262 



FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. 



clog, Mexican dog, and the spitz dog are descendants of the 

 prairie-wolf. The Eskimo and Newfoundland dogs are 

 probably descendants of the gray wolf. On the other hand, 

 fourteen kinds of dogs can be distinguished in the Eoman 

 and Greek records; of these five are principal types or spe- 

 cies, five others climatic varieties, the remainder being 

 either breeds artificially produced, or hybrids. As regards 

 the Egyptian dogs, seven kinds may be distinguished, be- 

 sides the jackal, three of them being distinct species. 



The Viverra and Genetta or civet cats, and the hyenas, 

 lead to the cat family, which stands at the head of the 

 Carnivora. The lion, jaguar (Fig. 260), panther, leopard, 



FIG. 260. Jaguar, South America. 



and tiger belong to the genus FeUs. Felfs concolor, the 

 cougar, panther, or puma, ranges over both American con- 

 tinents. A very large panther may weigh about 200 

 pounds, and stand about 2J- feet high at the shoulders, and 

 be 1-1.3 metres in length. It is very gaunt, but not so 

 thin as it looks. It is not so fierce as supposed, not attack- 

 ing man unless wounded and cornered. 



The domestic cat (Felfs domesficft^was first domesticated 

 in Egypt, the Greeks and Romans not possessing it ; the 

 cat and common marten Avere in use as domesticated ani- 

 mals at the same date in Italy, nine hundred years before 

 the crusades. It appears that the domestic cat of the 

 Greeks and Romans was a species of marten. 



