162 NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE LONG-EAEED FOX.* 



Tliis very extraordinary little animal is found only in South Africa. It has somewhat the appear- 

 ance of a Fennec, but the bushy tail is straight and comparatively short, being not more than half the 

 length of the body and head, which together are about two feet long. The ears are of great size, and 

 the snout is very short and pointed. The skin is of a greyish-yellow colour, white beneath, and the 

 tail is darker than the rest of the body. It differs from all other Canidse in having no less than six 

 additional molar teeth, two on each side of the upper, one on each side of the lower jaw. t Some of 

 the teeth, too, show an approximation in form to those of the Civets. For these reasons it is, like the 

 two following animals, placed in a separate genus from the rest of the Canidse. 



THE RACOON 



This is another member of the family, the peculiarities of which are so great as to necessitate its 

 being placed in a separate genus. It is very different from an ordinary Dog, and has the look of a 

 Racoon, which, as we shall see afterwards, is a member of one of the families of Arctoidea, and far 

 removed from the Dogs. The body is covered with long brown fur ; the ears are short and rounded. 

 The back is curiously arched, almost like that of a Marten or Weasel ; the legs are short and slender. 

 The body attains a length of almost twenty-eight inches ; the prettily-feathered tail is about four 

 inches in length. The teeth equal in number those of ordinary Dogs. 



THE HYAENA-DOG. 



This curious animal, sometimes called the " Cape Hunting Dog," is found over the greater part of 

 ti'ans-Saharal Africa, being especially abundant in the neighbourhood of Cape Colony. Of all the 

 Cynoids it is the species which shows the greatest approximation to the ^Eluroid type. It is, to all 

 intents and purposes, a Dog, but yet in some few respects shows a decided relationship with the Hyaenas; 

 for instance, the back slopes slightly towards the hinder qxiarter, the muzzle is black, and of that ugly 

 snub-nosed character so characteristic of Hyaenas, the ears are long and straight, and the tail scanty. 

 It differs also from the true Dogs in having only four toes on all the feet, instead of five on the fore 

 feet and four on the hind feet. The skull and teeth are quite Cynoid in character : the former 

 presenting only one single slight and unimportant point in which it tends to resemble that of a Hyaena. 



The Lycaon is about the size of a Wolf. Its skin varies a good deal in its markings. " White, 

 black, and yellow ochre are its chief tints ; the white predominates in some, the black in others, and 

 forms the fundamental colours ; the spots are very irregular, sometimes large, sometimes small, very 

 varyingly disposed on the surface of the body ; the white and ochreous spots are always mixed with 

 black. The colouration of the head is the most constant; the muzzle is black up to the eyes; and 

 black bands are prolonged between the eye and ear, along the top of the head, to the neck. The tail 

 is usually tolerably regular in colouration : it is ochreous at the root, black in the middle, white or 

 ochreous at the tip ; the eyes are brown." 



The Hyaena-Dogs are partly diurnal, partly nocturnal in their habits. They like fresh meat, and 

 are, at the same time, partial to carrion. 



" These animals invariably hunt together in large organised packs, varying in numbers from ten 

 to sixty, and by their extraordinary powers of endurance and mode of mutual assistance, they are 

 enabled to run into the swiftest and overcome the largest and most powerful Antelope. Their pace is 

 a long, never-tiring gallop, and in the chase they relieve one another, the leading Hounds falling to the 

 rear when fatigued, when others who have been husbanding their strength come up and relieve them. 

 Having succeeded in bringing their quarry to bay, they all surround him, and he is immediately 

 dragged to the ground, and in a few minutes torn to pieces and consumed. 



" Their voices consist of three different kinds of cry, each being used on special occasions. One 

 of their cries is a sharp angry bark, usually uttered when they suddenly behold an object which 

 they cannot make out. Another resembles a number of Monkeys chattering together, or con- 



* Megalotis Lalandii. 



t The dental formula is, therefore, incisors, ^; canines, |^; premolars, ^; molars, 44=48. 



J Nycterentes procyonides. Lycaon pictus. 



