386 GEOGEAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL DISTKIBUTIOK. 



the brown hyena (H. brunnea), from South Africa. Although now 

 restricted to the continents of Asia and Africa, the numerous re- 

 mains found in the European Post-Pliocene deposits iiidicate that 

 this animal, as well as the lion and other semi-tropical species, was 

 an abundant form in the north temperate regions at a comparatively 

 recent period, and that from those parts the Ethiopian realm has 

 drawn much of its existing distinctive fauna. The widely distrib- 

 uted cave-hyena (H. spelsea), whose range embraced a part of the 

 British Isles, was most nearly related to, if not identical with, the 

 H. crocuta, and was without doubt its direct ancestor. The striped 

 hyena may be traced back to the older (Pliocene) H. Arvernensis of 

 Central Prance, and the brown form not improbably to the Miocene 

 (or Pliocene) H. eximia of Pikermi, Greece. The aberrant form 

 Hyffinictis, described by Gaudry from Pikermi, and showing cer- 

 tain viverrine relationships, is considered by Lydekker to repre- 

 sent at most only a sub-genus of hyena. No representatives of 

 this family, either recent or extinct, have thus far been discovered 

 in America, unless, indeed, the Miocene ^lurodon prove to be a 

 distant relative. 



The Cynoidea, or canine division of the Carnivora, comprises 

 but a single family, the dogs (Canidse), whose numerous representa- 

 tives enjoy a nearly world-wide distribution. Apart from the hunt- 

 ing or hyena dog of South Africa (Lycaon picta*), the long-eared 

 fox (Otocyon megalotis), from the same region, and the bush dog 

 (Icticyon venaticus),from Brazil, all the species— some fifty or more 

 — may be conveniently grouped in the single genus Canis, whose 

 range would then be coextensive with that of the family. If the 

 dingo, or wild-dog of Australia, be proved to be indigenous to that 

 continent, then the genus will be the most nearly cosmopolitan of 

 any of the terrestrial Mammalia. Two clearly defined sections of 

 the genus may be recognised, the lupine and the vulpine, to the 

 former of which belong the wolves, jackals, dogs proper, and a 

 number of not readily classifiable forms which have a general canine 

 aspect ; and to the latter the foxes and fennecs. The origin of the 

 various breeds or races of the domestic dog is involved in much 

 uncertainty, and whether their progenitors are to be sought in a 



* A fraD^raent of ii |aw from the Post Pliocene deposits of Glamorganshko, 

 Wales, has been referred to the genus Lycaon by Lydekker (L. Anglicus). 



