OT 
an 
KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 48. N:O 5. 
Carnivora. 
Canid2e. 
Canis mesomelas SCcHREBER. 
DE WIiNT0N: Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1899 p. 539. 
North of Guaso Nyiri this Jackal was evidently common in the thornbush 
country. The specimens which I saw in Febr. and March had remarkably bright 
colours, the rufous of the hindquarters and flanks appeared especially clear when 
they ran away through the bushes. 
I had expected to find a small race of the Black-backed Jackal in this country 
because Noack has described? from Somaliland a small variety which he has called 
Canis mesomelas schmidti. This was, however, not the case. The specimens which 
I saw were not small. The females are smaller than the males, but a young adult 
female measured from snout to vent 72 cm., and the tail was 34 cm. without hair. 
In the accompanying table of measurements the dimensions of 9 skulls of 
Canis mesomelas from different parts of Africa” have been recorded. From this 
= = | Eat or |2 3 
S E) - Bal DSLERILECOr S fö 
FINA SEEN Se En ög on) Sope 
= 5 TE EHN SENSE Sa RS SR SNR 
SR EES EE SE IR 
(NA RN a SG a EL EES 
Ne HR slöjor R. RES RE 3 = 
= SF ÖN SA ESS SA EA SS Br 
= NLA Ses he PAS 
S z 3 lg S IR Zz 
Z A SN Oo IH HK 
I 
mm |mm.| mm. | mm. | mm. | mm. | mm. | mm.| mm. | mm. | mm. mm.| mm. 
Maximum length of skull 165 |165 |149 |156 |152 |147 |150 | — |150 |150 |153 |143 | 148,4 
Basicranial lengt of skull. . . 150 1150 |1387 |144 |137 |137,5| 136 [1295 [ra 38 al — 
Zygomatic width »  » ss...» + 85 | 86 | 81 83,5 86 83 87 | 79 | 84 | 83 | 87 | 82 84,6 
Greatest width of brain-case . . . «+ «++ = o- 540 Isen FER a fe3e Pa ars | EN 
I I 
Greatest length of nasals . . . . «+. ++. G4NIkT0R 56: 645 )uban Fö. BT) 426 söka ss ENE 
Distance from hind margin of m? to front surface of i' | 88 | 89 | 81 | 85 | 81 | 80 | 79 | —] 79 | 79 | — I] — 11 1.6 SSI 
Distance from orbit to tip of premaxillary . . . - «| dill sr2 a 04:14 695 1162-61 61 | — | 60 | 62 | — | — — 
| | 
Least interorbital breadth 280530 11-281 1 27:31 2055). 3011-28 Nesse 28:51 126.) 294 1529 29,3 
Distance between tips of postorbital processus 4455) 47 | 44) 441 4300) 461 46 1 = 44148 1 = — | — 
length ofip rer ae AS SE HNIG:: I mys 16,5 LT GSR LT) 16.3) 151) 15.8 
| | 
» Fm flaterally st. 128 — rLal 1252) 119 1159 Ir4— | fLr52 ILI — 1 — — 
the superior size of the males in South Africa is quite apparent. On the other hand 
it is plainly seen that the female skulls from Damaraland, Kilimanjaro, Sotik, the 
Guaso Nyiri district, and Eritrea agree very closely in size so that there cannot be 
based any racial difference on the size as far as the Black-backed Jackals of these 
+ Z001.. Amz. Bd. XXI 1897,-p. o19. 
2 I am indebted to Mr. R. J. CUNNIGHAME for two skulls from South Sotik. 
3 This skull has been obtained from Rev. Mr. K. G. RoDÉN. 
