OCR Text |
Show 542 MR. W. E. DE WINTON ON [Apr. ^* is more rufous than that of the body. Distinct dark dashes on the lower part of the forearm. On the dorsal surface, or saddle, the fur is bright rufous for the greater part of its length, each hair having a ring of black followed by a ring of buff and being tipped with black ; these coloured rings form double side-stripes of buff and black bordering the lower edge of the saddle, which are often ill-defined or not observable, the colour of the flanks outwardly being scarcely different from the back, but when the hair is worn the saddle is often reddish. The tail is long and clothed with long hairs, buff at the base, and black for an inch and a half or so at their extremities ; generally there is a distinct white tag, the hairs growing on the last two inches of the tail being sometimes pure white to their bases, in some specimens only a very few white hairs are to be found at the extreme tip. Tail-gland not conspicuous owing to the character of the surrounding fur. Chin black. Ears moderate. Usually this Dog has the side-stripes, bordering the lower edge of the saddle, well defined ; but when changing fur or when out of condition these stripes entirely disappear; this often happens in simply altering the lay of the fur in making up a skin. Possibly also in some districts the species does not develop these stripes to so great an extent as in others. At any rate it is probable that Sundevall had a specimen of this species before him wdien he described a Jackal from the Transvaal or Zululand, giving it the name of C. adustus. In this description, it is true, no mention is made of any side-stripes, but the Side-striped Jackal occurs in that country and no Jackal without a saddle-mark is found anywhere in South Africa. Dr. Noack seems also to have described the same animal as C. wunderlichi, but he appears to have entirely overlooked Sundevall's species as he makes no mention of it. Dr. Sclater described C. lateralis from a specimen then living in the Society's Gardens, giving the side-stripes as the principal distinguishing characters and giving a name suggestive of this distinction. When this specimen died the skin and skull were acquired by the British Museum, and the skin, which is now before me, has no sign of side-stripes; the same thing has been shown in other examples which have been received from Nyasaland. Normally these latter are particularly well marked. The skull of this species is readily distinguished from any other Jackal by its flatness, the line of the forehead running well in front of the orbits and being very little raised above the line of the nose. The nasals are long, extending beyond the maxillary bones ; the squamosal portion of the zygomata is not so much expanded as iu G. mesomelas ; there is no depression in the middle line of the forehead ; and the carnassial teeth are very much smaller than those of either C. variegatus or C. mesomelas. In several specimens obtained by Mr. F. J. Jackson at the Eavine Station and Nandi, British East Africa, the skull is much arched, with smooth rounded forehead, quite altering the shape of the profile, but viewed from above the shape of the skull is unaltered. The flat and the rounded skulls are from animals otherwise identical, |