PROTELES. 281 



ry'mg It to his retreat; often preferring bones to 

 flesh, breaking them small and licking out the 

 marrow, extruding a fatty substance by rubbing the 

 nates against wood or stone, and then licking it up, 

 particularly after every meal. These are habits 

 which were observed by Dr. Smith upon one he 

 kept in confinement. 



GENUS III.— PROTELES. 



This genus is as yet very imperfectly known, but 

 forms an intermediate link between hyfenas and 

 viverras, by the fore legs with five toes (the fifth 

 being short and placed high), and the head narrowed 

 and more pointed, approximating the Civets; by 

 the high and slender legs, resembling dogs; and by 

 the mane on the neck and back, the short hard 

 brush, and even by the stripes on the body, indi- 

 cating an alliance with hyagnas. The dentition is 

 not as yet fidly known, because the specimen ob- 

 served had only three small false molars, and a 

 diminutive tubercular back molar, as if in this case 

 the teeth had not come to perfection, as often hap- 

 pens with Civets. The only species known is 



