CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. i>vj 



to the farmer. He adds, that it is said to be a remarkably cunning animal, retiring to a consid- 

 erable distance from the scene of its depredations to elude pursuit, and concealing itself during 

 the dar-time in the mountains, or in the thick bush, which extends in large patches throughout 

 the sandy district in which it is usually found. 



The Brown Hyena, H. rufa of Cuvier, H. fusca of Geoffroy, and Crocuta brunnea of Gray, 

 found in Southern Africa, is probably a variety of the H. villosa. 



Fossil Hyenas. — The hyenas of the present day are wholly confined to warm climates, and 

 the continents of Asia and Africa — but it appears that in the third period of the tertiary deposits, 

 the pliocene period of Lyell, their bones are found in various localities, — in Germany, Italy, France, 

 and England, and in South America. Four species are identified, but none of the present races. 

 It would appear that these animals were once abundant in these northern climates, as Dr. Buck- 

 land calculates that the bones of four hundred hyenas were found, in a broken and fragmental 

 state, in the single cavern of Kirksdale, in England. In other caves, vast numbers of the remains 

 of hyenas have been discovered — among them, those of the Great Cave-Hyena, iZ. spelcea — 

 mingled with the bones of other animals, from which it has been concluded that these places were, 

 for many ages, the abodes of these greedy brutes, and that here they devoured their prey. 



Genus PROTELES : Proteles. — Of this there is a single species — the Aard-Wolf or Earth- 

 Wolf, the Proteles Lalandii of Is. Geoffroy, and Viverra cristata of Sparrman; Proteles hycenoi- 

 des of Gervais. It is found in Southern Africa, and along the eastern portions as far north as 

 Nubia and Abyssinia : it derives its name — given by the European colonists — from its habit of 

 burrowing in the earth. It is alike curious to the common and to the scientific observer. To 

 the external appearance and osteological structure of a hyena, this truly singular animal unites 

 the head and feet of a fox, and the intestines of a civet. Its teeth are remarkable : the perma- 

 nent canines are tolerably large, but the molars are small, and" separated by intervals. It has 

 five toes on the fore-feet, and four only on the hind ; the innermost toe of the fore-foot is placed, 

 as in the dogs, at some distance above the others, and therefore never touches the ground when 

 the animal stands or walks. The legs also are completely digitigrade ; that is to say, the heel is 

 elevated, and does not come into contact with the surface, as in man and other similarly formed 

 animals, which walk upon the whole sole of the foot, and are thence said to be plantigrade. It 

 is of great importance to remark the difference between these two modifications of the locomotive 

 organs, because they have a very decided and extraordinary influence upon the habits and econ- 

 omy of animal life. Digitigrade animals, which tread only upon the toes, and carry the heel con- 

 siderably elevated above the ground, have much longer legs than plantigrade animals, and are. 

 therefore, especially fitted for leaping and running with great ease and rapidity. Accordingly, it 

 will be observed that the horse, the stag, the antelope, the dog, and other animals remarkable for 

 rapidity of course, partake strongly of this formation ; and even their degree of swiftness is accu- 

 rately measured by the comparative elevation of the heel. Inattentive observers sometimes mis- 

 apprehend the nature of this peculiar conformation of the extremities of digitigrade animals, and 

 are apt to confound the hough with the ankle, and to mistake for the knee what is really the 

 heel of the animal. Thus we have heard it said that, in the hind-legs of the horse, the knee was 

 bent in a contrary direction to that of man. This is by no means true: a little attention to the 

 >uocession of the different joints and articulations, will show that what is called the cannon-bone 

 in the horse, and other digitigrade animals, in reality corresponds to the instep in man; and that 

 what is generally mistaken for the knee really represents the heel.- 



In the particular case of the Proteles, the natural effect of the digitigrade formation is, in some 

 degree, lessened by the peculiar structure of the fore-legs, which, contrary to the general rule 

 observable in most other animals, are considerably longer than the hind. In this respect, also, 

 the Proteles resembles the hyenas ; and in both genera this singular- disproportion between the 

 anterior and posterior extremities abridges the velocity properly due to their' digitigrade con- 

 1 formation. 



The size of this curious animal is about that of a full-grown fox, which it further resembles in 

 its pointed muzzle; but it stands higher upon its legs, its ears are considerably larger and more 

 naked, and its tail shorter and not so bushy. At first sight it might be easily mistaken for a 

 Vol. I. — 37 



