68 



MAMMALIA. 



One species only is known Crossarchus obscurus, Fred. Cuv. from Sierra 

 Leone, of the size of the Surikate; greyish brown ; cheeks a little paler, and a 

 hairy tail. 



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 are the 

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



HY^INA, Storr. 



The Hyaenas 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 th e 

 bones of the largest prey. The tongue is rough, and each foot has four toes 

 like that of the Surikate. 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 vertebra? 

 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 traditions 

 are connected with them. Three species are known, one of which is the 



H. vulgaris, Buff". (The Striped Hyaena.) 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. The brown and spotted Hyaenas are the two others. 



FELIS, Linnaus. 



Of all the Carnaria the Cats are the most completely 

 and powerfully armed. Their short and round muzzle, 

 short jaws, and particularly their retractile nails, which 

 being raised perpendicularly, and hidden between the 

 toes when at rest, by the action of an elastic ligament, 

 lose neither point nor edge, render them most for- 

 midable animals, the larger species especially. They 

 have two false molars above, and two below : their su- 

 perior carnivorous tooth has three lobes, and a blunted 

 heel on the inner side ; the inferior, two pointed and 

 trenchant lobes, without any heel : they have but a very small tuberculous 

 tooth above, without any thing to correspond to it below. The species of this 

 genus are very numerous, and various with regard to size and colour, though 

 they are all similar with respect to form. We can only subdivide them by 

 referring to the difference of size and the length of the hair, characters of but 

 little importance. At the head of the genus we find 



