FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 



63 



Africa, although nearly allied, has some points of resemblance to the third 

 species. The largest and most powerful of all is the spotted hy£ena 

 crocuta), now confined to South 



{E 





Fig. 38. — Spotted Hyjina 

 {Hycena crocuta). 



Africa, and characterised by the spot- 

 ted coloration of the body, smaller 

 proportionate length of the fore- 

 limbs, large head, with moderate- 

 sized and rounded ears, the pre- 

 sence of a mane on the neck and 

 back, and the smoother and shorter 

 tail. The last upper molar tooth is 

 very small, or even wanting, and 

 the lower carnassial has no inner 

 cusp and a very small poste- 

 rior heel, thus closely approach- 

 ing the corresponding ;tooth of the 

 cats. 



As regards the auditory bulla and adjacent regions of the skull, the Dog Tribe 

 are in many respects intermediate between the preceding group of families and 

 those which follow. The bulla itself is inflated and bladder- 

 like, but has no internal partition; and the paroccipital The Dog Tribe. 



process, although in contact with the bulla, is prominent. Family Ganidce. 

 and not applied to it, as it is in the cats and civets. Another 

 distinctive feature of the group is the presence of a long and coiled coecum, 

 or blind appendage, at the junction of the large and small intestine ; that 

 appendage being either very small or absent in the preceding families. The 

 crowns of the upper molar teeth are triangular in shape ; and these teeth, 

 which are nearly always two in number, are situated behind the carnassial. 

 The latter tooth, as in the civets, has two lobes to the blade ; and the lower 

 carnassial generally has a large tubercular heel behind the blade, and a well- 

 developed cusp on its inner side. In most cases there are three lower molars 

 (of which the carnassial is the first), whereas in tlie civets there are never 

 more than two of these teeth ; and there are always four pairs of premolar teeth 

 in each jaw. Dogs, under which title may be included wolves, jackals, and 

 foxes, have a cosmopolitan distribution, and diiier markedly in their habits 

 from the cats. Although a few will run up the stems of sloping trees, none are 

 climbers ; and many consort in packs to hunt their prey by scent. Many form 

 burrows in the ground ; and while they are more or less carnivorous, some 

 will supplement a flesh diet with fruits, insects, or garbage. All walk on the 

 tips of their toes, and are thus digitigrade ; and the claws are short, blunt, 

 slightly curved, and non-retractile. 



By far the great majority of the members of the family may be included in 

 the genus Canis, which has a geographical distribution equal in extent to tliat 

 of the former. It is characterised by the general presence of 

 42 teeth, and there are five front and four hind toes. The Typical Genus, 

 tail is of moderate length or long, and generally more or 

 less bushy ; and the pupil of the eye may contract either to a, vertical 

 slit or a circle. The general form is too well known to require descrip- 

 tion. The genus may be divided, from the characters of the skull, into two 

 primary series, the first typified by the wolves, and the second by the foxes. 



This series includes the wolves, jackals, and wild dogs, together with the 

 domesticated breeds, and is best characterised by the circumstance that 



