FENNEC OF BRUCE. 939 
rest naked, at the base and sides folded and plaited ; 
tail full, cylindrical, rufous-brown in colour, pen- 
cilled with black; a small dark brown spot near 
the base, and the tip black; fore-feet pentadac- 
tylous. It was in a head of this variety that the 
ossicula auditus were as large, and the auditory 
cells longer, than in the common fox, though the 
animal is two-thirds smaller. 
We now come to the canide of South America, 
where the species we have to enumerate are but 
few, and very imperfectly known. Yet, in one 
respect, the tropical appear to be influenced by the 
different conditions of their existence; for an in- 
tensely hot climate, covered with dense woods, 
everywhere intersected with great rivers and exten- 
sive marshes, demanded of the resident carnivora 
that they should be inured to swimming, and fami- 
liarised with food drawn- from the waters. Many 
have but a very scanty woolly fur, but are pro- 
tected by longer and more abundant coarse hair, 
than the canines of similar latitudes in the eastern 
hemisphere. 
The question might be raised, whether they 
should not be all placed after the dogs, properly 
so called, and immediately before the true foxes ; 
but, considering that several of them assuredly mix 
in prolific breeds with the dogs of European origin, 
while the progeny with real foxes are known to be 
true mules, we prefer, for the present, to place 
them as herein arranged. 
We can discern three groups, all generically deno- 
