98 MAMMALIA. 



The last subdivision of the Digitigrada has no small teeth of any kind 

 behind the large molar of the lower jaw. The animals contained in it arc 

 the most cruel and sanguinary of the class. They form two genera. 



Hy^na, Storr. 



The Hyenas have three false molars above and four below, all conical, 

 blunt, and singularly large ; their superior carnivorous tooth has a small 

 tubercle within and in front, but the inferior has none, presenting only two 

 stout trenchant points : with these powerful arms they are enabled to crush 

 the bones of the largest prey. The tongue is rough ; each foot has four 

 toes like that of the Surikate ; and under the anus is a deep and glandular 

 pouch, which induced some of the ancients to consider them as hermaphro- 

 dites. So powerful are the muscles of the neck and jaw, that it is almost 

 impossible to wrest any thing from between their teeth that they have 

 once seized, and, among the Arabs, their name is the symbol of obstinacy. 

 It sometimes happens that an anchylosis of the cervical vertebrae is the 

 consequence of these violent efforts, and this has caused it to be said that 

 they have only one single bone in the neck. They are nocturnal animals, 

 inhabiting caves ; are extremely voracious, and feed chiefly on dead bodies, 

 which they seek for even in the grave. A thousand superstitious tradi- 

 tions are connected with them. Three species are knoA\ii, the 



H. vulyaris, Buff. Supp. III. xlvi. (The Striped Hyena). Grey ; 

 blackish or brown stripes crosswise ; a mane along the whole of the 

 nape of the neck, and black, that stands erect when the animal is 

 angry. It is found from India to Abyssinia and Senegal. 



H. brunnea, Thumb., Acad, of Stockh. 1820, part I. pi. ii; 

 H. villosa, Smith. Lin. Trans. XV. pi. xix. (The Brown Hyena). 

 Of a deep greyish brown ; black stripes on the legs only. From the 

 south of Africa, where the inhabitants of the Cape call it le Loup du 

 rivac/e, or the Shore Wolf. 



H. crocuta, Schreb. XCVI. B. (The Spotted Hyena). Grey or 

 reddish, sprinkled with black spots. It is likewise from the south 

 of Africa, and is the Tiger Wolf of the Cape. 



There have lately been found in several caverns of France, Ger- 

 many, and England, many bones of a lost species of Hyena — //. 

 spelcea, which appears to have resided there, and to have left the 

 bones of many other animals, which bear evident marks of its teeth, 

 and even its own faeces*. 



* See Buckland, Reliquiae Diluvianae, and Vol. IV, of my Oss. Foss. 2d ed. 



{H^" (a) The learned professor mentioned in the foregoing note, discovered, in 

 1822, in Kirkdale cave, Yorkshire, beneath a muddy surface, a great quantity of 

 the bones of different animals, a remarkable proportion of which belonged to Hyaenas. 

 The conclusions to which this discovery led were as follows : — that this cavern was, 

 before the deluge, the retreat of Hyaenas, the species of which have been long ex- 

 tinct; that the teeth and fragments of the bones with which the remains of the Hyae- 

 nas were found blended, belonged to the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, horse, 

 ox, deer, fox, water-rat, and several birds, all these animals having been dragged 

 into the cave to be devoured by the Hyaenas. At least, this motive seems to have 

 been strongly indicated by the fact, that the fragments shewed proofs of having been 



