BY N. DE MIKLOITHO-MACLAY. 625 



The Canis papuensis is very different in appearance and character 

 from the Canis dingo ; is generally smaller, has not the bushy 

 tail of the dingo, is very timid, and howls instead of barking. 

 The New Guinea dog is used as food by the Natives of the Maclay 

 Coast ; his flesh however, when baked or boiled is dark and dry, 

 and is generally regarded by the natives as inferior to that of 

 the pig. Although he is sometimes fed by his master and gets 

 with the pigs, all the remnants of the meals, he is often to be 

 seen on reefs at low water, feeding on crabs and small fishes, etc. 



During the night, the dog in company with the pig takes over 

 the business of the "Nightman" and the "scavenger" of the 

 Papuan villages. Everything that appears edible to their taste 

 and is not put out of their reach, including the human excrements 

 which abound in the early part of the morning in the closest 

 vicinity of the house, is devoured by them. 



In only a very few instances have I seen the natives of the 

 Maclay Coast using their dogs to assist them in their hunting the 

 wild pig, the dorcopsis and the cassowary ; the Canis papuensis, 

 I think is not only too timid, but too lazy and too stupid an animal 

 for such an occupation. 



I am sorry that I left in Singapore, among my papers, some 

 drawings and photos of circumvolutions of brains of dogs of 

 different breeds. The comparison of the same with the gyri of 

 the Dingo would show that although the circumvolutions of the 

 brains of the Dingo do not differ greatly from those of the brains 

 of some of them, they are superior in number and complication 

 of many of them. 



Explanation of Plate V. 



Pig. 1. — Brain of Canis dingo, Shaw, from a young specimen, from 



Guluarber Station, on the Balonne Eiver, Queensland ; 



seen from above. 



» 2 ') 



3 | The same from the sides. 



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