KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAE. BAND 48. N:0 5. 57 



Canis adustus Sundevall, 



Canis lateralis Solater — De Winton, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1899, p. 541. 

 Canis adustus Sundevall — LOnnberg, Mammals p. 14 in SjOstedt's Kilimanjaro-Meru Expedition. Uppsala 1908. 



In the steppe country round Nairobi this species appeared to be common and 

 it was hunted there with hounds, I had the pleasure of receiving from Mr. Seth- 

 Smith a skull from Ruiru river. A skull was also picked up by Mr. A. Jansson 

 near the road between Embu boma and Kutu. 



The basicranial length of Sundevall's types of Canis adustus is 154 mm, in 

 the male and 144 mm, in the female. 



In a female specimen from Nairobi the same measurement is 147 mm,, in 

 another from Ruiru river 146 mm, and in the picked up skull which is fully adult 

 but young 140 mm. The skulls agree in other respects as well with that of the 

 female type. 



We did not with certainty observe this Jackal further north than at the place 

 where the skull was picked up, as mentioned above. 



Jackals were seen at a distance on the acacia steppe south of Guaso Nyiri and 

 also heard »barking» there during the nights, but I had no opportunity of stating 

 whether they belonged to this species or possibly to G. variegatus. 



Otocyon megalotis virgatus Miller, 



Gereit S. Miller: Smithson. Misc. Coll. 1909, Vol. 52, Pt. 4, N:o 1883, p. 485. 



A male specimen from the Athi plains agrees with Miller's description. The 

 teeth are also smaller than those of the southern 0. megalotis but hardly in such a 

 high degree as it will appear from Cabrera's measurements,^ because the dimensions 

 of the teeth are rather variable in these animals. The transversal diameter for in- 

 stance of m^ is in the present specimen 6,7 mm., of m^ 6,5 (6,7) mm, and of m^ 6,2 

 mm., and these measurements are even larger than the corresponding ones of a female 

 of 0. megalotis from »Caffraria», but Smaller than those of a male from the latter 

 locality. This characteristic thus holds good only if specimens of the same sex are 

 compared. If this is done the difference in other dimensions as well is prominent. 

 The distance from the orbit to the tip of the premaxillary is in the southern male 

 specimen 50 mm. but only 46 in the northern, an so on. Considering all, however, 

 I hardly think that the East African race deserves higher rank than that of a geo- 

 graphic subspecies. 



1 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1910, Ser. 8, Vol. VI, p. 463. 



K. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handl. Band 48. N:o 5. 



