_Fossil Viverridæ._--Several species of _Viverra_ and _Genetta_ have been found in the Upper Miocene of France, and many extinct genera have also been discovered. The most remarkable of these was _Ictitherium_, from the Upper Miocene of Greece, which has also been found in Hungary, Bessarabia, and France. Some of the species were larger than any living forms of Viverridæ, and approached the hyænas. Other extinct genera are _Thalassictis_ {196}and _Soricictis_ from the Upper Miocene, the former as large as a panther; _Tylodon_, of small size, from the Upper Eocene; and _Palæonyctis_ from the Lower Eocene, also small and showing a very great antiquity for this family, if really belonging to it. FAMILY 26.--PROTELIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | -- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- -- 3 -- |-- -- -- --|-- -- -- -- | | | | | The curious _Proteles_ or Aard-wolf, a highly-modified form of hyæna, approaching the ichneumons, and feeding on white ants and carrion, is peculiar to South Africa. FAMILY 27.--HYÆNIDÆ. (1 Genus, 3 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | -- -- -- --|-- -- -- --|-- 2 -- -- |1. 2. 3 -- |1 -- -- -- |-- -- -- -- | | | | | The Hyænas are characteristically Ethiopian, to which region two of the species are confined. The third, _Hyæna striata_, ranges over all the open country of India to the foot of the Himalayas, and through Persia, Asia Minor, and North Africa. Its fossil remains have been found in France.