CHAPTER XIV. 



Carnivores, — continued. 



Civets, Aard-Wolf, axd Hy^exas. 



The Carnivores described in the present chapter are those which exhibit the nearest 

 affinity to the cats ; and the}' are arranged in three distinct families. The first 

 of these famihes includes the civets and their allies, and is represented by a large 

 number of species ; the second contains onlj- a single species, the African aard- 

 wolf ; while the third is formed by the hj-senas, of which there are three species 

 now living. The whole assemblage is strictly confined to the Old WorM — both at 

 the present day, and mainly also in earlier epochs of the earth's history : ' and all 

 of the species are inhabitants of the warmer regions of that hemisphere, none 

 of them ranofincr into the strictlv northern countries. 



These animals agree with the cats (and thereby differ from all other 

 Carnivores) in certain characters connected ^vith the skull, and also in regard to 

 the anatomy of their soft parts. The most obvious feature in connection with 

 the skull is to be found on the under-surface in the region of the internal portion 

 of the ear. Here the so-called bulla, lying immediately behind the cavity for the 

 articulation of the lower jaw, is alwaj-s inflated into a bladder-like form; the in- 

 ternal cavity of this bladder-like chamber being, except in the hya?nas, divided into 

 two compartments by a vertical partition of bone. 



The Civet Tribe. 

 Family VlVEERID^^. 



Under the general title of civets ma}' be included not only the animals to 

 which that term is pi'operly applicable, but likewise a number of more or less 

 closely-allied Carnivores, such as genets, ichneumons or mungooses, palm-civets, 

 linsangs, etc. This assemblage includes a much more diversified group than that 

 represented by the Cat family, and is, therefore, much less easy of definition ; 

 the difficulty being considerablj" increased by one verj' aberrant species from 

 Madagascar which connects the more t^^pical members of the family ^■erv closelj' 

 with the cats. 



The whole of these animals have, however, more elongated faces than the cats, 

 and their bodies are also longer, and their legs shorter than in the members of that 

 familv, not even excepting the peculiar eyra. They have a larger number of 



1 An extinct Carnivore receiitlv described from Nortli America has been referred to tbe hyjenas. 



