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SECTION V. SACALIUS. 
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 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 Kempfer, among the 
moderns, first applied Awreus, the Latin translation 
of Sov oc, 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 Sguilatchi 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. 
