536 Mil. w. B. DE wiXTON OS [Apr. IS, 



much more wolF-like. Tlie nose and ears are bright baj", 

 contrasting with the greyish foreliead ; there is no defined saddle, 

 the black-tipped hairs appearing on almost all parts of the animal, 

 bnt being scarcer on the Banks aud legs ; a blackish line runs down 

 the front of the fore legs, ending in a distinct blotch on the wrist 

 as in C. hipus. The tail is bushy, most of the hairs black-tipped, 

 tlie black almost monopolizing the whole length of the hairs 

 towards the end of the brush ; the black spot over the gland is well 

 marked, but owing to the general dark colouring is not particularly 

 conspicuous. Ears moderate. 



In Egypt this Jackal grows to a larger size — the skulls being 

 equal to (hose of the Indian Wolf, C. pallipes Sykes nee Mivart ; 

 the colour is greyer than that of specimens from Barbary and the 

 fur less rich. This form is generally called the Egyptian Wolf, 

 but it ^'ill be seen by the specimens in the Society's Gardens 

 that, when living in a moister climate, no difference can be detected 

 in the colour or richness of the fur. 



The Xorth-African Jackal has never been given a very definite 

 position as a species. All modern writers have either confused it 

 with the Asiatic Jackal, 0. aureus — a species which never crosses 

 into Africa — or have only separated it with doubt: but there does not 

 seem any valid excuse for uniting them. F. Cuvier was the first 

 naturalist who gave anything like a scientific description of the 

 animal. Pennant's "Barbary Jackal" does not seem quite satis- 

 factory ; this was a specimen found in the Ashinolean Museum at 

 Oxford, a figure of which appears in Buffon's work, bnt I cannot 

 fix this figure on any known Jackal. Shaw gave a Latin name to the 

 animal described by Pennant, but it seems very doubtful whether 

 this beast was a Jackal or a Fox. Uncertain names are simply placed 

 in the synonymy, the earliest name of which there is no doubt being 

 used. 



This species ranges from Senegal on the west, round the whole 

 of the north of Africa into Lower Egypt. Its exact range in the 

 Nile Valley is not yet known, but so far no specimens have been 

 recorded south of the First Cataract. So far as is known, this 

 species does not occur to the east of the Eed Sea ; though 

 Herr Matschie has lately stated (S.B. Ges. nat. Fr. 1897, v. p. 73) 

 that C. hadramauticus Noack, described from Southern Arabia, is 

 identical with C. lupaster. There is in the British Museum a skull 

 from Aden which I have no hesitation in referring to C. pallipes; 

 and as these two animals are very closely allied, the Indian Wolf 

 being distinguished only by its rather heavier build and much 

 stronger teeth, I think it far more probable that Dr. Noack's species 

 will turn out to be an offshoot of the Indian, aud not of the Egyp- 

 tian Wolf. 



The figure given in Dr. Mivart's book is a fair representation of 

 the species, but from the letterpress we gather that the drawing 

 was taken from a certain specimen from Abyssinia, still in the 

 British Museum, which proves to be an example of the uext species, 



