MR. G. BUSK ON THE EXISTING SPECIES OV lITiENA. G5 



the whole approaches in form more that of the Crocottas. The 

 carnassier of the upper jaw has three subequal lobes, exactly as 

 in Hywna striata ; and the last or tubercular is exactly alike ; the 

 last lobe of the carnassier is less indented in H.fusca. This, 

 then," he remarks, " is the true H.fusca of E. and Gr. St. Hilaire." 

 A subsequent note, also made in the Jardin des Plantes, shows 

 how much he was puzzled about S. hrunnea, as well he might be; 

 and again on the occasion of a visit to examine the Hysena-skuUs 

 in the British Museum, he writes, " Examined the two skulls, S. 

 cr acuta and hrunnea. Gray, Cat. p. 69, cites H.fusca as a synonym ; 

 but this is a mistake ;" and he ends the note by saying that he 

 " believes there are four species living, viz. : — 



IT. crocotta or maculata. 



H. hrunnea, 



H. {EuJiywna) fusca. 



H. {^Eu}iy<sna) striata.'" 

 I make these quotations from the brief notes of my lamented 

 friend, not only to show how confused the subject of the 

 different existing species of Hycena was in his mind, and con- 

 sequently how useful it would be to have it definitively settled for 

 succeeding palseoutologists, but also because I am unwilling that 

 anything which can be rescued from his notes should be lost. In 

 the quotation above given it will be seen that his keen and pene- 

 trating eye had really perceived the more essential among the 

 dental characters distinguishing H. striata from H. hrunnea, 

 although, from the mistake with regard to the latter species into 

 which he had almost inevitably been led, he, like De Blainville, 

 overlooked the true significance of what he had noticed. 



H. striata and H. hrunnea, so far as regards cranial and dental 

 characters, agree in so many particulars as upon superficial in- 

 spection to be readily confounded. The chief points in which 

 they agree are also those in' which they both diff"er from 3. cro- 

 cuta and its fossil congeners. 



1. In both, the upper tubercular molar is triradicular and tri- 

 cuspid, and rarely less than 0'5 of an inch in length by 0'2 in its 

 shorter diameter ; while in H. crocuta and its allies this tooth is 

 normally biradicular and bicuspid, though not unfrequently, by 

 abortion, uniradicular, or entirely absent ; and it is never more 

 than 0"2 or 0'21 in length by 0"1 in the shorter diameter. 



2. In having the three lobes of the upper carnassial tooth sub- 

 equal in the antero-posterior direction. 



LINN. PItOO. ^ZOOLOGY, VOL. IX. 7 



