CLASS I. MAMMALIA: 
ORDEE 6. CARNiyORA. 
289 
tlie farmer. He adds, that it is said to be a remarkably cunning animal, retiring to a consid- 
erable distance from the scene of its depredations to elude pursuit, and concealing itself during 
he day-time in the mountains, or in the thick bush, which extends in large patches throughout 
he sandy district in which it is usually found. 
The Brown Htena, H. rufa of Cuvier, H. fusca of GeofFroy, and Crocuta hrunnea of Gray, 
found in Southern Africa, is probably a variety of the H. villosa. 
Fossil Hyenas. — The hyenas of the present day are wholly confined to w^arm climates, and 
Ihe continents of Asia and Africa — but it appears that in the third period of the tertiary deposits, 
he pliocene period of Lyell, their bones are found in various localities, — in Germany, Italy, France, 
and England, and in South America. Four species are identified, but none of the present races. 
It Avould appear that these animals were once abundant in these northern climates, as Dr. Buck- 
land calculates that the bones of four hundred hyenas were found, in a broken and fragmental 
state, in the single cavern of Kirksdale, in England. In other caves, vast numbers of the remains 
of hyenas have been discovered — among them, those of the Great Cave-Hyena, S. spelcea — 
mingled with the bones of other animals, from which it has been concluded that these places were, 
for many ages, the abodes of these greedy brutes, and that here they devoured their prey. 
Genus PROTELES : Proteles. — Of this there is a single species — the Aard-Wole or Earth- 
WoLE, the Proteles Lalandii of Is. Geoftroy, and Viverra cristata of Sparrman; Proteles JiycBno'i- 
des of Gervais. It is found in Southern Africa, and along the eastern portions as far north as 
Nubia and Abyssinia: it derives its name — given by the European colonists — from its habit of 
burrowing in the earth. It is alike curious to the common and to the scientific observer. To 
the external appearance and osteological structure of a hyena, this truly singular animal unites 
the head and feet of a fox, and the intestines of a civet. Its teeth are remarkable : the perma- 
ent canines are tolerably large, but the molars are small, and separated by intervals. It has 
five toes on the fore-feet, and four only on the hind; the innermost toe of the fore-foot is placed, 
as in the dogs, at some distance above the others, and therefore never touches the ground when 
the animal stands or walks. The legs also are completely digitigrade; that is to say, the heel is 
elevated, and does not come into contact with the surface, as in man and other similarly formed 
animals, which walk upon the whole sole of the foot, and are thence said to be jDlantigrade. It 
is of great importance to remark the difterence between these two modifications of the locomotive 
organs, because they have a very decided and extraordinary influence upon the habits and econ- 
omy of animal life. Digitigrade animals, which tread only upon the toes, and carry the heel con- 
siderably elevated above the ground, have much longer legs than plantigrade animals, and are, 
therefore, especially fitted for leaping and running with great ease and rapidity. Accordingly, it 
w'ill be observed that the horse, the stag, the antelope, the dog, and other animals remarkable for 
rapidity of course, partake strongly of this formation; and even their degree of swiftness is accu- 
rately measured by the comparative elevation of the heel. Inattentive observers sometimes mis- 
apprehend the nature of this peculiar conformation of the extremities of digitigrade animals, and 
are apt to confound the hough with the ankle, and to mistake for the knee what is really the 
heel of the animal. Thus we have heard it said that, in the hind-legs of the horse, the knee was 
bent in a contrary direction to that of man. This is by no means true: a little attention to the 
succession of the difl^erent joints and articulations, will show that what is called the cannon-bone 
in the horse, and other digitigrade animals, in reality corresponds to the instep in man; and that 
what is generally mistaken for the knee really represents the heel. 
In the particular case of the Proteles, the natural effect of the digitigrade formation is, in some 
degree, lessened by the peculiar structure of the fore-legs, which, contrary to the general rule 
observable in most other animals, are considerably longer than the hind. In this respect, also, 
the Proteles resembles the hyenas ; and in both genera this singular disproportion between the 
anterior and posterior extremities abridges the velocity properly due to their digitigrade con- 
formation. 
The size of this curious animal is about that of a full-grown fox, which it further resembles in 
*ts pointed muzzle ; but it stands higher upon its legs, its ears are considerably larger and more 
naked, and its tail shorter and not so bushy. At first sight it might be easily mistaken for a 
YoL. I.— 37 
