336 ^Fr. Iv. T. Pocock on some of the External 



and Watsoirs in Crocuta crociita agree elosely with that of 

 Danbenton in H. hyana ; and niy observations in connection 

 vitli the latter species are qnite in accord. In Crocuta, 

 ll0^ye\•er, the skin of the ponch is said by Watson to be 

 ])ai-tially hairy, whereas in Htj«ina it seems to be qnite 

 sniootb. 



When tlie tail is lowered, the walls of the pouch are in 

 close apposition and its orifice appears as a curved slit above 

 the anus, the concavity of the curve being downwards. It 

 has a thickened rim, the inferior portion of which is con- 

 tinuous with the naked skin above the anus. Tiius the 

 oritices of the pouch and of the anus lie one above the 

 other in a large disk of naked skin surrounded by hair, the 

 hair in tlie middle line below forming a narrow strip above 

 the vulva. The skin of the disk is very soft and pliable, and 

 the pouch is susceptible of considerable dilatation. The 

 orifices of the anal glands lie deeply within it, one on each 

 side of, but not close to, the middle line. They are thus 

 far removed above the anal orifice, a condition not known, 

 so far as 1 am aware, in any other Carnivore, though fore- 

 shadowed in some mongooses, e. g. Cynictis. 



In the newly-born young the pouch is well developed and 

 in the same position as in the adult, but the orifice of the 

 pouch is transverse with the two ends slightly upcurved, 

 instead of downcurved, and this orifice and the anus are 

 sunk in a common depression near the centre of the anal 

 disk. 



Mivart, perhaps (but not certainly) correctly, cites tlie 

 presence of an anal pouch as evidence of affinity between 

 the hyseiias and the mongooses. There is, however, con- 

 siderable difference between the pouches in the two groups. 

 In the mongooses the anus o])ens near the centre of the 

 pouch, which, apparently in these animals, represents the 

 entire anal disk in the hyaenas ; and the margins of the 

 pouch close rig! it over the anus when the pouch is closed. 

 In the mongooses, moreover, the orifices of the two anal 

 glands open into the j)oueh t(jlerably near the anus, and not 

 very far above it and remote froin it as in the hyaenas. 



As Murie (Tr. Zool. Soc. vi. p. 505, pi. Ixiii.j described 

 in the case of Ilyeena brimnea, the anal glands are enveloped 

 in muscular tissue ; but the glands in H. hyana differ from 

 those of that sjjecies in the following particulars. In Hyayia 

 hrunnea it appears that the normal anal gland found in all 

 /Eluroid Carnivores is tripartite. At all events, ]N[urie figured 

 three closely juxtaposed saccular glands, each with a separate 

 compartment for storage of the secretion, which makes 



