THE HYENA AND THE HUNTING DOG 265 



carnivorous mammals, but owing to its organized ferocity 

 consequent upon its gregarious habits the species assumes 

 an importance far beyond what its bodily size would war- 

 rant. The true dogs of the genus Canis are represented in 

 East Africa only by the jackals, which seldom exceed the 

 dimensions of a red fox and live a solitary or at most a 

 paired existence of rapine on smaller animals. 



Hunting Dog 



Lycaon 



Lycaon Brookes, 1827, in Griffith's Cuvier's Anim. Kingd., V, p. 151; type 

 Lycaon pictus. 



The hunting dog was considered by the first naturalists 

 to whom it became known, namely, Burchell and Tem- 

 minck, as a species of Hycena. They were led to this con- 

 clusion, no doubt, by the spotted coloration, thin coat, 

 four-toed feet, the broad skull, and short, wide jaws. The 

 hunting dog, however, is closely related to the typical dogs 

 of the genus Canis, from which it is separated chiefly by 

 the four-toed character of the forefeet and slight differences 

 in dentition. There are no differences in number of teeth 

 between the two genera, but the lower carnassial tooth 

 differs from that of the true dogs by having only one cusp 

 on the heel, a peculiarity which it shares with Cuon, the 

 dhole of India to which it is most closely related. The 

 skull of Lycaon is easily recognizable from that of a wolf or 

 a jackal by its much greater breadth across the palate and 

 the shortness of the jaws. Externally, the hunting dog ex- 

 hibits marked peculiarity by its blotched coloration, which 

 lacks any definite pattern on the body, the three colors of 

 black, yellow, and white being combined in almost every 

 conceivable proportion and pattern in different individuals. 

 The hair covering is usually short and often so scanty that 

 the black skin forms the predominant color. The head 

 has, however, a definite color pattern, the snout being black 

 as far back as the eyes, the rest of the head ochraceous in 

 color, with a broad black median stripe over the crown and 



