CARNIVORA. 155 



swarmed in Britain, and over the whole of Europe ; 

 being the principal agents that consumed the nu- 

 merous carcases of huge Pachydermata and Ru- 

 minants, whose bones, fractured, and bearing the 

 marks of teeth, are invariably found mixed with 

 them. 



Genus PROTELES, in form between the hyena and 

 civet, remarkably high on the legs, with a fifth 

 toe high on the joint of the fore foot, but only four 

 on the hind foot. Incis. g, Ian. ^-^, mol. f -f = 30 ; 

 but it is still a question if that dentition is complete, 

 all the cheek teeth being simple tubercles. 



The Viverridce have the tongue covered with 

 hard sharp pointed papillae ; their claws in walking 

 are somewhat withdrawn, and they have, beneath 

 the tail, a pouch containing glands, which secrete 

 an unctuous, often very odoriferous matter ; their 

 form is lengthened and comparatively low. They 

 are active, petulant, and mostly cruel plunderers, 

 destroying for the love of bloodshed; in general, 

 nestling under roots of trees, and in the crevices 

 of rocks. Some approximating the felinaa by the 

 structure of their claws, and others with pads, be- 

 coming more and more plantigrade ; both more or 

 less arboreal and nocturnal in their habits, feeding 

 on eggs, birds, small mammals, lizards, frogs, and 

 serpents ; in the last respect, they have been prin- 

 cipally beneficial to mankind, and, no doubt, this 

 quality procured for some species, in Egypt, that 

 high veneration which ranked them with gods. 



Genus HERPESTES. The Mangustas. Eyes 



