186 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



moment whether they were not in reality Scotch collies masquer- 

 ading as wild beasts. 



There are many other traits in our domestic dogs suggestive of 

 their ancestral habits which can not be dealt with in this article, 

 but which offer a most interesting field for study to every one 

 who possesses a dog and a taste for research in this direction. 



In concluding it may be well to notice briefly the chief points 

 of dissimilarity between the wild and tame Canido?. In the first 

 place, there is a general difference of aspect and bearing which it 

 is difficult to describe exactly. The wild animal has an alert, 

 independent look which the tame one has lost, chiefly owing to 

 its long-continued habit of dependence upon man. Although, of 

 course, all breeds of tame dogs have been at some time or other 

 deliberately adapted by training and selection for special pur- 

 poses, yet there seem certain characteristics which have risen 

 spontaneously, or because the parts in which they are manifest 

 are correlated with some others where an intentional change has 

 been brought about. Darwin gives an instance of this in the 

 hairless dogs, which at the same time are deficient in teeth. This 

 question of correlation is one of the most interesting and obscure 

 problems of natural history > and perhaps we are at present a little 

 too ready (with our hereditary tendency to take refuge in an im- 

 posing mystery whenever our reasoning powers fail us) to ascribe 

 to it certain phenomena, the explanation of which by the ordinary 

 laws of evolution is most clear. 



Most probably the drooping ears of our domesticated hounds 

 and hunting dogs primarily arose from the fact that the savage 

 huntsman, disregarding shape, picked those dogs to breed from 

 which manifested the keenest powers of scent, and that in these 

 individuals the ears were not so much in use as with others. Again, 

 in every litter of whelps the surly, independent, and ill-tempered 

 brute would always be more likely to be eliminated than those 

 which were confiding and tractable ; and so, from age to age, the 

 chief outward traits which distinguish the dog from wolves and 

 jackals would tend to increase. 



Finally, the instinct of association has, in the case of the do- 

 mestic dog, become more exactly fitted to the new conditions of 

 environment. He makes himself thoroughly at home with us be- 

 cause he feels that he is with his own proper pack, and not among 

 strangers or those of an alien race. The wild animal, on the con- 

 trary, which refuses to become domesticated, still has the percep- 

 tion that those who would palm themselves off as his comrades 

 are creatures of a different nature. He sturdily refuses to become 

 a party to the fraud, and remains suspicious of their intentions ; 

 and, whatever they may do to propitiate him, he keeps on the qui 

 vive as against a possible enemy. — The Contemporary Review. 



