9. LYCALOPEX. 197 



or either of these from that of the Pariah Dog of India, or the 

 " Mongrel Cur " as it is called in England. 



Some of the figured and named varieties, as the Lion-Dog {Chien- 

 lion, Buffon, v. t. 40. f. 2 ; Vanis famiUaris leoninus, Gmelin), are 

 described from Dogs that had been artificially trimmed ; and of 

 some, as the Prick-Eared Dog, the ears had been artificially clipped; 

 and the same is the case with some of the short-tailed Dogs. 



If the varieties of Dog are stumblingblocks to the systematic 

 zoologist, which some say they are (for what reason I cannot con- 

 ceive), they are never mistaken by their wild allies. It is true that 

 a Wolf mil breed with a female Dog, but so will a wild Pheasant 

 with a domestic hen. The system of improving the breed of do- 

 mestic animals by breeding and weeding seems to have been coex- 

 istent with human civilization ; and to keep up the good breeds it 

 is as necessary to be carefully attended to now as in the earliest 

 period, showing that the varieties produced have no tendency to 

 become perpetual. 



The varieties of the Dog, like the varieties of Oxen, Sheep, Pigs, 

 Poultry, and Pigeons, are limited ; and the limits seem to have 

 been early discovered, as most, if not all, of the varieties now exist- 

 ing seem to have been known in the earliest historical period, and 

 even anterior to it. 



How any one can think that the differences between varieties of 

 domestic animals are such as zoologists would use to distinguish 

 genera and species, is a mystery that I cannot understand ; and 

 the theory that the variation produced by breeding and weeding, 

 or selection as it is called, is to be regarded as the origin of the dif- 

 ference between natural species, is more astonishing, and can oidy 

 have arisen for want of careful study of tlie subject. There are some 

 minds so constituted, even among the well educated, who beHeve 

 in animal magnetism, metallic tactors, table-turning, phrenology, 

 spiritualism, mesmerism, the great pyramid, natural selection, and 

 mimicry of animals — and some even two or more of these theories in 

 succession, or at the same time. 



I do not know of any work giving a systematic or scientific de- 

 scription of the varieties of Dogs. Professor Fitzingcr, in the ' Trans- 

 actions of the Vienna Academy,' has written a long paper on the 

 history of the difierent varieties and breeds, similar to the paper on 

 the breeds of Sheep. 



C, Fox-tailed Wolves. Tail elongate, reaching below theJu'eU, more or 

 less curved, and covered with more or less elongated hair not forming 

 a full brush. South America. 



Fox-tailed Wolves, Gray, P. Z. -S. 1868, p. 511. 



9. LYCALOPEX. 



Pupil circular. Tail reaching below the hocks. The upper tu- 

 bercular teeth oblong, taken together much longer than the fiesh- 

 tooth. South-American. 



