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Show 540 MR. W. E. DE WINTON ON [Apr- l!^» the only Jackal which has no dark dashes on the front of the fore legs. The'Black-backed or Silver Jackal has the most extended range of any member of tbe genus inhabiting Africa, extending from the extreme south of Cape Colony to Abyssinia, aud possibly Bongo-land, where Schweinfurth mentions Jackals with black backs ('Heart of Africa' (Engl, transl.) i. p. 237). It has not been recorded from the Mashonaland plateau or Nyasaland ; and in British East Africa we have no record of it being found farther west than Machacos, where it occurs in company with C. lateralis. It seems therefore probable that this species does not range into the higher elevations. Fig. 4. Skull of Canis mesomelas, § nat. size. (B.M. 69.10.24.7.) This species is therefore accompanied by C. lateralis in certain localities in the southern part of its range, and by C. variegatus in the northern. Specimens from south of the Zambesi, judged from the material in the British Museum, are rather larger, and the facial part of the skull appears slightly longer in proportion than those obtained from the north of that river; but whether the difference is sufficient to warrant a subspecies being made of the northern form is not clear, most of the specimens examined of the southern or typical form being deficient in the base of the skull. However, if a name is required for the northern form, Dr. Noack has provided one in his var. schmidti. In writing of this Jackal under the name C. variegatus, Herr Matschie mentions a stripe on the cheeks ; butl cannot think his distinction of the East-African form is based on this character alone, for not onlv is it too trifling-, but quite unreliable, as this dark line under the eyes occurs in some specimens from Cape Colony. The markings of this animal are not always equally well defined, occasional specimens have a very poorly marked saddle. The cry of this animal, as observed in captivity, may be |