198 DOGS. 



thoroughly explored, and that competent naturalists should devote much time and severe 

 labor to the collection of specimens, and the careful investigation of animals while in their 

 wild state. 



Gentle and quiet as the animal appears, it is one of the fiercest little creatures known. Its 

 limbs, though small, are very powerful, their muscles being extremely full and well knit 

 together. Its appetite for blood seems to be insatiable as that of the tiger, and its activity 

 is very great, so that it may well be imagined to be a terrible foe to any animals on whom it 

 may choose to make an attack. For this savage nature it has received the name of "Ferox,"' 

 or fierce. Its generic name of Cryptoprocta is given to it on account of the manner in which 

 the hinder quarters suddenly taper down and merge themselves in the tail. The word itself is 

 from the Greek, the former half of it signifying "hidden," and the latter half, "hind- 

 quarters." 



The color of the Cryptoprocta is a light brown, tinged with red. The ears are very large 

 and rounded, and the feet are furnished with strong claws. The toes are five in number on 

 each foot. 



In the foregoing description of the Viverrine animals, examples and figures are given of 

 every remarkable genus which forms a portion of this curious group. Whether or not the 

 Hyena should be considered as belonging to the Viverrines is a question which is still mooted 

 by many naturalists, who think that the Hyenines ought to be ranked as a divergent group of 

 the Civet Cats. 



With the exception of one or two species, these creatures are so little known that their 

 habits in a wild state have yet to be fully described: This is the more to be regretted, because 

 the native customs of an animal are more illustrative of its character, and give deeper insight 

 into the part which it plays in the economy of nature, than can be gained by inspecting the 

 same creature when shut up in the contracted space which its cage affords, or when a change 

 in its nature has been wrought by the companionship of human beings. The habits of these 

 agile and graceful animals are so interesting, when watched even in the limited degree which 

 is afforded by our present means of observation, that they give promise of much curioiis 

 information when noted in the wild freedom of their normal condition. 



We lose much valuable knowledge of the habits of a new or scarce animal by the over- 

 readiness of the discoverer to secure his prize. If one is "ortunate enough to hit upon an animal 

 which is new to science, or to meet with one which is rarely seen, he would do better service to 

 Zoology by waiting awhile, and quietly watching the manner in which the animal conducted 

 itself, than by hastily levelling his gun, and so giving to science nothing but a lifeless mass of 

 dead matter, instead of a spirited history of a breathing and living being. For my own part, 

 I would rather read, in a library a good description of some strange animal, than see in a 

 museum a stuffed skin about which nothing is known. 



THE DOG-FAMILY. 



DOGS. 



THE large and important group of animals which is known by the general name of the 

 Dog-Tribe, embraces the wild and domesticated Dogs, the Wolves, Foxes, Jackals, and that 

 curious South-African animal, the Hunting-Dog. Of these creatures, several have been 

 brought under the authority of man, and by continual intermixtures have assumed that 

 exceeding variety of form which is found in the different "breeds" of the domestic Dog. 



The original parent of the Dog is very doubtful, some authors considering that it owes its 

 parentage to the Dhole, or the Buansuah ; others thinking it to be an offspring of the Wolf ; 

 and others attributing to the Fox the honor of being the projenitor of our canine friend and 

 ally. With the exception of a very few spots, the Dog is to be found spread over almost 

 every portion of the habitable globe, and in all countries is the friend of man, aiding him 



