442 bulletin: museum of comparative Zor)LOGY. 



EsKLMo Dog. 

 Plate 1, fis. 1. 



1817. C'anis familiaris tiihiricus groenlandicus Walther, Hund, p. 27 {fide 

 Fitzinger; not Cards groeidmuiicv.s Bechstein, 1799, q. e. Alopex). 



1820. C.f. var. n. horealis Desniarest, Mamm., 1, p. 194. 



1840. Cnnis horealis Hainilton Smith, Jardine's Nat. library. Mammalia, 

 10, p. 127, pi. 2. 



Characters. — Size large, appearance wolf-like, but with less ol)lique 

 eyes, less attenuated muzzle, and more elevated forehead; tall usually 

 carried curled forward over the hip: teeth much smaller than those of 

 the Wolf. Pelage thick, with a shorter under fur o\'erlai<l with longer 

 hair which on the shoulders may be as much as eight inches long; tail 

 bushy. Color whitish, more or less clouded on the back, with dusky, 

 or varying to black, or black and white, or rarely tan and white. 



Di.sfribufion. — The Eskimo Dog was originally found in Arctic 

 America coextensively with the Eskimo tribes from the barrens of 

 Alaska to Labrador, chiefl\- along the coast. In the east it was 

 probably at its southern limit on the east coast of New^foundland, and 

 thence ranged northward, accompanying its Eskimo masters, to Smith 

 Sound, Greenland. In Greenland it formerly was found along the 

 west coast southward, with the natives, but the present-day sledge- 

 dogs of the Danish settlements are probably largely jnongrel, through 

 interbreeding ^\■ith dogs introduced from Europe (Brown, 1875); and 

 the same is true of those in Alaska and southern Lal)rador. 



External Measurements. — An I^skimo Dog brought back by Parry, 

 on his first \oyage, is figured by Children (1827) who gives its dimen- 

 sions as follows : — 



Length, occiput to i-oot of tail 28 inches about 71 cm. 



" " end of nose 11 " " 28 " 



of tail (about) 18 " " 45.7 " 



Total length (therefore about) 57 " " 145 



Length of oar 3 " " ' 7.7 



Ej'^es to point of nose 4 " " 10 



Standing height at shoulder 24 " " 61 



• These figures do not indicate a very large animal. The very thick 

 coat, especially on the shouklers, gi\es an increased appearance of size 

 not well borne out by skeletal measurements. It should be kept in 

 mind, that since the advent of Europeans, much attention has been 



