/r 



238 FENNEC or BRUCE. 



since Mr Sparrmann recognized Bruce's Fennec, and 

 named it Zerda, which is since proved to be the 

 name in Nubia. It is scarcely necessary to observe, 

 that Mr Bruce must have had some confusion in 

 his notes, when he asserted that his Fennec cHmbed 

 trees. They burrow, like the former, in the sand. 

 There may still be reason to doubt, whethpr the 

 Zerda is Mr Bruce's species ; because, according to 

 his description, the Fennec was only ten inches 

 long, and the tail five and a-half inches ; the pupils 

 of the eyes were round and black, the colour of the 

 iriri blue ; it was, in general, a nocturnal animal, 

 yet watched birds with uncommon vigilance. The 

 molars were but four on each side, above and below ; 

 and there were only four toes on the feet, both be- 

 fore and behind. All the dimensions were therefore 

 smaller, and the teeth and toes fewer, which per- 

 haps indicates a very young animal when his notes 

 were taken, or he encountered difficulty when the 

 animal was to be examined. Major Denham's 

 Fenecus cerdo was, however, only nine and a-half 

 inches long; the tail six inches; the ears three 

 inches long and two in breadth. The general 

 colour was white, slightly tinged with yellow; 

 above, from head to tail, rufous-brown, delicately 

 pencilled with fine black lines, caused by thinly 

 scattered hairs tipped with black ; the exterior of 

 the thighs light rufous-brown ; a small rufous 

 spot beneath the eyes ; ears long, erected, pointed 

 externally, covered with pale rufous-brown hair; 

 internally with a border of orej'ish white, and tlie 



