ALLEN: DOGS OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 441 



occupied by the groups of tribes amongst which they were fotuul. 

 In the following pages tin attempt is made to define such of these 

 breeds as seem to be indicated by the fragmentary accounts of 

 travellers as well as l)y the study of what skeletal remains have been 

 available. No doul)t the number of breeds recognized is subject to 

 revision, for it has been found difficult to determine with any approach 

 to certainty in some cases, what external and skeletal characters are 

 to be associated, and in how far certain supposed breeds are mongrel 

 or relatively pure. Again, the skeletal characters may frequently fail 

 to give any clue to external traits that would be distinctive. More- 

 over, while the term " breed" is applied to these locally distinct forms 

 of dogs, it is not assmned that the American nati\'es made any con- 

 scious effort to change or keep constant the traits of their dogs; 

 possibly some of the variations are merely the result of a certain 

 mongrel mating, going on quite independent of human intent, so that, 

 as in case of the Peruvian Pug-nosed Dog, the variation cropped out 

 only occasionally and may or may not have been purposely preserved. 

 Nomenclature. — The bestowal of Latin names upon the different 

 breeds of dogs recognized has here been purposely avoided, as it 

 seems unwn'se to extend to such artificial variations the systematic 

 recognition accorded natural species and subspecies. Nevertheless, 

 Latin names or Greek letters have been used by other writers to indi- 

 cate domestic breeds, and such names have been applied in many 

 ways : — as trinomials, quadrinomials, or quinquenomials ; some- 

 times separated from the binomial, Cards familiaris, by a comma or 

 the abbreviation "var.," or othei"wise used in such a way as to cause 

 doubt as to their technical standing in systematic nomenclature. 

 Some names of dogs have been erected in a strictlv binomial fashion 

 and if accorded standing, conflict with other names. Thus Riiti- 

 meyer's Canis jjalustris (1863) of the Lake-dwellings is preoccupied 

 by von Meyer's Canis {= Gqlecynus) palustris (1843). The name 

 Cams mexicanus currently used for the Mexican Wolf pro\es to apply 

 to the Mexican Hairless Dog only. Hodgson's Canis lanigcr (1845) 

 for a Thibetan Wolf is preoccupied by Hamilton Smith's Canis lanigcr 

 (1840) for the Nootka Sound Dog. Other cases might be added. 

 The practice of using standard English (or vulgar) names for all arti- 

 ficial breeds is therefore to be recommended. With the descriptions 

 following, a list of Latin names applied by pre\ious writers is gi\en 

 under each breed. 



