ALT.KX: DOGS OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGIXES. 44-'^ 



uivcn to increasing the size tmd strength of these northern dogs for 

 draught purposes. It is likely that the large wolf-like Eskimo Dogs 

 now common in the North, are considerably different from the original 

 stock found by the early Arctic explorers. 



Figures. Children, J. G. Zool. journ., 1S27, 3. ])l. 1. From Parry's first 



voyage. 

 Audubon, ,T. .J. and Bachnian, .T. Quach'upeds of Xorth America, 1848, 3, j)l. 



113. Zoological Gardens, London. 

 Smith, C. Hamilton. Jardine's Nat. librar^^ Mammalia, 1S4(), 10, j)!. 2. 



Prince's Street Gardens, Edinburgh. 



Cranial Character^!. — Among the various skulls of so-called Eskimo 

 Dogs examined, there is more or less disparity of size. This is no 

 doubt an indication of the extensive crossing with European dogs 

 that has been carried on for a long period with a \'iew to improving 

 the speed and strength for which this dog is useful. Skulls from 

 eastern Kamtschatka are small, others frojn Alaska and Mackenzie 

 are of superior size. It is therefore difficult at the outset to determine 

 what the original Eskimo Dog of Xorth America was really like. It 

 is notable, lioAvever, that the teeth, even of the largest skulls are not 

 nuich larger than those of medium-sized skidls, while in no case do they 

 approach the magnitude of the Wolf's teeth. It would be of the 

 utmost interest, in this connection, to compare the teeth of a known 

 hybrid between the Eskimo Dog and a Wolf. Yet in spite of tiie fre- 

 (luency with which this cross is said to occiu", there seem to be few 

 skulls available. Windle and Hujnphreys (1S90, p. 9) give the r;itios 

 of dift'erent parts of such a skull to the basicranial axis. 



For lack of a more authentic standard, I lla^'e taken as typical of 

 the P'skimo Dog, portions of a skull (M. ('. Z. 10, .537 10,539) ex- 

 humed by Dr. M. P. Porsild from an old village site at Sermermiut, 

 west Greenland. While not of great size, this skull is notable for its 

 broad palate, rather prominent trough-like depression between the 

 frontals, and the high strong sagittal crest, yet is the surface of the 

 brain-case comparatively smooth. Nearly similar is the skull of an 

 Eskimo Dog from Hebron, Labrador, collected in 1897. Its wide 

 palate and stout teeth are particularly noticeable as well as its strongly 

 developed crests and broad forehead. 



