350 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



This species seems much troubled with intestine worms, 

 which has induced some exaggerated and ridiculous notions 

 among the vulgar. 



The Mexican Wolf, of a reddish- gray, mixed here and 

 there with blackish, appears to be distinct, but it is not 

 sufficiently described. 



The Chacal is one of those species of the mammalia most 

 widely extended throughout the warmer regions of the an- 

 cient world. It is found in Africa, from Barbary to the 

 Cape of Good Hope ; in Syria, in Persia, and throughout 

 the entire of southern Asia. Intense cold alone seems to 

 present a bar to its multiplication. Humid or dry climates, 

 sheltered countries, or exposed and arid plains, appear to 

 suit its constitution equally well, provided there be suffi- 

 cient warmth. It is not less common on the frontiers of 

 Sahara, than on the confines of Senegal, in the mountains 

 of Abyssinia, than on the shores of the Persian Gulf. It 

 would seem that this species had received from nature the 

 faculty of modifying and conforming itself to circumstances 

 in a more eminent degree than others, that it might per- 

 form a more extensive part in its destined occupation. The 

 Feline, and some other Carnivora, disdain to touch any 

 thing, except living prey, unless, indeed, while suffering 

 the extremity of hunger ; but the Chacals will feed on car- 

 casses with avidity, and seem to partake, with the Hyaenas 

 and Vultures, the supposed office of ridding those countries, 

 where life is most abundantly re-produced, of the remains 

 of those organized bodies which, otherwise, would poison 

 the atmosphere by their spontaneous decomposition. 



All travellers, who have been in those countries where 

 the Chacal is found, agree in mentioning the ravages occa- 

 sioned by his voracity, and his dreadful nocturnal cries, 

 which re-echoed by all the Chacals in the neighbourhood, 

 produce the most discordant and lugubrious of all possible 

 concerts, utterly depriving all hearers of repose, who have 



