. Cuvier's animal kingdom : arranged according to its organization. Animals. 94 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 rathe
. Cuvier's animal kingdom : arranged according to its organization. Animals. 94 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. 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 Hyjenas {Hyama, 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
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