274 THE SPOTTED HY^NA. 



Gesner, who, without being aware of the identity, 

 or misled by Belon, gave one, by no means ill 

 executed, under the name of Lupus marinus. 

 The distinctive characters of the genus, in addi- 



tion to those already enumerated, are : incisors 



1_1 5_5 



canines - -? molars - = 34: the inferior 



1 1 4 4 



incisors on a single line, canines exceedingly strong ; 

 the superior cheek-teeth on each side three, coni- 

 cal, blunt, large false molars, one enormous car- 

 nassier outwards tricuspidate, on the inside forwards 

 with a small tubercle, and a tuberculous tooth; 

 the inferior cheek-teeth similarly formed, but with 

 the tuberculous wanting, the carnassier bicuspidate, 

 and no tubercular process. The tongue is covered 

 with horny papillae; the eyes with irides vertical 

 above and circular below ; the ears long, pointed, 

 very open, erect ; all the feet four-toed, with strong 

 but not retractile claws fit for digging ; after-quarter 

 lower than the shoulders, and depressed ; glandu- 

 lous pouch beneath the tail ; tail short, little move- 

 able ; mammas only four. Hyaenas exist in every 

 part of Africa, and of Southern and Middle Asia, 

 from the Bosphorus through Persia, on the south of 

 the Himalayas to the west bank of the Burham- 

 pootra, but not farther to the east, according to Mr. 

 Crawfurd.* The most common in Africa is 



The Spotted Hyaena (H. crocuta). This species 

 is little inferior in size to the largest striped hyaenas. 

 A specimen now in the Plymouth Museum mea- 

 * Crawford's Embassy to the Court of Ava. 



