MAMitALIA. 239 



is placed with the wolves (P. Z. S. 1868, pp. 504, 516, and 

 Cat. Carn. &c. Mamm. Brit. Mus. 1869, pp. 188, 203). 

 If the genus Canis is to be subdivided to the extent 

 which is done by Dr. Gray, the jackals (Saccalius) are 

 a much more natural group than some of those adopted, 

 and in aU their habits difier greatly from foxes. They 

 axe far more social, and are emiaently scavengers, 

 feeding upon carrion, and haunting the neighbourhoods 

 of towns and villages. Their cry is peculiar and pro- 

 longed, never a sharp bark like that of a fox. Their 

 build is quite different ; the tail and ears are shorter, the 

 legs longer, the muzzle blunter, and the jaws and teeth 

 much more powerful. They never use burrows in the 

 earth, except when they have young. I unfortunately 

 omitted to notice the form of the pupil in C. mesomelas 

 and C. variegatus: it is doubtless round, as in C. 

 aureus. 



Some specimens of C variegatus resemble some of 

 C. aureus so closely, that I doubt if the two forms 

 could be distinguished by their skins. The former 

 is a larger animal, however, and there is an important 

 difference in the cry. That of C. aureus begins with 

 a long shrill howl, repeated, with a slight rise in 

 the scale at the commencement, three or four times, 

 and followed by a modulated series of short barks. 

 It is best conveyed by the well-known version, "Dead 

 Hindoo-oo-oo, where, where, where ? " both the first 

 and second part being repeated separately. Now, in 

 the cry of the Abyssinian jackal, the second portion, 

 expressed l^y " where, where, where," is entirely omitted. 



