protelbida:. 213 



Crocuta maculata. B.M. 



Canis crocuta, Erxl. Syst. p. 578. 



Hysena crocuta, Zimmerm. Geog. ii. p. 256 ; Busk, Proc. lAnn. Soc, 



Hysena capeHsis, Desm. Mamm. p. 216. 



Hysena maculata, Thunb. Acad, de St. P4tersb. iii. p. 303. 



P Hysena rufa, Ouv. Oss. Foss. 



Crocuta maculata, Gray, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 525. 



Spotted Hysena, Pmn. Syn. p. 162, t. 17. 



I^gerwolft; Kolbe, Vorgeb. p. 171, t. 8. f. 5. 



Hob. South Africa. 



Fam. 13. PROTELEIDiE. 



Head elongate, nose very broad. Back slightly crested with long 

 hairs. Legs elongate, hind legs rather the longer. Claws com- 

 pressed, exposed, rather blunt ; hind part of heel hairy. Digiti- 

 grade. SkuU oblong, face very broad, and rounded in front ; buUse 

 of ears large ; palate broad, concave, as wide before as behind ; 

 internal nasal opening wide. Cutting -teeth |^; canines conical, 

 small ; grinders -f- . ^, very small, far apart ; false grinders conical, 

 compressed, small ; flesh-tooth of upper jaw very small, triangular ; 

 the fourth grinder in lower jaw very small, rudimentary; tuber- 

 cular grinders none ^bove or below ; the front lower false grinder 

 largest, conical, carved like a canine, and separated from the canine 

 by a wide space. 



They have " the habit as well as appearance of Hycena, and have 

 the same mode of endeavouring to save their feet from injury when 

 fighting or defending themselves, by doubling them under them and 

 walking or crawling on the wrist- or ankle-joints." " He {Protehs 

 Lalandii] snarls or snaps at you, and has the same kind of face, 

 eyes, and growl as those animals." — Bardett, 5th Dec. 1868. 



FROTELES. 



Grinders |-.^, far apart, rudimentary ; no hinder upper tubercular 

 grinder. 



G. and F. Cuvier arranged this genus with the Viverrce, Blairi- 

 ville with the Dogs. It has the external form and colours of the 

 Eycena. The skull is unlike either of these families ; indeed it is 

 very unlike any genus of Camivora that I am acquainted with. 



