2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 63 



its southern limit in Africa, approaches mesomclas closely in shape of 

 skull and the large size of its reddish ears but differs by the broken 

 character of its black dorsal area which merges indefinitely into the 

 color of the sides. The best marked species of the three in skull 

 characters is the side-striped jackal or T. adustiis which has a long 

 slender snout and very long Viilpcs-\\ke canine teeth. In body 

 coloration, however, it is not always easily distinguishable from the 

 Indian but it may be recognized with certainty by its small dark 

 colored ears and the presence of a more or less well marked white 

 tail tip. An excellent series consisting of 68 specimens of skins with 

 their skulls are in the National Museum from British East Africa 

 representing the three species referred to above. A comparison of 

 this material shows several well marked forms occupying definite 

 geographical or faunal areas. The races of African jackals thus far 

 described have come from South Africa or from Abyssinia and the 

 Sudan and none of the names thus far proposed seem to be applicable 

 in a restricted sense to the East African races which are described in 

 the following pages. 



KEY TO THE RACES AND SPECIe's OF JACKALS OCCURRING IN 

 BRITISH EAST AFRICA 



A^ Black of back not sharply defined against light color of sides ; foreleg 

 marked by a black stripe in front; chin dark brown or blackish 

 in marked contrast to the light color of the throat. 

 B^ Sides marked by a more or less definite black stripe owing to the middle 

 area of the back being vermiculated by whitish ; back of ears dark 

 brown ; tip of tail usually showing some white hairs ; snout long, 

 the nasals bones extending as far posteriorly as the maxillaries 

 or beyond ; bony palate extending as far posteriorly as the pos- 

 terior edge of the last molar Thos adustus 



C Underparts ochraceous-rufous, the hair basally dark gray ; tail 



with a few white hairs at tip or none T. adustus biveha 



O Underparts white or pale buff, the hair uniform to the roots ; tail 



broadly tipped by white .T. adustus noiatus 



B" Sides merging gradually into the dark color of the back ; backs of 

 the ears ochraceous ; tail black tipped ; snout short, the nasal 

 bones not extending as far posteriorly as the maxillaries ; bony 



palate not reaching as far posteriorly as last molar T. aureus 



O Coloration lighter and body size less than in the northern 



races T. aureus bea 



A^ Black of back sharply defined against light color of sides and uniform 

 throughout ; foreleg not marked by a black stripe ; chin whitish 

 and uniform with the throat in color; tail tip black; snout short, 

 the nasal bones not extending posteriorly to the maxillaries ; 

 palate not reaching to end of tooth row T. mesomclas 



