94 
MAMMALIA. 
We know but of one (Cr. obscurus, F. Cuv.), from Sierra Leone : size of a Surikate. [Other Mangoustes are 
included by recent systematists ; and it may be remarked that both this and the preceding subdivision are merely 
slight modifications of Herpestes, and have similar perfect orbits.] 
We shall here mention a singular animal from South Africa, which is known only when young, and 
which has five toes before, four behind, and the head a little elongated as in the Civets, the legs raised, 
those behind rather shorter, and a mane as in the Hyaena ; and which also resembles the Striped Hyaena 
very remarkably in its colouring. Its anterior thumb is short, and placed high up. The Proteles 
Lalandi, Is. Geof. ; an inhabitant of caverns. 
The individuals examined, which were all 
young, possessed but three small false molars, 
and one small tuberculous back molar. It 
seems as though their teeth had never come to 
perfection, as often happens in the Genets. 
(See my Ossemens fossiles, iv. 388.) [The per- 
manent canines are of tolerable size, but the 
simple form of the molars, all very small, and 
separated by intervals, presents an anomaly 
among the Carnivora, which is even more re- 
markable on account of the affinity of this spe- 
cies to the Hyaenas. It is destructive to very 
young lambs, and is stated to attack the mas- 
sive fatty protuberance on the tails of the 
African Sheep.] 
Fig. 32. — Proteles Lalandi. 
0 
in 
The last subdivision of the Digitigrades has no small teeth whatever behind the large molar 
of the lower jaw. It contains the most sanguinary and carnivorous of the class. There are 
two genera. 
The Hyjbnas {Hy(ma, Storr) — 
Have three false molars above and four below, all conical, blunt, and singularly large : their upper car- 
nivorous tooth has a small tubercle within and in front ; but the lower one has none, presenting only 
two stout cutting points. This powerful armature enables them to crush the bones of the largest prey. 
Their tongue is rough [exhibiting a circular collection of retroflected spines] ; all their feet have each but 
four toes, as in the Surikate ; and under the anus is a deep and glandular pouch, which led the ancients 
to believe that these animals were hermaphrodite. The muscles of their neck, and of the jaws, are so 
robust, that it is almost impossible to take from them anything they may have seized ; whence, among 
the Arabs, their name is the symbol of obstinacy. It sometimes happens that their cervical vertebrae 
become anchylosed in consequence of these violent efforts ; and thus has arisen the opinion that the 
animals of this genus have only one bone in their neck. They are nocturnal animals, and inhabit 
caverns ; voracious, subsisting chiefly on dead bodies, which they will even disinter from the grave, a 
habit that has given rise to a multitude of superstitious traditions. 
Three species are known. The striped Hysena (H. vulgaris, Canis Tiycena, Lin.), found from India to Abyssinia * 
and Senegal. The spotted H. {H. crocuta, Schreb., C. crocuta, Lin.,) from South Africa ; and the Woolly Hyaena, | i 
{H. bruanea, Thunb., H. villosa. Smith), also from South Africa. Remains of a fossil species {H. speloea) are i 
found in many cavern deposits of France, Germany, and England. [Hyaenas are easily tamed, if allowed their j 
liberty, and are susceptible of strong attachment to those who use them kindly : many are employed in the capacity ! | 
of watch-dogs both in Asia and Africa. They are physiologically nearly related to the Civets, and not to the , | 
Dogs* ; and the loss of the posterior tuberculous molar appears to be a consequence of the great increase in size j 
of the carnivorous grinders : notwithstanding which these animals feed much on bulbs.] 
The Cats {Felis, Lin.) — 
Are, of all the Carnaria, the most completely and powerfully armed. Their short and rounded muzzle, 
short jaws, and especially their retractile talons, which, being raised upward when at rest, and closing 
within the toes, by the action of elastic ligaments, lose neither point nor edge, render them most for- 
midable animals, more partieularly the larger species. They have two false molars above, and two 
* Their rough tongue, small and not spiral coscum, the structure [ their anal pouch, style of colouring, &c., combine to indicate their 
of their reproductive organs, and consequent mode of copulation ; I true position to be as above assigned. 
