1899.] THE CANID^ OF AFRICA. 543 



and both forms were taken at the same time. These characters are 

 found in both old and young, and it is most satisfactory to have 

 such a fine series (about 20) taken in the same locality, proving that 

 these characters are only individual and not racial. Mr. Jackson 

 has noted mensurements and weights of the majority of his speci- 

 mens, and the total length to the end of the vertebrae of the tail 

 ranges from 3 feet 3^ inches to 3 feet 5i inches, the tail alone from 

 11| inches to 12 inches. Weights of 5 14-16 lbs., $ 13|-15 lbs. 



So far as is known the Side-striped Jackal ranges from Nama- 

 qualand ^ to the Gaboon on the west, and from Zululand to the 

 Tana E-iver on the east ; it is found throughout Rhodesia, Nyasa- 

 land, and British East Africa as far west as Uganda. 



This Jackal has several characters which bridge over the sepa- 

 rating line one would like to draw between the Jackals and the 

 Foxes: its tail is long, with a white tag; its cry is a short bark ; 

 and its skull is very flat, in side view very like that of the 

 European Fox (0.vul2>es) ; but no one can question its being a 

 true Jackal. 



Mr. F. C. Selous informs me that both the " Silver Jackal " 

 (C mesomelas) and the " Quaha " (0. lateralis) — easily recognized 

 by their different voices — are found on the same ground in Eechu- 

 analand, and that he has seen both of them come up from separate 

 directions to a dead animal at the same time. These two forms 

 are widely distinct, bat it is nevertheless a very strange fact 

 that two species should thrive in the same districts, seeing that 

 their habits are alike ; and considering their mode of life, it 

 would seem certain that they must come to blows, and the weaker 

 one succumb. These two animals live side by side in many 

 districts up to the Tana Eiver ; northwards, iu Somaliiand, &c., 

 C. variegatus takes the place of C. lateralis. 



Mr. Selous further informs me that he has never seen Jackals 

 iu packs, that they come up singly or in couples from different 

 hiding-places, whether to the camp at night or to a dead beast by 

 day. He says, a favourite place for Jackals to lie up by day is in 

 the long grass which grows on the sides of the ant-heaps, and that 

 when hard pressed by dogs they often go to ground in the holes 

 made by the Aard-vaark. 



The Foxes — Vidpes. 

 (1) Red Foxes. 



Canis vrLPES .^GTPTiACirs. (Fig. 6.) 



Canis egi/2Jtius, Desmar. jN'ouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. xxiv. Tab. Metli. 

 p. 18 (18U4), nom. nud. 



Canis cegyptiacus, Sonnini, Nouv. Diet. vi. p. 524 (1816). 

 Canis niloticus aut cegyijtiacus, Desmar. Mamm. p. 204 (1820). 



i Dr. Broom, of GcOi-ies, informs me the natives briug in skins of -'Jackals 

 witli a yellow stripe on tlie side," together with those of the Silver Jackal, to 

 track with the store-keepers. 



