456 DOG TRIBE 



those of the civets, but in the African members of the group are two 

 more in number, the total being forty-two. The carnassials are of a 

 much less decidedly scissor-like type than in either cats or hyaenas, 

 the lower one having a large tubercular portion behind the cutting 

 blade. Details in the structure of the hind part of the skull distinguish 

 the dogs widely from the members of the civet tribe. 



The single representative of the genus Lycaon differs from 

 domesticated dogs, wolves, and foxes in having only four toes on the 

 front as well as on the hind feet, and also by its peculiar blotchy type 

 of colouring, which recalls in some degree that of the spotted hyaena. 

 Indeed, the whole appearance of the animal is more that of a hyaena 

 than of an ordinary member of the dog-family. The nearest relatives 

 of the hunting -dog, as the African species is generally called by 

 naturalists, appear to be the dholes or wild dogs of Asia. 



Large males will, it is stated, stand as much as 23 or 24 inches 

 at the shoulder. The colour is a mixture of orange-tawny, black, 

 and white, in various proportions. Sportsmen will often say that the 

 African hunting-dog varies greatly in colour, just as do English fox- 

 hounds and harriers ; but this is only half the truth, for it has been 

 found from the study of a comparatively large series of skins in the 

 British Museum that such colour-phases are in the main dependent on 

 locality, and that, although there is a certain amount of individual 

 variation in the members of a pack, yet for each locality the general 

 type of colouring appears to be perfectly constant. In the year 1902 

 (in the Annals and Magazine of N'atural History) Mr. O. Thomas 

 pointed out the existence of three perfectly distinct local races or sub- 

 species of hunting-dog, namely : — 



The Cape race {Lycaon pictus venaticus), characterised by the 

 prevalence of the orange-yellow over the black, the partially yellow 

 backs of the ears, the large amount of yellow on the under-parts, and 

 a certain number of whitish hairs on the throat-ruff. Next comes the 

 typical Lycaon pictus from Mozambique, distinguished by the nearly 

 equal development of the yellow and black, both above and below ; the 

 backs of the ears and the throat-ruff being alike black, and the amount 

 of white in the coat much less than in the Cape variety. The third, or 

 East African race, for which Mr. Thomas has proposed the name 

 L. pictus lupinus, is specially characterised by its extremely dark 

 colouring, the yellow being reduced to a minimum. Two years later 

 the same naturalist {op. cit. ser. 7, vol. xiv. p. 98) felt justified in 

 naming the Somali representative of the species L. pictus sojualicus. It 

 is nearly allied to the dark East African race, but distinguished by its 



