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Show 536 MR. w. E. D E W I N T O N O N [Apr. 18, much more wolf-like. The nose and ears are bright bay, contrasting with the greyish forehead; there is no defined saddle, the black-tipped hairs appearing on almost all parts of the animal, but being scarcer on the flanks and legs ; a blackish line runs down the front of the fore legs, ending in a distinct blotch on the wrist as in C. lupus. The tail is bushy, most of the hairs black-tipped, the black almost monopolizing the whole length of the hairs towards the end of the brush ; the black spot over the gland is well marked, but owing to the general dark colouring is not particularly conspicuous. Ears moderate. In Egypt this Jackal grows to a larger size-the skulls being equal to those of the Indian Wolf, C. pallipes Sykes nee Mivart; the colour is greyer than that of specimens from Barbary and the fur less rich. This form is generally called the Egyptian Wolf, but it will be seen by the specimens in the Society's Gardens that, when living in a moister climate, no difference can be detected in the colour or richness of the fur. The North-African Jackal has never been given a very definite position as a species. All modern writers have either confused it with the Asiatic Jackal, G. aureus-a species which never crosses into Africa-or have only separated it with doubt; but there does not seem any valid excuse for uniting them. F. Cuvier was the first naturalist who gave anything like a scientific description of the animal. Pennant's " Barbary Jackal " does not seem quite satisfactory ; this was a specimen found in the Ashmoleau Museum at Oxford, a figure of which appears in Buffon's work, but I cannot fix this figure on any known Jackal. Shaw gave a Latin name to the animal described by Pennant, but it seems very doubtful whether this beast was a Jackal or a Fox. Uncertain names are simply placed in tbe synonymy, the earliest name of which there is no doubt being used. This species ranges from Senegal on the west, round the whole of the north of Africa into Lower Egypt. Its exact range in the Nile Valley is not yet known, but so far no specimens have been recorded south of the First Cataract. So far as is known, this species does not occur to the east of the Eed Sea; though Herr Matschie has lately stated (S.B. Ges. nat. Fr. 1S97, v. p. 73) that C. hadramauticus Noack, described from Southern Arabia, is identical with G. lupaster. There is in the British Museum a skull from Aden which I have no hesitation in referring to C. pallipes ; and as these two animals are very closely allied, the Indian Wolf being distinguished only by its rather heavier build and much stronger teeth, I think it far more probable that Dr. Noack's species will turn out to be an offshoot of the Indian, and not of the Egyptian Wolf. The figure given in Dr. Mivart's book is a fair representation of the species, but from the letterpress we gather that the drawino* Mas taken from a certain specimen from Abyssinia, still in the British Museum, which proves to be an example of the next species. |
