138 



HY^NA. 



CARNIVORA. 



VIVERRIDJE. 



Fig. 54. 



Fossil, ^ nat. size, Kent's Hole. 



SPEL^A. Cave Hyama. 



Hyene fossile, CUVIER, Ann. du Museum, torn. vi. p. 127. 



Hyaena spelata, GOLDFUSS, Die Umgebungen von Muggendorf, 1810, 



12mo. p. 280. 



Fossil Hyaena, BUCKLAND, Reliquiae Diluvianae, passim. 



Hyaena spelaea, OWEN, Report of British Association, 1842. 



THE Hysena is the largest and most aberrant of that 

 tribe of Carnivorous quadrupeds of which the Genet and 

 Civet-cats may be regarded as the type, and it makes the 

 nearest approach to the Feline genus in its dentition. But 

 its habits are less destructive ; it seeks the dead carcase 

 rather than a living prey, and does not disdain carrion ; in 

 this respect, bearing the same analogy to the Lion and 

 Leopard, that the Vulture does to the Eagle and Falcon. 

 With the number of incisors f, and canines \:], common 

 to the Carnivora, the Hysena has four molars in each ramus 

 of the lower jaw ; animals of the Cat kind having three 

 molars, and those of the Dog kind seven, in the same bone. 



