114 AARD WOLF. 
the Nieuveld Mountains, a considerable distance 
in the interior of the country, which shows that the 
species is not so strictly confined to the vicinity of 
the sea-coast as its name would imply, or as the 
accounts of travellers would lead us to imagine. 
AARD-WOLF, (Proteles, Is. Geof*.,) in Zoology, 
a genus of digitigrade carnivorous mammals founded 
by M. Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire for the purpose 
of giving a place to a new and singular quadruped 
brought from the interior of Caffraria by the late 
traveller De Lalande. The three specimens of this 
interesting animal procured by M. De Lalande were 
all, unfortunately, of an immature age, and had not 
acquired their permanent teeth, so that the charac- 
ters of their adult dentition still remain to be deter- 
mined. Enough, however, is known to enable us to 
assign the most prominent and influential characters 
of the genus, and to infer, with a tolerable degree of 
accuracy, the habits and economy of the animal. 
“ It is an observation at least as old as Pliny, that 
Africa is a land of wonders, which continually pro- 
duces a succession of new and singular objects. In 
zoology, the maxim of the Roman philosopher, as to 
African wonders, is verified almost daily. Among the 
most recent examples of this fact we may adduce the 
discovery of the Proteles: an acquisition of peculiar 
interest to the zoologist, as forming the intermediate 
* The Penny Cyclopedia, vol.i. page 4. 
