ORDER CARNASSIER. 409 



authors to whom the restoration of the science in Europe 

 has been owing. To Busbec and Koempfer we are indebted 

 for a new and more correct acquaintance with the Hyaena. 

 Since them it has been often described, and it is at present 

 one of the best known of the carnivorous tribe. The 

 length of the body, measured on the skeleton, is, from tail 

 to occiput, about four feet. The head ten inches, and the 

 tail seven. The posterior height is above two feet, the ante- 

 rior about a foot and a half. In the upper parts of the body 

 the colour is a yellowish-gray, varied by transversal bands 

 of a black-brown. The mane is gray, with some black 

 spots. The muzzle and the external face of the ears are 

 violet-brown. The woolly hairs are small in number, the 

 others rough, long, and somewhat thick, except on the 

 limbs, where they are short and close. The mane is com- 

 posed of them, and is considerably larger than that of the 

 Spotted Hyaena. There are long mustaches on the upper 

 lip, above the eyes, and on the cheeks. It is unnecessary to 

 repeat the generic characters. The ears, however, it may 

 be observed, have two folds at their base, one on the inter- 

 nal, the other on the external, edge. 



The voracity of this animal, its preference of the flesh 

 of carcasses to living prey, and its consequent propensity to 

 disinter the dead, have bestowed upon it a character for 

 ferocity not founded in truth. Ill treatment will render it 

 extremely furious, but under opposite circumstances, it 

 will exhibit the most remarkable degree of mildness and 

 docility. Its cage may be entered with impunity, it will 

 approach to fawn upon those it knows ; and were it not 

 for the prejudices of the public on this subject, a Hysena 

 thus tamed might be intrusted with as much liberty as a 

 common Dog. There is in these respects a remarkable 

 coincidence of character between the two Hysenas, and 

 both in a domestic state would doubtless render to Man 

 services of the same kind and degree as the canine species. 



