improve. At least, no exertions will be spared to procure sound information on all subjects and to convey it in clear and perspicuous language. The Conductors have to express their thanks to numerous correspondents, both for valuable suggestions and criticisms, of which, in many cases, they have been enabled to avail themselves. In some instances, where the accuracy of statements has been called in question, they believe that the Cyclopædia is correct; and in other instances, the difference is no more than may be expected where authorities are at variance, and opinions may naturally be expected to differ somewhat as to their precise value. As most of the communications referred to were anonymous, the Editors have no other means of thanking the writers than by this general acknowledgment. It may be necessary to mention that a few of the more trifling errors that are most obvious— such as the breaking off of a letter, or a stop at the end of a line-are the unavoidable conse quence of the process of stereotyping. Before this process commences, the usual labour of revision is complete; but in producing the stereotype plate new errors are sometimes created. It is the intention of the Conductors of this Work to subject even the stereotype plates to a careful examination, so that injuries of this mechanical nature may be repaired. In the commencement of their undertaking, the Editors, bearing in mind the difficulty of securing at once an efficient body of contributors, recommended to the Committee only to attempt the publication of Six Numbers in each month. Their present stock of materials, and their reliance upon their numerous coadjutors, founded upon ample experience, have induced them to desire that the work should proceed at a quicker rate. In this they feel satisfied that they only second the wishes of the great body of its purchasers. The work will therefore continue upon the following arrangements:— 1. The First Volume of the Penny Cyclopædia-containing Eleven Parts-is now concluded ; and will be sold, handsomely bound in cloth, lettered, at Seven Shillings and Sixpence. 2. Commencing with December, 1833, Two Numbers of the work will be published regularly every Week, without Supplements, so that sometimes Eight, and sometimes Ten Numbers will appear in each calendar month. 3. On the 1st of January, 1834, Part XII. will be published, price Ninepence, and the Monthly Parts regularly continued at that price. 4. On the 1st of September, 1834, the Second Volume, containing Eight Ninepenny Parts, will be published, bound uniformly with Vol. I., at Seven Shillings and Sixpence ;—and the future volumes will be completed every Eight Months. November 13, 1833 THE PENNY CYCLOPÆDIA OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. A. A, the first letter of the alphabet in the English, and many other languages. As a sound, its power in the English language is at least fourfold, as in the words father, call, tame, and hat. The first of these sounds is that which generally prevails in other languages. The modified pronunciation of the vowel in tame is partly due to the vowel e at the end of the word; in call and similar forms, the peculiarity arises from the letter ; so that the only true sounds of the vowel are perhaps the long sound in father, and the short one in hat. The printed forms of this letter, viz., the capital A, the small character a, and the italic a, are all derived from a common form, differing but slightly from the first of the three. In the old Greek and Latin alphabets, from which our own has descended, the following were the ordinary figures of this letter: among which, the fourth and fifth only differ from the rest in the rounding of the angle: the form consisting of straight lines being well adapted for writing on stone, metal, &c.; the rounded letter, on the other hand, being better suited for expeditious writing, with softer or more flexible materials. From this last our two small characters are easily deduced. A (in music), the sixth note in the diatonic scale, answering to the la of the Italians and French. It also stands for the alto parts. The a, formerly often prefixed to our participles in ing, both in the active and passive sense, as the house is a-preparing, he is gone a-walking, has the same origin. AA, a small river which flows into the Ems, on the east bank, in the district of Lingen, which is in the kingdom of Hanover. The little, town of Freeren stands on the Aa. The singularity of the name, rather than the importance of the river itself, deserves a short notice. Aa is possibly a corruption of the word aue, which means green pastures or meadows, and may also have been used to denote the low flat lands along the banks of the river. Aue is the name of a small tributary of the Elbe, and also of a brook in the principality of Schaumbourg-Lippe. Aue is also the name of a mountain village, situated in a romantic valley of the Erzgebirg circle of the kingdom of Saxony. AA, a branch of the Aar, in the canton Aargau; a small river of Jutland; also the name of one of the streams at the confluence of which Breda stands, and the name of a tributary to the Dommel in N. Brabant. The wide diffusion of such a name shows it must have some general signification, applicable to all the rivers to which it belongs. The word Aa is a contraction of the old German aha, Gothic ahva, water, evidently allied to the Lat. aqua, and probably to the Celtic Ac or Ack, water. Aach, the name of several German rivers, is another form of the same word. AALBORG, one of the four divisions, and the most northern part, of the peninsula of Jutland, properly so called. It contains about 2820 English square miles, and perhaps about 162,000 inhabitants. The principal town, which is also called Aalborg, stands on the south side of the narrow channel which joins the Liimfiord with the sea, and is a sea-port, with a considerable trade in grain and herrings. From 400 to 500 vessels enter the port annually. The number of inhabitants is about 8000. Aalborg is a bishopric, and has a good academy or cathedral school founded in 1553, with some manufactures of leather, sugar, and tobacco. The name Aalborg means Eel-town, a great number of eels being caught in the neighbourhood: it is in N. lat. 57° 3', E. long. 9° 55'. All the other towns of the district are small. Thistedt, the next in size, contains about 2200 inhabitants. AAR, the principal branch of the Rhine in Switzerland. [See AARGAU.] A or AN, the indefinite article. Of the two, an is used before a vowel. Where the following word begins with a consonant, it being more troublesome to express the final n, this letter, from not being pronounced, ceased to be written. Thus we say an emperor, but instead of an king, we find it more convenient to say a king. Sometimes a virtual consonant exists at the beginning of a word without being written, as in union and once, where the ear catches the initial sounds of y and w, younion and wunce. Before such words it is customary to drop the final letter of the article, at least in pronunciation, and there can be no good reason for not writing a union, a once beloved monarch. On the other hand, whenever h is mute, we should retain the n both in writing and speaking, thus, a history, but an historical work. That an and not a is the primitive form of the article, is proved by the Anglo-Saxon an, and the German ein; indeed, our own numeral one is only another and fuller form of the same word. In such phrases as three shillings a pound, the article evidently has this meaning. The double shape of our article has led to a corrupt mode of writing certain words, thus from an eft was deduced a neft, a newt; and the reverse seems to have taken place in the change of a nadder to an adder. The letter 4 often appears prefixed to nouns so as to constitute a kind of adverb, as afoot, aside, aboard, now-a-days, &c. These, as Horne Tooke observes, are all abbreviations of on fote, on syde, on borde, now-on-daies, &c., which thus occur in our old English poets. This on is an Anglo-Saxon pre-recognized in every country, while the popular or local name is limited in its position with the meaning of in. In many words now in use the a in the beginning takes the place of on. Alive, for instance, means on life, i. e., in life. So he fell asleep, in the old translation of the New Testament is, he fell on sleep. VOL. 1. Another small stream of the same name falls into the Lahn, in the duchy of Nassau; and a third Aar joins the Rhine in the Prussian province of the Lower Rhine, on the west side, about twelve miles above Bonn. AARD-VARK (Orycteropus, Geoffroy*), in Zoology, a genus of animals belonging to the class Mammalia, and order Edentata. In a work, like the PENNY CYCLOPÆDIA, where knowledge is communicated under separate heads arranged in alphabetical order, it is an unavoidable consequence of the It is usual, in works of Natural History, to place the scientific name of a species after the popular or local name. By the scientific name the species is use. But as the same species is often called by several scientific names, each general plan that terms must be occasionally employed | lion, the tiger, the panther, the lynx, and the common cat, which have not been previously defined, and of which, in a species of another genus. These are respectively called the regular treatise, the explanation would necessarily precede genus Canis, or the dog kind, and the genus Felis, or the the use. To obviate this inconvenience as much as possible, cat kind; and compose, together with the hyænas, civets, it is proposed, without entering into the minute details of the weasels, bears, badgers, &c. the natural Order of Carnivora subject, or anticipating information which properly belongs or flesh-eaters, which have six incisor or front teeth in each to a different part of the work, to give a brief explanation jaw, and live upon the flesh of other animals. There is of such terms as they occur; so that the general reader may another term-namely, Individual-of frequent occurrence be enabled to comprehend their meaning and import without in natural history descriptions, the precise meaning of which the trouble of referring to other sources. it is very necessary to understand. Used in a zoological sense, the word individual signifies any organised being possessed of certain constant characters at a given period of its development. Many animals pass through several wellmarked individual forms, by a process of what is termed metamorphosis; and it is the sum-total of all these phases of growth which constitutes the species. The distinction between individual and species is well illustrated; for example, when we speak of a caterpillar or larva, of a chry salis or pupa, and of a butterfly or imago, separately and collectively. We have here three animal forms, of very different external configuration and internal structure, repre senting so many individuals or stages in the evolution o those products which together constitute a species. Before commencing the history and description of the genus which more properly constitutes the subject of the present article, we shall, therefore, give a short explanation of the terms Mammalia and Edentata, as well as of the technical import of the words Class, Order, Genus, and Species, which are of constant occurrence in Zoology: these terms would otherwise be obscure or unintelligible to an ordinary reader. The word Mammal (Mammalia is the Latin form of the plural) was formed by Linnæus from the Latin mamma, signifying a breast or udder, in the same manner as our common word animal is formed from anima, life or soul; and was intended to denote those animals which suckle their young, and for which there is no generic name in any known language sufficiently definite and comprehensive. The common word Quadruped, which more nearly expresses the exact idea than any other, has no relation to the natural affinities which we observe among animals, since it excludes man and the cetaceous tribes (such as whales), at the same time that it comprehends the lizards, tortoises, and other reptiles, which have but a very remote analogy to the true Mammalia. The vernacular term Beast, which we often use in opposition to Birds and Fishes, is still more vague and indeterminate. The word Mammal, however, so happily imagined by the great Swedish naturalist, is liable to none of these objections, but expresses, in a distinct and definite manner, the most prominent functions and natural limits of this class of animals. In the constant use which we shall be obliged to make of this term, we shall adopt the common English form of the plural, Mammals, instead of the Latin form, Mammalia, though the latter is most generally used by British zoologists. The word Mammals is as regularly formed, and therefore as admissible into the English language, as animal and animals. Mammals, therefore, in the technical language of zoologists, constitute a class, or primary division of the animal kingdom; and are, in this respect, co-ordinate with Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, and Insects; all of which are so many Classes. The term Order denotes a subordinate division, and bears the same relation to a class which this latter does to a kingdom; so that a class is made up of orders, in the same manner as a kingdom is made up of classes. The next inferior sub-division to an order is a Genus; and this is itself composed of Species, the lowest link in the chain of scientific classification, and that which admits of no further division. A species, then, comprehends all those animals which may reasonably be supposed to be descended from one common, original stock; and in this sense all men compose but a single species, all horses compose but a single species; and in the same manner all oxen, sheep, goats, dogs, &c. compose respective and appropriate species. Difference of climate, variety of food, and other local and extraneous circumstances, undoubtedly produce striking changes in the form, size, and colour of different individuals, even of the same species; examples of which are sufficiently abundant among all domestic animals, and that, too, in exact proportion to the degree of their domestication, and to the care and attention which have been bestowed upon them by man. But these variations are confined within certain prescribed limits, and the utmost power and ingenuity of man have been exerted in vain to produce and perpetuate a new race or species of animals. He has succeeded, to be sure, in procuring the Mule from the intercourse of the Horse and the Ass, two very distinct species, though in some respects closely allied to one another; but this mule is itself a barren, unproductive being, which Nature regards as a monster, and to which she has denied the power of continuing its race. An example will best illustrate the true import of the terms which we have been here endeavouring to explain. Thus the dog, the fox, the wolf, and the jackal, are all so many species of one common genus; as are likewise the Having thus briefly explained the signification of those technical terms which will occur most frequently in the subse quent Zoological articles, we shall return from this digression to the more immediate object of our present consideration. The Orycteropus is now separated from the Myrmecophaga or Ant-eaters of Linnæus, with which it had been formerly associated. In its anatomical structure, it bears a much close relation to the armadillos than to any other quadrupeds, no even excepting the ant-eaters, with which it was previously grouped. Like these animals, the orycteropus has neithe incisors nor canine teeth; and its feet are equally provide with large and powerful claws, for digging up roots an insects, and for forming subterraneous burrows. Its mola teeth, however, are altogether peculiar both in form an structure, and have no resemblance to the teeth of any othe known animal. Of these there are five large ones on eac side (both in the upper and under jaws), which are alway permanent; and a variable number of from one to thre smaller ones, placed in front of the others, and apparentl representing the false molars of ordinary quadrupeds. Th first of the large molars is smaller than any of the othe four, and of a cylindrical form, somewhat compressed flattened on the sides; the second is rounder; the third an d B Teeth of the Aard-vark (Orycteropus Capensis). A Two views of the upper jaws, showing, a the surface of the teeth, b the sides B, c. d, Ditto of the lower jaw. C The teeth in their natural osition. arth are each composed of two similar cylinders, as it were, dered together, and the last is a simple cylinder, like the and second. Immediately in front of these are the all or false molars, which, being of a deciduous nature ing annually), vary in number according to the individual. their internal structure these teeth differ from those of all animals. They are pierced throughout their whole th with an infinite number of small capillary tubes, ning in the same longitudinal direction, and opening at not or under part of the teeth. The crowns or upper aces of the teeth are covered with enamel, but after this been worn away by the continued process of mastication, very old animals, the openings of these small canals be plainly distinguished upon the surface also; and in state, the teeth, to use the appropriate comparison of on Cuvier, resemble the joint of a cane cut across, and biting the numerous minute vessels which perforate its rior. These teeth are of a composite character, the canals resenting the true pulp-cavities of several small teeth, ch have become united to one another. They are also ished with a system of radiating tubuli, which open into capillary tubes or pulp-cavities, and the compound tooth resembles the structure of the teeth in certain fishes. In the form of the extremities the orycteropus resembles armadillos still more nearly than in the nature of its al system. The legs are remarkably short and stout; feet plantigrade (that is to say, the animal walks upon whole sole of the foot, as man and the bear, instead tringing the point of the toe only in contact with the and, as may be observed in the dog, horse, &c.); and the of which there are four on the fore feet and five on the are armed with extremely large, powerful claws, flated horizontally, and scooped or hollowed out on the under face, so as to form a most efficient instrument for digging burrowing beneath the surface of the earth. This prois still further facilitated by the oblique form of the rior extremities, arising from the unequal length of the the two interior being considerably longer than the rs, and the whole diminishing gradually from the index toe corresponding with the fore-finger) outwards. In parts of its anatomy the oryeteropus resembles both armadillos and the ant-eaters, and particularly in the and structure of the stomach and alimentary canal. reader who is desirous of further information upon these ects may consult Cuvier's Leçons d'Anatomie Comparée, his great work Sur les Ossemens Fossiles, from which details here given are for the most part abridged. only species of this curious genus with which zooare at present acquainted is the Aard-Vark (OrycCapensis), called innagu by the Korah Caffres, oup by the Hottentots. It is an animal extremely on in some parts of Southern Africa, though, from returnal habits and extreme timidity, it is not so ently seen as many others which are in reality scarcer. olonial name of aard-vark, or earth-pig, by which known among the Dutch inhabitants of the Cape od Hope, is derived as well from its habit of burrowing the general appearance which it bears, at first sight, mall, short-legged pig. This animal, when full grown, res about three feet five inches from the snout to the of the tail; the head is eleven inches long; the ears six inches; and the tail one foot nine inches. The head is long and attenuated; the upper jaw projects beyond the lower, and ends, as in the common hog, in a truncated, callous snout, having the nostrils pierced in the end of it; the mouth is small for the size of the animal, and the tongue flat and slender, not cylindrical as in the true ant-eaters, nor capable of being protruded to such an extent as in these animals: it is, however, covered in like manner with a viscous or glutinous saliva, which firmly retains the ants upon which the animal lives, and prevents those which once come into contact with it from escaping afterwards. The ears are large, erect, and pointed; and the eyes, which are of moderate size, are situated between them and the snout, about two-thirds of the distance from the extremity of the latter. The body of the aard-vark is thick and corpulent; the limbs short and remarkably strong; the hide thick, tough, and nearly naked, having only a few stiff hairs, of a pale reddish-brown colour, thinly scattered over it, excepting on the hips and thighs, where they are more numerous than elsewhere. The tail is about half the length of the body and head together, and, like the body, is nearly naked; it is extremely thick and cylindrical at the base, but decreases gradually towards the extremity, and ends in a sharp point. Thus formed, the aard-vark is in all respects admirably fitted for the station which Nature has assigned to it in the grand economy of the animal kingdom. It feeds entirely upon ants, and in this respect fulfils the same purpose in Southern Africa which is executed by the pangolins in Asia, the myrmecophaga in America, and the echidna in New Holland. To those who are only acquainted with the size and nature of these insects in the cold northern climates of Europe and America, it may seem surprising how an animal so large as the aard-vark can support itself exclusively upon ants, and yet be invariably found fat and in good condition. But the ants and termites of tropical countries are infinitely more numerous than those which inhabit more northern latitudes, and so large as sometimes to measure an inch or an inch and a half in length. The bodies of these ants are, besides, of a soft, unctuous nature; and travellers inform us that the Hottentots themselves frequently collect them for food, and even prefer them to most other descriptions of meat. Patterson affirms that prejudice alone prevents the Europeans from making a similar use of them; and says that, in his different journeys, he was often under the necessity of eating them, and found them far from disagreeable. However this may be, their importance in fattening poultry is well understood at the Cape, and the farmers collect them by bushels for this purpose. These insects raise mounds of an elliptical figure to the height of three or four feet above the surface of the ground; and so numerous are these gigantic ant-hills in some parts of Southern Africa, that they are frequently seen extending over the plains as far as the eye can reach, and so close together that the traveller's waggon can with difficulty pass between them. They abound more especially in the Zeurevelden, or sour districts, so called from producing a kind of sour grass; are seldom found on the karroos or downs, and never in very dry or woody districts. By constant exposure to the rays of a powerful tropical sun they become so hard and indurated on the outer surface that they easily support the weight of three or four men, and even a loaded waggon will sometimes pass over without crushing them. Internally these mounds are of a spongy structure, something resembling a honeycomb, and are so completely saturated with animal oil that they inflame without difficulty, and are an excellent substitute for wood or coal. Wherever ant-hills abound the aard-vark is sure to be found at no great distance. He constructs a deep burrow in the immediate vicinity of his food, and changes his residence only after he has exhausted his resources. The facility with which he burrows beneath the surface of the earth is said to be almost inconceivable. We have already seen how admirably his feet and claws are adapted to this purpose; and travellers inform us that it is quite impracticable to dig him out, as he can in a few minutes bury himself at a depth far beyond the reach of his pursuers; and, further, that his strength is so great as to require the united efforts of two or three men to drag him from his hole. When fairly caught, however, he is by no means retentive of life, but is easily dispatched by a slight blow over the snout. The aardvark is an extremely timid, harmless animal, seldom removes to any great distance from his burrow, being slow of foot and a bad runner, and is never by any chance found abroad during the day-time. On the approach of night he sallies forth in search of food, and, repairing to the nearest inhabited ant-hill, scratches a hole in the side of it just sufficient to admit his long snout. Here, after having previously ascertained that there is no danger of interruption, he lies down, and, inserting his long slender tongue into the breach, entraps the ants, which, like those of our own country, fly to defend their dwellings upon the first alarm, and, mounting upon the tongue of the aardvark, get entangled in the glutinous saliva, and are swallowed by whole scores at a time. If uninterrupted, he continues this process till he has satisfied his appetite; but on the slightest alarm he makes a precipitate retreat, and seeks security at the bottom of his subterranean dwelling. Hence it is that these animals are seldom seen even in those parts of the country in which they are most numerous. Like other nocturnal animals, which pass the greater part of their lives in sleeping and eating, they become exceedingly fat, and their flesh is considered to be a wholesome and palatable food. The hind-quarters, particularly when cut into hams and dried, are held in great esteem, and are much sought after by colonial epicures. AARD-WOLF (Proteles, Is. Geof.), in Zoology, a genus of digitigrade carnivorous mammals founded by M. Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire for the purpose of giving a place to a new and singular quadruped brought from the interior of Caffraria by the late traveller Delalande. The three specimens of this interesting animal procured by M. Delalande were all, unfortunately, of an immature age, and had not acquired their permanent teeth, so that the characters of their adult dentition still remain to be determined. Enough, however, is known to enable us to assign the most prominent and influential characters of the genus, and to infer, with a tolerable degree of accuracy, the habits and economy of the animal. It is an observation at least as old as Pliny, that Africa is a land of wonders, which continually produces a succession of new and singular objects. In zoology, the maxim of the Roman philosopher, as to African wonders, is verified almost daily. Among the most recent examples of this fact we may adduce the discovery of the proteles; an acquisition of peculiar interest to the zoologist, as forming the intermediate link which connects the civets with the dogs and hyænas, three genera which have hitherto stood, as it were, insulated from surrounding groups, and widely separated from one another. The dogs and hyenas, indeed, had been united a short time previous by the discovery of an intermediate species in the same locality which has since produced the proteles; but it is this latter species alone, which, uniting the characters of all these three genera, enables us to trace their natural affinities, and to assign to them their proper position in the scale of existence. To the external appearance and osteological (bony) structure of a hyæna, this truly singular animal unites the head and feet of a fox, and the teeth and intestines of a civet. 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 touch 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 plantigrade. It is of great importance to remark the difference between these two modifications of the locomotive organs, because they have a very decided and extraordinary influence upon the habits and economy of animal life. Digitigrade animals, which tread only upon the toes and carry the heel considerably 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 will 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 accurately measured by the comparative elevation of the heel. Inattentive observers sometimes misapprehend 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 different 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 hyænas; and in both genera this singular disproportion between the anterior and posterior extremities abridges the velocity properly due to their digitigrade confor mation. It has been already observed that the only individuals of this genus which have been hitherto properly observed were young specimens, which had not acquired their adult dentition; but it was sufficiently obvious to the experienced eye of M. Cuvier, who first examined them, that the dental system of the mature animal must very closely resemble, if it be not actually identical with, that of the civets and genets. The young animal presented three small false molars and one tuberculous tooth on each side both of the upper and under jaws; and we shall find, in the sequel, that the approximation of M. Cuvier is fully justified by the evidence of another accurate observer, who had an opportunity of examining this animal in its native regions. The genus proteles contains but a single species, and this is the Aard-wolf, or earth-wolf (Proteles cristata), so called by the European colonists in the neighbourhood of Algoa Bay, in South Africa, the locality in which M. Delalande procured his specimens of this animal. The size of the aard-wolf is about that of a full-grown fox, which it further resembles in its 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 young striped hyæna, so closely does it resemble that animal in the colours and peculiar markings of its fur, and in the mane of long stiff hair which runs along the neck and back: indeed, it is only to be distinguished by its more pointed head, and by the additional fifth toe of the fore feet. The fur is of a woolly texture on the sides and belly, but a mane of coarse, stiff hair, six or seven inches in length, passes along the nape of the neck and back, from the occiput to the origin of the tail, and is capable of being erected or bristled up, like that of the hyæna, when the animal is irritated or provoked. The general colour of the fur is pale cinereous (ash-coloured), with a slight shade of yellowish-brown: the muzzle is black and almost naked, or covered only with a few long stiff moustaches. Around the eyes, and on each side of the neck, are dark brown marks; eight or ten bands of the same colour pass over the body in a transverse direction, exactly as in the common striped hyæna; and the arms and thighs are likewise marked with similar transverse stripes. The legs and feet are an uniform dark brown in front, and grey behind. The long hairs of the mane are grey, with two broad rings of black, the second of which occupies the point; those of the tail are similarly marked, and equally long and stiff; whence it appears as if the mane and tail were clouded with an alternate mixture of black and grey. The ears are grey on the interior, and dark brown on the outer, surface. In its habits and manners the aard-wolf resembles the fox: like that animal it is nocturnal, and constructs a subterraneous burrow, at the bottom of which it lies concealed during the day-time and only ventures abroad on the approach of night to search for food and satisfy the other calls |
