CYNICTIS STEEDMANNII. O7 
hind feet, characters in which it differs essentially 
from all these animals, and which approximates it 
more nearly to the dogs and foxes. The generic 
name cynictis, from the two Greek words, xuwy a dog 
or fox, and sxc, a weasel or ferret, is intended to 
express this combination of characters, signifying an 
animal intermediate between a dog or fox, and a 
ferret. It is found in the eastern parts of the Colony 
of the Cape of Good Hope, and in Caffraria; bur- 
rows in the earth, and lives upon small animals. 
This specimen was obtained from the district of 
Uitenhage, but I have met with it while crossing the 
Karroo, from the neighbourhood of which I obtained 
another specimen. It is a lively little creature, ex- 
tremely active and graceful in its movements, and is 
called by the Colonists the Rooie Muis-hunt. 
The following is Mr. W. Ogilby’s interesting de- 
scription of this new genus of carnivora, as published 
in the Transactions of the Zoological Society. 
“That the work of creation was originally complete 
and perfect in all its parts; that no hiatus existed 
among natural bodies, or, in other words, that no 
individual stood completely apart from surrounding 
groups, but that all were connected by a uniform 
gradation of intermediate forms and characters, is a 
law of natural history which every day’s experience 
tends more strongly to confirm. It is true that, even 
at the present time, many instances might be brought 
forward in the animal kingdom, of insulated groups, 
VOL. II. H 
