98 



The Lk'iiJg Things of the Earth unit i 



lui. 128 Coyote, (n. Y. zouLOGicAL socilty) 



1- l(j. 130 Lcillic. ^UNII'EU STATES BURE-\U OF ANI- 

 MAL industry; 



Ki(.. 131 RcJ fox. The rc'J {ox l>elov\^s to the 

 i^entis Vilifies. All the av'mials on this paire be- 

 long to the same fay/iily. (iiuc;ii davis) 



Fig. 129 Dingo. The coyote, the dingo, and the 

 collie. Figure 130, belong to the smne gemis, 

 Canis. How do all three differ from animals in 

 the genus Felis? 



he a cat species, a lion species, and a 

 leopard species within one genus. Then 

 Linnaeus named each genus. For example, 

 the genus Felis (feel'is) includes such 

 animals as cats, lions, leopards, and tigers. 

 The genus Canis (can'is) includes dogs 

 and wolves. Then each kind of animal 

 w as given as its first name the genus 

 name and as its second name a special 

 species name. The cat is Felis doi?iestica; 

 the lion, Felis leo; the dog. Cams 

 familiaris. 



Now this is a very clever scheme. 

 Once you know that the dog is Canis 

 \aimliaris you know that any animal with 

 the first name Canis must be doglike. 

 Have you ever heard of the dingo? No? 

 Well, its name is Canis dingo. You would 

 not have to look at Figure 129 to kno\\ 

 in a general way how it looks. And the 

 puma is Felis cougar. Again the name 

 rclls you a great deal about the puma. 

 Do Exercise 5 to see whether you under- 

 stand this. You may find Exercise 6 in- 

 teresting. 



