SPOTTED HY/ENA— EARTH-V/ULF. 



157 



there is a full-page illustration, Plate 

 ^presenting a troop in the act of falling 

 carcass of an antelope, while the jackals 

 fully await their share, — is that form 

 las the widest geographical distribution, 

 and in all the temperate and warm parts 

 lea and Asia, from the shores of the 

 ic to those of the Pacific. Formerly it 

 ed in Algeria; 

 spite of its in- 

 3n to haunt the 

 ty of human 

 igs it is gradu- 

 treating, espe- 

 jefore the Eu- 



colonists, who 

 it restrained 

 r attacks upon 

 nimal by the 

 :itions which 

 rabs entertain 

 gard to it. The 

 black trans- 

 stripes on the 

 i-yellow fur at 

 istinguish it 



the allied 



; tubercled 

 in the upper 



:iuite rudimentary, and often disappears 

 her in the adult animal. Notwithstand- 

 s mark of a carnivorous dentition, and 

 e of its comparatively large size, this 

 is the most cowardly of all. 

 tubercled tooth persists in those species 

 are peculiar to South Africa. In the 

 1 Hyaena [Hycrna crocuta), fig. 71, 

 formerly used even to visit the streets 

 e Town, brown spots are irregularly 

 ited over the reddish-yellow fur. In 

 districts this animal is still dreaded as 

 of prey, since it is not disinclined to 

 living game. In the Brown Hyaena 

 iinnea) the hair on the back is of a 

 1 brown colour and not verv stiff, and 



ultimately becomes very long, so as to fall 

 down over the body and form a sort ot mane. 

 The brown hyaena mostly roams about the 

 sea-shore, and feeds on refuse cast up by the 

 sea; but it also attacks flocks of domestic 

 animals. 



All these hyaenas have the same noisy 

 nocturnal mode of life, and the same disgust- 

 ing habits. But while 

 the other two species 

 utter broken howls, 

 abruptly changing 

 from an unsteady 

 bass to a high-pitched 

 tenor, the spotted 

 hya;na expresses its 

 various feelings by a 

 sort of yelping, ex- 

 tremely penetrating, 

 diabolical laucjhter, a 

 genuine laugh of de- 

 spair at once terrible 

 and comic. This 

 form is not so easily 

 tamed as the striped 

 species. It is said to 

 be more stupid than 

 ^^-^~^jSii.,-r<he latter, but the 

 ' I ■CTKNSinerences m respect 



-The E\ith ^^olf el \^xt\\ It ft '/ Lil ilii) j '''CSj r • 



'""^'^^f mental qualities 

 cannot be great. Dulness of sense and vora- 

 city are the most prominent attributes of both. 

 A very abnormal genus is formed by an 

 animal which is moreover rather rare, the 

 Earth-wolf, or Aardwolf of the Dutch settlers 

 at the Cape, where it is to be found. Its 

 scientific name is Protclcs Lalandii, fig. 72. 

 Judging from its bearing and general aspect 

 one might regard the animal as a rather 

 small striped hyeena, but its tore-feet are five- 

 toed like those of the Canida;, and the stripes 

 with which it is marked are further apart 

 than in the hyaena, which it otherwise re- 

 sembles externally. And, after all, the re- 

 semblance is only external, and disappears 

 on an examination of the skull and dentition. 



