206 



SECTION V. SACALIU?,. 



THE JACKALS. 



Naturalists searching for the name of the Jackal 

 in the writings of the ancients, are invariably per- 

 plexed with the obscurity of the descriptions relating 

 to the wild canines of antiquity. Some are inclined 

 to believe it was the Lyciscus, by which name others 

 fancy the' panther was meant, and it is likely a 

 spotted canine was understood by that designation ; 

 others imagined Oppian intended a jackal by his 

 Chryseus ; and Belon and Kaempfer, among the 

 moderns, first applied Aureus^ the Latin translation 

 of Uoxi^oi;^ for the distinctive name of it, among the 

 canines. Others, however, sought it in Thous^ Thos, 

 Thoa; and here again all the above names are inter- 

 mixed ; for Aristotle, after a vague notice of Thous, 

 finished by saying that there are two or three spe- 

 cies; leaving the question totally undefined.* The 

 precise name of the animals of this group having 

 thus escaped distinct notice among the ancients, the 

 modern Greeks adopted those of Squilatchi and 

 Sakalia^ one of, which being an oriental adaptation, 

 proves the absence of a national and ancient name ; 



* Arist. Hist. Anim., lib. ix. cap. xliv. 



