138 The Irish Naturalist. June, 



The various races of Dogs may be divided into two great groups, viz., 

 the northern (Palsearctic) and the sotitheru Dogs. The latter gronp 

 includes Dogs which resemble the Paria, while all the remaining races 

 fall readily under the various types cf northern ones. These types are 

 the Pomeranian, the Mastiff and allies, the Wolf hounds, the Hunting 

 Dogs, and the Collie-like Dogs, 



A skull found b\- the late vSir William Wilde in the great crannog or 

 lake-dwelling of Duushaughlin, Co. Meath, belonged, according to 

 Professor Studer, to a variety of the Pomeranian Dog, A precisely 

 similar form also occurs in the Swiss " Pfahlbauten," and is still living 

 in Siberia at the present day. 



Two other skulls, also found at Dunshaughlin, belong to the race of 

 Irish Wolfhound, now probably extinct. They resemble similar skulls 

 discovered in Swiss lake-dwellings, but are considerably larger and more 

 powerful. 



Lastly, in Lough Gur, Co, Limerick, a skull, now in the National 

 Museum, was unearthed, which shows that there existed formerly in 

 Ireland a third race of Dog related to the existing Collies. This also 

 occurs in the Swiss lake-dv/ellings. 



The difficult question regarding the ancestors of the various Dog races 

 has been discussed b}^ many competent zoologists, but their conclusions 

 have differed very much. While some maintained that the domestic 

 varieties have descended from one Pleistocene species of wild Dog, others 

 have suggested that the Jackal and the Wolf were the ancestors of the 

 modern breeds. Certain it is that Dogs crossed with Wolves and Jackals 

 have produced fertile offspring. 



Professor Studer's view is that the domestic races of Dog have descended 

 from a wild Dog resembling the Australian Dingo, one variety of which 

 gave rise to the southern breeds and another to the northern ones, and 

 that races such as the northern Wolfhounds have been produced by 

 primitive man by crossing this ancient Dog with the Wolf and by sub- 

 sequent selection from the offspring* 



R. F. S. 



