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MAMMALIA — HYiEN A. 



THE STRIPED HY^NA.i 



So striking, and even so singular, are the characteristics of the hya;na, 

 that it is hardly possible to be deceived by them. It is, perhaps, the only 

 quadruped which has but four toes to either the fore or hind feet : like the 

 badger, it has an aperture under the tail, which does not penetrate into the 

 interior parts of the body ; its ears are long, straight, and nearly b^re ; its 

 head is more square and shorter than that of the wolf; its legs, the hind 

 ones especially, are longer ; its eyes are placed like those of the dog ; the 

 hair and mane of a brownish gray, with transverse dark brown or blackish 

 bands on the body, which stripes become oblique on the flanks and the legs. 

 The coat is of two sorts ; fur or wool, in small quantity, and long, stiff, and 

 silky hair. Its height varies from nineteen to twenty-five inches, and its 

 usual length, from the muzzle to the tail, is three feet three inches. 



The striped hyasna is a native of Barbary, Egypt, Abyssinia, Nubia, 

 Syria, Persia, and the East Indies. It generally resides in the caverns of 

 mountains, in the clefts of rocks, or in dens, which it has formed for itself 

 under<|the earth. It lives by depredation, like the wolf; but it is a stronger 

 animal, and seemingly more daring. It sometimes attacks man, carries off 

 cattle, follows the flocks, breaks open the sheepcotes by night, and ravages 

 with a ferocity insatiable. By night also its eyes shine ; and it is main- 

 tained that it sees better than in the day. If we may credit all the natural- 

 ists who have treated of this animal, its cry is very peculiar, beginning 

 with something like the moaning of a human being, and ending in a sound 

 which resembles the sobs or reachings of a man in a violent fit of vomiting ; 



' Hyccna vulgaris. The genus Hijccna has six upper and six lower incisors; two 

 upper and two lower canines ; ten upper and eight lower molars. Feet tetradactyle ; nails 

 not retractile; legs long; eyes projecting ; ears large ; a glandular pouch at the anus. 



