68 



VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA, 



SPOTTED HYENA (//. Crocuta). 



intelligence, and fidelity of the dog. In a state of 

 captivity in our menageries, it has frequently mani- 

 fested great warmth of attachment to its keepers, 

 fully equal to that of the dog. But in its native 

 condition it possesses the ravenous voracity of the 

 genus, attacking cattle, and even entering the huts 

 of the natives, when emboldened by the cover of 

 night. It is probably this species, (H. Crocuta,) to 

 which Mr. Steedman alludes in his very interesting 

 " Wanderings." 



" Mr. Shepstone, in a letter from Mamboland, 

 relates that the nightly attacks of wolves, as the 

 Hyaenas are generally called, have been so destruc- 

 tive amongst the children and youth, as to form 

 quite an anomaly in the history of this animal ; for 



