338 
MAMMALIA. 
and disgust. We should, however, he just, and not refuse 
to recognise the services which are rendered by them. The 
Hyena is, among Quadrupeds, what the Vulture is among Birds. 
They perform very much the same functions, hut much more 
completely, as they consume even the skeletons of the carcasses 
on which they feed. In those cities and villages of Africa in which 
the care of the public ways is left to chance, the Hyenas are in 
the habit of removing all the offal which would otherwise 
decay, the decomposition of which, accelerated by a burning sun, 
would engender a pestilential miasma, and endanger the public 
health. Looked at in this point of view, the utility of this 
animal cannot be disputed. 
Unfortunately, in those localities where Hyenas most abound, 
they can seldom find a sufficient quantity of putrefied matter to 
satisfy their appetites, and thus are frequently compelled to 
appropriate living prey. Travellers relate that at night they 
break down the barricades which the inhabitants of African 
villages erect round their houses, to get at the cattle. In the 
absence of animal food they can subsist upon roots and vegetables. 
The two best known species of this family are the Striped 
Hyena [Hycena striata) and the Spotted Hyena (Hycena maculata). 
The Striped Hyena (Fig. 134) owes its name to the black 
lines which run transversely across its yellowish- grey coat. 
It is about the size of a large Dog, and is a native of Barbary, 
Egypt, Abyssinia, Arabia, Syria, and Persia. 
The Spotted Hyena is to be met with in Barbary, and is also 
found in Caffraria, and generally throughout the whole of South 
Africa. This species may be very easily tamed. Some of the 
African colonists rear it like a Dog, and exact from it similar 
services. It is by kind treatment alone its attachment is gained ; 
ill usage would render it dangerous. 
The Aard Wolf (Proteles, Is. Geof.) — This genus differs so 
little from the Hyenas, that it is quite excusable for the two to 
be confounded. But, independent of the fact that the former has 
five toes on the front feet, whilst Hyenas have only four, the genus 
Proteles must be classed by itself on account of its dental system, 
which presents a type which is entirely exceptional throughout 
the whole Carnivorous Order. This animal has but four pairs 
of molars in each jaw, very wide apart, which are reduced to 
