EINAR LÖNNBERG, SOME SOUTH AMERICAN CANID^. 17 



The Yaghan dog is smaller than the larger races ^of 

 Canis ingce, which is rather natural, as it probably leads a 

 life of continuous semistarvation. It also shows the usual 

 signs of domestication as f . i. the concave profile of the anterior 

 portion of the skull, the redueed size of the carnassials etc. 

 Otherwise the dentition does not appear to be subjected to 

 so strong variation, as is the case with C. ingce, to judge 

 from a communication from Nehring,^ viz. that among 17 

 such skulls not one had a quite normal dentition. On the 

 whole there is, however, an unmistakable resemblance between 

 the less specialised Inka dog and the Yaghan dog. As the 

 latter is smaller this resemblance is best expressed by relativa 

 dimensions. To obtain such I have used the measurements 

 of the skull of the Inka dog which Nehring has published 

 (Zool. Jahrb. 1. c.) and those of the Yaghan dog recorded 

 above. If these measurements are expressed in percentages 

 of the basilar length of the respective skulls the following 

 figures are obtained. 



Yaghan dog: Inka dog: 



% of basilar % of basilar 



length length 



Zygomatic breadth 62,3 64,1 



Breadth across m} anteriorly 40,4 40,5 



» » pi 21,7 22,6 



» » alveoles of c 22,6 23,6 



Distance from foramen magnum to hind margin 



of palate 44,3 44,6 



Length of palate 54,8 55,3 



Distance between postorbital processes .... 30,2 32,3 



Length of nasals mesially 35,3 33,3 



» » upper molar series 39,1 39 



» p* 11,6 11,8 



» » mandible 83,1 81,7 



The agreement between these percentages must beeonside- 

 red quite striking as the difference only in two cases amounts 

 to 2 %, which certainly may fall within the limits of individual 

 variation at least concerning the zygomatic width, length of 

 nasals, and probably also with regard to the mandible.^ 



^ Congrés Internat. des Americanistes, C. R. 7 éme Sess. Berlin 1888 

 (1890), p. 310. 



^ Conf. above the table of comp. measurements of Ps. lycoides (p. 2, 9). 



Arhiv för zoologi. Bd 12. N:o 13. 2 



