2(H THE SURICATE. 



drink like a dog 5 but would not touch water unless lukewarm. 

 When left long alone, or when it heard a strange noise, it would 

 bark like a puppy ; but when caressed or pleased, it made a 

 noise as loud as that of a rattle briskly turned. It had a 

 singular aversion to particular persons; when taken up, it 

 always smelt the hand that held it, and never failed to bite 

 those whom it had bitten before, however frequently they 

 approached it. Some people, indeed, were so very disagreeable 

 to it, that even when restrained, it would make use of various 

 stratagems to come at them ; and if it could not succeed in 

 seizing their legs, it would lay hold of their shoes or petticoats. 



H Y ^E N A S. 



The hyaenas, though closely resembling the cat tribe in their 

 zoological characters, and in their cowardly ferocity of dispo- 

 sition, bear nevertheless a stronger affinity to the dog tribe, 

 with which they were associated by Linnaeus : yet the hyaenas 

 are essentially distinct even from the latter. The principal 

 character by which a zoologist determines the identity or the 

 difference of the animals which come severally under his obser- 

 vation, consists in the appearance of the teeth. " It was not 

 a vain boast, when a zoologist exclaimed, ' Shew me the teeth 

 of an animal, and I will inform you of the history of a being 

 which I never saw.' By the largeness of the tooth he could 

 judge of the relative size of the animal which bore it 3 and by 

 the form of the tooth he could tell whether it was fitted to grind 

 grass or to tear flesh ; and, therefore, whether it belonged to a 

 herbivorous or a carnivorous species. Carrying on his enquiries 

 from this point, he could decide, in a great degree, as to the 

 structure not only of the stomach and viscera, but of the 

 extremities, whether armed with claws, or protected with hoofs -, 

 and, looking still onward, he could thus judge of the vivacity 

 of the senses which belonged to the animal, and of the habits 

 which it derived from its peculiar conformation : knowing, 

 beyond doubt, that there was an intimate agreement in all the 



