1900.] MAMMALS FROM S.W. ARABIA. 101 



out of sight and out of our traps, only the one specimen being 

 caught, and the man who went round to visit the trap unfortunately 

 put a bullet into the lower jaw, breaking it. They keep to the hills 

 and only come into the desert at night, although, if a meal is to be 

 found, they often lie up in the nearest wadi that offers shelter for 

 several nights or till the feed is finished. 1 never found any dead 

 beasts that were being visited, or would have poisoned the carcass 

 and spoored up any beast that had fed. Putting down poisoned 

 meat was a failure (except so far as pariah dogs were concerned, and 

 1 got a good bag of them), no Hyaena ever coming near my baits ; 

 foxes came, looked at them and passed on ; in fact, poison was 

 an utter failure." 



13. Canis pallipes Sykes. 



a. Lahej. — Presented by the Sultan of Lahej. 



This specimen, like those from Muscat obtained by Surg.-Gen. 

 Jayakar, no doubt represents Noack's Canis hadramauticus l , 

 described from puppies so young as to be useless for purposes of 

 comparison. But, as before, I can see no valid reason for distin- 

 guishing the Arabian Wolf from that found in Iinia 2 . Its nearest 

 African ally is 0. lupaster, Hernpr. & Ehr. 



" Wolf. — Not uncommon in the hills, where it does much harm to 

 flocks of sheep and goats, even attacking donkeys and tearing the 

 flank. 



" My only specimen was presented by the Sultan of Lahej." 



14. VlTLPES leucopus Bly. 



a. cJ . Sheikh Othman, 15th September. 



h. 2 • Wadi Bilik, near Shaka, N.W. of Lahej. 



The latter specimen was shot while it was lying in wait for 

 Meriones rex. 



" Fox (native name ' Derain ' or ' Ali ben Thile,' meaning son of 

 a lawyer). — Not uncommpn but difficult to obtain ; feed chiefly on 

 rats and mice. I twice saw them watching the burrows of Meriones 

 rex (tuft-tail rats) and on one occasion bagged a female. My 

 other specimen was shot just outside Sheikh Othman." 



15. Melliyoba eatel Sparrm. 

 a-c. Habil, September. 



The specimens differ among themselves in coloration. One has 

 a white-tipped tail, as occurs occasionally in Abyssinian examples ; 

 in the others the tails are black throughout. 



16. GERBiLLr/s p<ecilops Yerb. & Thos. 

 a-e. Lahej, 22nd to 24th August. 



f-g. Wani Bana, 29th to 30th September. 

 h. El Khaur, 3rd October. 



1 Zool. Anzeiger, 1896, p. 356. 



2 In Mr. de Winton's able paper on Camels: (P.Z. S. 1899, p. 530), I find 

 that he has " no hesitation in referring to C. pallipes" a skull from Aden in the 

 British Museum. 



