THE HYENA AND THE HUNTING DOG 261 



Key to the Races of crocuta 



Pelage long, decidedly more than one inch in length on the rump; 

 spots large on the back 

 Ground-color ranging from buff to tawny, seldom showing a 

 gray cast germinans 



Ground-color pale-gray thomasi 



Pelage short, less than one inch in length on the rump; spots smaller on 

 the back; ground-color pale-bufF fisi 



Eastern Spotted Hyena 



Crocuta crocuta germinans 



Native Names: Swahili, /j-i; Masai, 0/ ngoyi'n^. 



Hyana germinans Matschie, 1900, Sitz.-Ber. Nat. Freunde, Berl., p. 26. 



Range. — Highland and coast drainage area of British 

 and German East Africa from Mount Elgon southward 

 throughout the whole of German East Africa to Nyasaland 

 and the Zambesi drainage. 



The spotted hyena inhabiting German East Africa was 

 named by Doctor Matschie germinans, owing to the great 

 individual variation which they exhibit in coloration. This 

 color variation has been observed and mentioned by almost 

 every sportsman who has recorded his observations of 

 spotted hyenas from eastern equatorial Africa. The 

 typical specimen upon which Matschie based his name 

 came from Lake Rukwa, a small body of water lying be- 

 tween Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa on the western fron- 

 tier of German East Africa. In 1908 Lonnberg twice re- 

 described the present race, giving distinct new names to the 

 two extreme types of coloration observed in specimens 

 from the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. One of 

 these names, kibonotensis, he applied to a reddish animal 

 having a short tail, the other, panganiensis, to a grayish 

 one with a longer tail. These two color and tail extremes, 

 together with every intermediate stage, are represented in 

 specimens from the Loita Plains and the Uasin Gishu 

 Plateau in the National Museum collection. They will be 



