148 THE TEUE FENNEC. 



Algiers, and that Skioldebrand had possessed a figure of the animal 

 many years before, and had been vainly persuaded to publish it in the 

 Swedish Transactions, previously to his paper of 1777, to which he 

 expressly refers. This statement and reference appear to have 

 curiously irritated Bruce, whose remarks may remind us rather of a 

 literary dispute of the sixteenth century than of a scientific discussion 

 of the eighteenth ! But, according to the rules of modern science, 

 however long Mr. Skioldebrand may have possessed a drawing of the 

 animal, such possession, or conversations respecting it, could give him 

 no claim to priority over Bruce, seeing that a figure and notice were 

 first published to the world, in Bruce's name, by Buffon. 



But Buffon and Bruce strangely misapprehended the nature of the 

 animal, since Buffon quotes Bruce as saying : " -// pardit tenir de plus 

 pres a 1'ecureuil." 



The true Fennec is perhaps the most attractive in aspect of all the 

 wild Canidae, and it becomes exceedingly tame and gentle in captivity. 

 No less than five individuals have lived in captivity in our Zoological 

 Gardens. Of the specimens in the British Museum, the one we have 

 selected for representation in our Plate XXXVI. is one from which 

 the skull has been extracted, which we have also had drawn. 



Bruce strangely represents the Fennec as an arboreal animal, build- 

 ing its nest in a tree, an error which probably arose through infor- 

 mation received by him respecting some other animal to which his 

 informant had understood him to refer. As a result of his own 

 observation of a specimen in captivity he says : " Though his favourite 

 food seemed to be dates or any sweet fruit, yet I observed he was very 

 fond of eggs ; pigeons' eggs and small birds' eggs were first brought 

 him, which he devoured with great avidity ; but he did not seem to 

 know how to manage the egg of a hen, but when broken for him, he 

 ate it with the same voracity as the others. When he was hungry he 

 would eat bread, especially with honey or sugar. It was very observ- 

 able that a bird, whether confined in a cage near him or flying across 

 the room, engrossed his whole attention. He followed it with his eyes 

 wherever it went, nor was he at this time to be diverted by placing 

 biscuit before him, and it was obvious, by the great interest he seemed 



