FENNEC; OR, ZERDA. 
authority has, perhaps, been too little regarded. 
We mean not to justify his asperities; nor 
do we implicitly receive all that he has asserted. 
On the contrary, we have a resLpe£l:able opinion 
of talents which he traduces ; and shall even 
demonstrate, that he is not always consistent 
with himself. 
" The name of this animal," says Mr. 
Bruce, " all over Africa, is El Fennec. Such 
was the name of that 1 first saw at Algiers, ; 
and such it is called in the many Arabian 
books that have described it. This name 
having no obvious signification in Arabic, it's 
derivation has given rise to many ill-founded 
guesses." The name of Jerda, which has been 
given to it by most naturalists, Mr. Bruce 
supposes, " is the sweetest translation of the 
word Jerd, or Jerda:" but, besides other dif- 
ferences, he asserts, " the Jerd, which is an 
animal well known both in Africa and Arabia, 
has no tail. 
Gollius," remarks Mr. Bruce, says 
that it is a Weasel ; and so say all the Arabi- 
ans. He calls it, Mustek Foenaria, the Hay. 
Weasel ; 
