40 MAMMALIA. 



t 



SUBGENUS II. GENETTA, Cuv. Genets. 



Odoriferous pouch reduced to a slight depression formed 

 by the projection of the glands, and without any sensible ex- 

 cretion ; claws retractile. 



SUBGENUS III. MANGUSTA, Cuv. Mangouste. 



Pouch voluminous, simple and containing no odorous mat- 

 ter ; claws semi-retractile. The Egyptian Mangouste is cele- 

 brated under the title of Ichneumon. It has a long tail ter- 

 minated with a black tuft. It is larger than our Cat and as 

 slender as a Marten. By the Europeans, at Cairo, it is called 

 Pharaoh's rat, but by the natives nemus. There is no foun- 

 dation for the classical tradition respecting its practice of 

 jumping down the throat of the Crocodile. It devours its 

 eggs, however, with avidity. 



Group III. 



No small teeth behind the carnivorous tooth of the lower 

 jaw ; carnivorous instinct more fully developed than in all the 

 other Carnaria. Two genera. 



. ..,,." -v ;'.' "..,./ 



GENUS I. HYJENA, Storr. 



Three false molars above, four below, remarkably large, 

 capable of breaking the bones of the strongest prey ; tongue 

 rough ; four toes on all the feet, armed with huge trenchant 

 claws; sense of smell delicate; tail short and pendent; a 

 deep glandular pouch secreting a matter of disagreeable 

 odour ; fur rough, sparse, composed of long hair, forming a 

 crest upon the back ; gait peculiar, on account of the body 

 being lower behind than before ; life nocturnal ; habitation in 

 caverns ; a depraved appetite for dead bodies, which it will 

 seek even in the grave. 



GENUS TI. FELIS, Lin. Cat. 



Muzzle short and round ; jaws possessing the greatest 

 power known on account of their shortness, and the muscular 

 masses destined to move them ; only one small- tuberculous 

 tooth behind the upper carnivorous, without any correspond- 

 ing one below ; two false molars above and below ; enormous 

 canine teeth adjoining the incisives, and more than twice 

 their length ; five toes before and four behind, all armed with 

 retractile claws, which, being raised perpendicularly, and 



