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Show 1899.] THE CANIDcE OF AFRICA. 543 and both forms were taken at the same time. These characters are found in both old and young, and it is most satisfactory to have such a fine series (about 20) taken in the same locality, proving that these characters are only individual and not racial. Mr. Jackson has noted measurements and weights of the majority of his specimens, and the total length to the end of the vertebrae of the tail ranges from 3 feet 3| inches to 3 feet 5| inches, the tail alone from 11| inches to 12 inches. Weights of 8 14-16 lbs., $ 13|-15 lbs. So far as is known the Side-striped Jackal ranges from Nama-qualand ' to the Gaboon on the west, and from Zululand to the Tana Eiver on the east; it is found throughout Ehodesia, Nyasa-land, and British East Africa as far west as Uganda. This Jackal has several characters which bridge over the separating line one would like to draw between the Jackals and the Foxes: its tail is long, with a white tag; its cry is a short bark ; and its skull is very flat, in side view very like that of the European Fox (C. vulpes) ; but no one can question its being a true Jackal. Mr. F. C. Selous informs me that both the " Silver Jackal " (C. mesomelas) and the " Quaha " (G. lateralis)-easily recognized by their different voices-are found on the same ground in Bechu-aualand, and that he has seen both of them come up from separate directions to a dead animal at the same time. These two forms are widely distinct, but it is nevertheless a very strange fact that two species should thrive in the same districts, seeing that their habits are alike; and considering their mode of life, it would seem certain that they must come to blows, and the weaker one succumb. These two animals live side by side in many districts up to the Tana Eiver ; northwards, in Somaliland, & c, C. variegatus takes the place of C. lateralis. Mr. Selous further informs me that be has never seen Jackals in packs, that they come up singly or in couples from different hidiug-places, whether to the camp at night or to a dead beast by day. He says, a favourite place for Jackals to lie up by day is in the long grass which grows on the sides of the ant-heaps, and that wrhen hard pressed by dogs they often go to ground in the holes made by the Aard-vaark. THE FOXES-Vulpes. (1) Red Foxes. CANIS VULPES CEGYPTIACUS. (Fig. 6.) Canis egyptius, Desmar. Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. xxiv. Tab. Me'tb. p. 18 (1804), nom. nud. Canis cegyptiacus, Sonnini, Nouv. Diet. vi. p. 524 (1816). Canis niloticus aut cegyptiacus, Desmar. M a m m . p. 204 (1820). 1 Dr. Broom, of Garies, informs me tbe natives bring in skins of "Jackals with a yellow stripe on the side," together with those of the Silver Jackal, to trade with the store-keepers. |