Denham's Travels in 'Africa* 453 



capable of exciting any peculiar interest : we allude to the Fennec, 

 the very existence of which seems almost to have been doubted 

 by many continental Zoologists, who have received with suspicion 

 the accounts of it transmitted to us by Bruce. The accuracy of 

 that traveller's description is however fully maintained by the 

 specimen brought home by Major Denham and Capt. Clapperton. 

 It is referred to the genus Fennecus^ established, according to 

 lUiger, by M. Lacepede, and its dentary formula is thus given, 

 though not without hesitation on account of the imperfect state 

 of the teeth, and the impossibility of minutely examining them 

 in a cranium attached to the skin : " Dentes primores |; laniarii 

 ^\; molares yy". Its specific character is " F. supra rufes- 

 centi-albus, subtus pallidior; macula suboculari rufa; cauda ma- 

 cule sub-basali nigrescenti-brunnea, apice nigro." The trivial 

 name of Cerdo is provisionally retained for it, being that applied 

 to an animal in the Frankfort Museum figured by Mr. Griffith, 

 which is probably identical with it : should they however prove 

 hereafter to be distinct, the species now brought to England will 

 be known by Desmarest's appellation of F, Brucii. A spirited 

 representation of the animal is given ; the history of our know- 

 ledge respecting it is traced; and a careful description, accom- 

 panied with the necessary measurements, completes the first 

 detailed Zoological account of this elegant species. It may be 

 proper to add, that the possession of a detached skull recently 

 added, with a set-up specimen, to the collection of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society, has since enabled Mr. Vigors to ascertain that 

 the teeth of the Fennec correspond almost precisely with those 

 of the Fox, 



Among the Birds, which are twenty-four in number, there are 

 several new species. The first of these, Francolhiiis Clappertoni^ 

 is thus characterized ; " F. supr^ brunneus fulvo-variegatus ; 

 subtus fulvo-albidus, maculis longitudinalibus brunneis aspersus; 

 striga superciliari, subocularique, gula, genisque albis, his brun- 

 neo-lineatis." It was met with in tolerable abundance, frequent- 

 ing sand-hills covered with low shrubs, and running with great 

 speed. Another is the Otis Denhami, " O. fusco-brunneo et 

 pallido-fulvo undulatim punctulata, capite brunncsccnti-nigro, 



