JAKALS — FOXES — DOGS i 9 



considerable distance down the east coast. The northern race, as typified by the 



Tunisian representative of the species, has been named H. s. suilla, while to the 



Abyssinian race has been given the title of H. s. hienomelas, and to the East African 



form that of H. s. schillingsi; but the differences between all of these are only slight. 



Of the civet tribe (Viverridce) it must suffice to mention that the genet (Genetta 



vulgaris) is a characteristic Mediterranean species, whose range includes southern 



Europe, south-eastern Asia, and North Africa ; and that the Egyptian mongoose 



or ichneumon (Hciyestes ichneumon) has likewise a very similar distribution. 



Passing on to the dog tribe, or Canidce, we find that northern 

 Jackals. 



Africa has two kinds of jackal peculiar to itself. The first and larger 



of these is the Egyptian jackal (Canis lupaster), which is in fact the largest and 

 most wolf-like of its tribe. True wolves, it may be added, are unknown anywhere 

 in Africa. Measuring about 50 inches in total length, the Egyptian jackal stands 

 as much as 16 inches at the shoulder. Its general colour above is yellowish grey 

 stippled with black ; but the muzzle, the backs of the relatively short ears, and the 

 outer sides of the limbs are redder ; while the hairy portions of the lips are white, 

 and the terminal portion of the tail is darker than the back, with the tip black. 

 The range of this species in Egypt does not apparently extend south of the 

 first cataract, or eastwards of the Red Sea. The Morocco jackal (G. antltus), of 

 north-western Africa generally, whence it extends as far south as Senegal, is 

 a smaller, paler, sharper-nosed, longer-eared, and more lightly built animal than 

 the Egyptian species. 



The common fox (C vulpes) is represented in northern 

 Africa apparently by three varieties, of which the Algerian race 

 appears indistinguishable from the south European C. v. melanogaster. The 

 fox of the Atlas Mountains has been separated as G. v. atlanticus, and the one 

 inhabiting the Nile Valley as C. v. cegyptiacus. A very distinct and characteristic 

 animal of this tract is the fennec (G. zerda), of which the majority of specimens 

 that reach Europe arrive from the Sahara by way of Algeria. The length of this 

 little fox is only about 15 inches to the root of the tail ; the length of that 

 appendage being about 7 inches. In colour it is pale reddish fawn above and 

 white beneath, with a black tip to the tail, and the usual dark gland -patch on the 

 upper surface of the latter near the root. The long and wide ears are reddish 

 brown externally, with a number of long and nearly white hairs along the inner 

 margin. Fennecs are sociable animals, making their burrows together. 



Ancient Apart from certain undetermined breeds depicted in the monu- 



Domesticated ments of the Pharaonic period, mummified Canidce from Assiout and 

 Dogs ' other localities in Egypt include four breeds of domesticated dogs. 

 The first of these is the ordinary Egyptian pariah, described as a feeble repre- 

 sentative of the typical pariah of Constantinople. The second breed is the one 

 referred to in the papyri as tesem, which was formerly regarded as a greyhound, 

 but which appears, both from the skeleton and the frescoes, to be more like a large 

 mongrel terrier, with upright ears and a long tail carried curled over the back. 

 It was a relatively long-legged dog, with a short greyish yellow coat, and broad, 

 prominent forehead, and in size somewhat exceeded the pariah. The third type, 

 apparently the commonest of all, may be called the Egyptian house-dog, and was 



