THE CAT TRIBE. <211 



and supped off it until it was nearly half- consumed. Burchell 

 says, that having shot and brought home a new species of ante- 

 lope, the hyaenas, who pay no respect to species, devoured all its 

 flesh, leaving only the head and the hide. 



M. F. Cuvier says, that a hyaena, that had been taken young 

 at the Cape, was tamed without difficulty. His keepers had a 

 complete command over his affections. He one day escaped 

 from his cage, and quietly walked into a cottage, where he was 

 retaken without offering any resistance ; and yet the rage of 

 this animal was very great when strangers approached it. 



The period of gestation, the number of young at a litter, and 

 the average longevity of the hyaena, be it of this or the preceding 

 species, do not appear to have been as yet ascertained. 



THE CAT TRIBE. 



As the several species of Felina, from the lion to the cat, 

 have so much in common, not only in their configuration, 

 but in their habits, this general sketch of the tribe may 

 conveniently comprise several facts respecting them, which, 

 therefore, need not be recapitulated when we come to discuss 

 the natural history of particular species. 



These animals, the most ferocious, the most highly organized 

 of the numerous carnivorous mammals, exhibit the predacious 

 propensity in the utmost state of development, and are furnished 

 with the most powerful means of carrying it into complete 

 effect. Their teeth and claws, the principal organs of destruc- 

 tion, are eminently fitted for predatory purposes, and are ac- 

 companied by a corresponding development of those Accessory 

 organs which assist them in their action. The slightest inspec- 

 tion of their teeth, and more especially of the canine and of the 

 larger cheek-teeth, is sufficient to prove that nothing can be 

 better adapted to the purpose of tearing asunder the large 

 masses of flesh which are swallowed by these animals, without 

 being subjected to mastication ; a process which their structure 



