76 FAUNA AMERICANA. 



ina; the retreats of other animals ; but the 2:reate^t 

 number establish their retreat in tlie thickest 

 forests, &c, &c. 



Inhabit all parts of the habitable fj^lobe, with 

 the exception of some groups of islands situated 

 in the Pacific ocean. 



Species. 



1. Canis familiar is, Linn. Erxleb. Bodd. Desm. 

 p. 130. Encycl. pi. 98, fig. 3. pi. 99, 100—1, 2, 3, 4. 

 Le Chien, Buff. hist. Nat. torn. 5. 

 The Dog, Penn. Brit. Zool. p. 23. 



Char. Essent. Tail recurved; nose more or 

 less elongated or contracted; nature and colour of 

 the hair various, with the exception that when- 

 ever the tail offers the mixture of anv colour with 

 white this white is always terminal. This fact 

 has been lately verified in a number of instances 

 by Desmarest, who has latel}^ observed it in sev- 

 eral of the more savage species, as the antarctic 

 dog, which has induced him to believe this last 

 named variety to be nearest to the original. 



We have very little doubt that the various spe- 

 cies of domestic dogs are mere varieties of prolific 

 hybrids, produced by the union of the wolf, {C 

 lupus) with tlie fox, (C vulpes) or jackall, (C au- 

 reus ;) which opinion was originally advanced by 

 Pallas. A prolific hybrid of this kind once pro- 

 duced, the progeny would more readily luiite with 

 the congeners of either parent, and with each 



