36 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. I. 



to observe whether anything more powerful than him- 

 self may be at hand, from which he might encounter 

 the risk of being despoiled of his capture. If the 

 coast be clear, he returns to the concealed carcase, and 

 carries it away, followed by his companions. But if 

 a man be in sight, or any other animal to be avoided, 

 my informant has seen the jackal seize a coco-nut husk 

 in his mouth, or any similar substance, and fly at full 

 speed, as if eager to carry off his pretended prize, 

 returning for the real booty at some more convenient 

 season. 



They are subject to hydrophobia, and instances are 

 frequent in Ceylon of cattle being bitten by them and 

 dying in consequence. 



An excrescence is sometimes found on the head of 

 the jackal, consisting of a small horny cone about half 

 an inch in length, and concealed by a tuft of hair. 

 This the natives call narric-comboo ; and they aver that 

 this " Jackal's Horn " only grows on the head of the 



JACKAL'S SKULL AND HORN. 



leader of the pack. 1 Both the Singhalese and the 

 Tamils regard it as a talisman, and believe that its for- 



1 In the Museum of the College pital ; and I have placed along 



of Surgeons, London (No. 4362 a), with it a specimen of the horny 



there is a cranium of a jackal sheath, which was presented to 



which exhibits this strange os- me by Mr. Lavalliere, the late dis- 



seous process on the super-occi- trict judge of Kandy. 



