500 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



are from the same animal, the short-faced dog something hke a bull- 

 terrier that seems to have been a favorite with the Indians of the 

 southwest". 



Peruvian Pug-nosed Dog. 



Plate 12. 



1885. Canis ingae molossoides Nehring, Sitzb. Gesellsch. naturf. freunde 

 Berlin, p. 5-13. 



Characters. — Similar to the Short-nosed Indian Dog but with even 

 shorter facial bones, an undershot lower jaw, broader zygomata and 

 posterior narial passage. The increased shortening of the face causes 

 a slightly more elevated forehead. The color seems to have been 

 yellowish or whitish, marked or clouded with dark brown. 



Distribution. — This Dog is known only from the Peruvian High- 

 lands, where its remains have be*n found with ancient burials of the 

 aborigines at Ancon and Pachacamac. 



Skull-Characters. — A comparison of six skulls from Peru (loaned by 

 the U. S. N. M.) with those of the Short-nosed Dog of North America, 

 leaves little doubt that the Peruvian Pug-nosed Dog is derived from 

 the latter, perhaps through some sort of cross-breeding, possibly as 

 an occasional result of a particular cross, or through the dominance 

 of its peculiarities in cross-bred animals. In most respects, the skulls 

 of both are essentially alike, but the shortening of the rostral portion 

 in the present breed is more pronounced, resulting in an undershot 

 lower jaw. Yet the reduction of the maxillaries is not so extreme as to 

 cause very great crowding of the premolars as in our Bull-dogs or the 

 Pekinese Lap-dogs. Thus in two out of six crania, the third premolar 

 is set almost transversely to the long axis of the skull, but in the 

 others it retains about the usual relation. The second premolar, in 

 two cases, is turned inward at more than the usual angle. In only 

 one of the six skulls is the first upper premolar missing, and here on the 

 left side onlj'. 



The opening of the posterior nares is, very wide in comparison with 

 the common Short-nosed Dog, and the zygomatic arches are broader. 

 In none of the six skulls do the temporal ridges unite to form a median 

 crest except at the occiput along the interparietal bone. On account 

 of the shortening of the facial bones, the forehead is high, with a deep 

 and broad groove medially. A further result of this shortening is 

 the greater upward turn of the palate, best seen when the crania are 



