THE FLESH-EATING PREDATORY MAMMALS 129 



allied to one another in scheme of coloration. Theytstart, so to 

 speak, from a reddish-yellow basis, and as reddish-yellow appears 

 in foxes and in the South American dogs of uncertain alliance, 

 it is probable that it is the original colour of the Dog genus. 

 The black-backed jackal of Africa exhibits the wolf-coloration 

 carried to its most beautiful development of black, silver, and 

 orange. In the European wolf (and no doubt it was the same in 

 the now extinct British form) the limbs are fawn-colour, with a 

 tendency to blackish-brown down the front of the fore paws. 

 The face is umber-brown, with a grizzled forehead, and patches 

 of the same colour on the eyebrows. The back is black, ochre- 

 yellow, and white, owing to the long hairs growing in that region 

 being yellow in their lower portion, white in the middle, and 

 black at the extremity. The edges of the great masses of hair 

 which grow somewhat unevenly along the wolf's back are quite 

 black when seen from the side, but their depths are yellowish- 

 white. There is a good deal of black about the upper surface 

 of the tail. The skull of the w^olf scarcely differs from that of 

 the more primitive types of domestic dog, the chief characteristic 

 being a slightly less cranial capacity, and a somewhat longer 

 muzzle. The only real difference would appear to be in the 

 canine teeth, which are proportionately more long and massive 

 than in most known breeds of dogs. The forehead above the 

 orbits is a little narrower and flatter, and the crest of bone along 

 the top of the skull is longer and higher. 



The number of mammae is five pairs, a number characteristic 

 of nearly all breeds of domestic dog.^ The collar bone is present, 

 but very rudimentary, though usually composed of a longer 

 fragment than in most breeds of domestic dogs. The fore feet 

 are five-toed, but as a rule there are only four toes apparent on 

 the hind feet, though in the bones there are several joints 

 representing the vanishing first toe of the hind foot. Occasion- 

 ally in the wolf, and much more frequently in the domestic dog, 

 the first toe of the hind foot is represented by what is called 

 the dew claw, situated high up on the inner side of the hind foot. 



^ See note ^ on p. 127. 



9 



