. 



