45 



THE BLACK-BACKED JACKAL. 



CANI8 MESOMELAS. 



Canis mesomelas, Schreber, Saugthiere, Theil iii. p. 370, pi. 95 (1778); 

 Dcsmarest, Mammalogie, p. 201 (1820) j Smitli, S. African 

 Quart. Journal, vol. ii. p. 85 (1825) ; Riippell, Neue 

 Wirbelthiere, p. 39 (1835-40); J. A. Wagner, Supplement 

 to Schreber's Saugth., Abtli. ii. p. 396 (184.0) ; Blanford, Ob- 

 servations on Geol. and Zool. of Abyssinia, p. 237 (1870). 



Vulpes mesomelas, Gray, Proe. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 150; id. Cat. of 

 Carnivorous Mammalia, p. 203. 



Thous mesomelas, Hamilton Smith, Jardine's Nat. Library, vol. ix. 

 p. 193, pi. 12. 



This very handsome and strongly marked form of Jackal is well 

 represented in our National Museum, where there are seven skins of 

 it from South Africa, and two from Abyssinia. It is a most con- 

 spicuous animal, from the very red colour of the side of its body and 

 its very black back, the two diversely coloured spaces being sharply 

 marked off along a definite line, as shown in our Plate XII., which 

 represents an adult male, and is one of the most distinctly marked 

 individuals we have ever seen. It was brought from the Anseba by 

 Mr. Blanford, F.R.S. This species appears to be widely spread 

 over South Africa, and its earliest designation was "Jackal of the 

 Cape of Good Hope." 



The form of Jackal which Riippell found in Abyssinia was named by 

 him Canis variegatus. Its specific distinctness is extremely doubtful, 

 and has, as already said *, been given up as a species by its describer 

 himself. Mr. W. T. Blanford, in his expedition to Abyssinia in 



* See above, p. 42. 



