2 
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
that " it is rare, indeed, to find a writer of tlie classical period mak- 
ing blunders in the way of putting animals into places in which 
they never were found, except in connexion with the circus of olden, 
and the menagerie of modern times, which are so rife in all but our 
very best modem authors." 
MAMMALS. 
The Maetikhoea (Maprtxwpa?, AvSpocj^dyos). 
Felis Tigris, Linn. — The Tiger. 
The identification of the martihhora with the tiger, in the previous 
Paper, where it was pointed out that the scorpion-like characteristics 
could readily be explained by the presence of the sharp homy appen- 
dage on the extremity of the tail in the FelidcB, has led me to note, 
among other curious facts in that connexion, that the " old Assyrians (as 
pointed out by the Rev. Mr. Houghton^) seem to have noticed the horny 
process (on the tail of the lion) which is now and then figured, though 
with exaggeration, on the marble slabs." The same author states, 
however, that classical authors make no mention of it when speaking 
of the lion lashing himself with his tail when angry. The ingenious 
suggestion, that the natural function of the sharp point was to rouse 
the animal to fury is, therefore, probably of no great antiquity, and 
has, so far as I am aware, nothing else to commend it. 
I may state that I recently took advantage of the delicate state of 
health of one of our lionesses in the Zoological Gardens to examine this 
structure, and found it to be hard and sharply pointed, but quite con- 
cealed from view by the hair at the extremity of the tail. 
The Keokottas, or Ktnoltkos (Kpo/corra?, 'KwoXvko^). 
Hycena crocuta. — The Spotted Hyena. 
Ktesias states that the hrohottas, which was identified as above in 
the previous Paper, occurs in Ethiopia. IS'ow, although Ethiopia, it is 
believed, sometimes stood for India with the Greeks, it appeared in this 
case that if the identification was correct Ethiopia must here mean 
Africa, as the spotted hyena was not known to occur or to have occurred 
out of that geographical region. Quite recently, however, presumably 
pleistocene remains of the animal have been identified by Mr. K. 
Natural History of the Ancients, p. 107. 
