Mr. Shioldebrand, who is asserted by the former to have got the start of him in this matter by some petty artifice. Neither the one nor the other, however, has described the species with such a degree of scientific accuracy as to be of any avail in determining its place in the system; and the consequence of this has been that each compiler has referred it to a different genus. Some have classed it with the most carnivorous species, others have looked upon it as a canine animal. Illiger made it the type of a new genus, under the name of Megalotis, while it has also been placed with the squirrels in the order Glires, and has even been regarded as a quadrumanous species belonging to the genus Galago. Although known by various appellations, such as zerdo, zerda, fennec, &c., it is, nevertheless, more commonly called the "anonymous animal," as if it had no name at all. One writer describes it as inhabiting the desert wastes of the Sahara, where it digs itself a subterranean dwelling, and he adds that there is no auditory passage in its ears, lest it should be incommoded by the loose and arid sand; while another assures us that it dwells habitually amid the summits of the loftiest palm-trees, and, in fact, owes its name to that circumstance, the term fennec being asserted to signify a palm. In consequence of these contradictory accounts, some recent authors deny its existence as a species altogether, while others allege that the so called anonymous animal constitutes in fact a distinct genus, consisting of two easily distinguished species.

Buffon published a figure of the fennec from a drawing transmitted to him by Bruce. As his views of systematic arrangement were extremely fanciful, we need not be surprised that he should have placed it between the squirrel and the hare. Blumenbach, from Bruce's description, refers it to the civets, and Sparrman maintains its identity with a South African species called Zerda,-in consequence of which it continues to bear that name in many systematic works. Illiger, as we have already mentioned, makes it the type of a genus, under the title of Megalotis; and M. Desmarest also elevates it to the rank of a genus, under the appellation of Fennecus. A feeble light was thrown upon its actual station by these transpositions.

At a more recent period, however, the museum of Frankfort was visited by two intelligent zoologists, almost at the same time, we mean M. Temminck and Dr. Sigismond Leuckart, of Heidelberg, both of whom recognised the fennee in an animal sent from Dongola by the traveller Rüppel. It appears, in fact, to be a canine animal, nearly allied to the subdivision which contains the foxes, and approaching particularly to the Canis corsac. The teeth, the feet, the number of toes, and the form of the tail are precisely those of a fox; but the limbs are higher, and more slender in proportion. The head is rendered of a peculiar aspect by the prodigious size of the ears. The

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upper parts of the body are of a straw-yellow, the under of a yellowish-white. The latter colour also characterizes the forelegs, and the greater portion of the hinder ones. The woolly portions of the coat are long, soft, and white; the silky are also very soft, and are annulated with white and straw-colour, with here and there a few black points. The general colour of the tail, especially of its superior portion, is brownish-yellow, but blackish towards the point and root. Our information is still defective regarding the manners of this species; but it appears to be the opinion of those who have studied its characters and history that the fact reported by Bruce of its living on trees is erroneous, and that it is more probably a ground, or even subterranean animal, supporting itself, in the state of nature, on small quadrupeds, birds, and insects.

"Though his favourite food," says Mr. Bruce, speaking of this animal, "seemed to be dates, or any sweet fruit, yet I observed he was very fond of eggs, and small birds' eggs were first brought him, which he devoured with great avidity; but he did not seem to know how to manage that of a hen, but when broke for him he ate it with the same avidity as the others. When he was hungry he would eat bread, especially with honey or sugar. It was very observable that a bird, whether confined in a cage near him, or flying across the room, engrossed his whole attention. He followed it with his eyes wherever it went, nor was he, at this time, to be diverted by placing biscuit before him; and it was obvious, by the great interest he seemed to take in its motions, that he was accustomed to watch for victories over it, either for his pleasure or his food. He seemed very much alarmed at the approach of a cat, and endeavoured to hide himself, but showed no symptom of preparing for any defence. I never heard he had any voice: he suffered himself, not without some difficulty, to be handled in the day, when he seemed rather inclined to sleep, but was exceedingly unquiet and restless so soon as night came, and always endeavouring his escape, and though he did not attempt the wire, yet with his sharp teeth he very soon mastered the wood of any common bird-cage. From the snout to the tail he was about ten inches long, his tail five and a quarter; near an inch on the tip of it was black." The ears are described as being above three inches long, covered on the borders with soft white hair, but bare in the middle, and of a rose-colour. They were about an inch and a half broad, and the cavities within were very large. It was very difficult however to measure them, for he was extremely impatient of having his ears touched, and always kept them erect except when terrified by a cat. The pupil of the eye was large and black, and surrounded by a deep blue iris. He had a sly and wily appearance; but as his habits are not gregarious, and for other reasons, Bruce doubts the propriety

of this animal being regarded as the Saphan of the Scripturesan opinion advocated both by Jewish and Arabian writers. The right-hand figure of the annexed wood-cut represents the fennec. In Bruce's figure the ears are too large.

The hyena tribe in general are characterized by possessing three false molars above and four below, all conical, blunt, and singularly large; their superior carnivorous tooth has a small tubercle within and in front, but the inferior has none, and presents only a couple of strong cutting points: with these powerful weapons they can crush the bones of the largest and most obdurate prey. The tongue is rough, each foot has four toes, and there is a glandular pouch beneath the tail. The muscles of the neck and jaws are so powerful that it is impossible to wrest any thing from between their teeth when once they have firmly seized it; on which account, among the Arabians, the name is the symbol of obstinacy.

The common hyena, that is to say, the striped species (H. vulgaris), is an animal fully better known and more abundant in Abyssinia than elsewhere. "I do not think," says Mr. Bruce, "there is any one that hath hitherto written of this animal who ever saw the thousandth part of them that I have. They were a plague in Abyssinia in every situation, both in the city and in the field, and I think surpassed the sheep in number. Gondar was full of them from the time it turned dark till the dawn of day, seeking the different pieces of slaughtered carcasses which this cruel and unclean people expose in the streets without burial, and who firmly believe that these animals are Falasha from the neighbouring mountains, transformed by magic, and come down to eat human flesh in the dark in safety. Many a time in the night, when the king had kept me late in the palace, and it was not my duty to lie there, in going across the square from the king's house, not many hundred yards distant, I have been apprehensive they would bite me in the leg. They grunted in great numbers around me, though I was surrounded with several armed men, who seldom passed a night without wounding or slaughtering some of them. One night in Maitsha, being very intent on observation, I heard something pass behind me towards the bed, but upon looking round could perceive nothing. Having finished what I was then about, I went out of my tent, resolving directly to return, which I immediately did, when Í perceived large blue eyes glaring at me in the dark. I called upon my servant with a light, and there was the hyena standing nigh the head of the bed, with two or three large bunches of candles in his mouth. To have fired at him I was in danger of breaking my quadrant or other furniture, and he seemed, by keeping the candles steadily in his mouth, to wish for no other prey at that time. As his mouth was full, and he had no claws