130 CANIDA. 
part of the forehead behind the orbits a little narrower 
and flatter, the occipito-sagittal crest longer and _loftier, 
and the teeth, especially the canmes, proportionally larger. 
Figure 48 shows one of the fossil 
Fig. 48. 
canines from Oreston, of the natural 
size. But, adds Cuvier, these shades of 
difference are so slight, that they are 
frequently more marked between two 
individual dogs or between two wolves ; 
and that he can hardly avoid concluding 
as Daubenton had done, that the Dog 
and the Wolf are of the same species.* 
M. de Blainville, who gives the 
result of a very elaborate and detailed 
comparison of the teeth and _ bones 
of the Wolf and Dog in his “* Ostéogra- 
aan eee phie,” concludes by invalidating even 
anine, nat. size, 
the slight shades of distinction admitted 
by Daubenton and Cuvier in the configuration of the cranium, 
and cites the wild races of the Dog, and especially the 
Dingo of New Holland, as indistinguishable from the 
Wolf by the cranial characters which his predecessors had 
pointed out. 
* Cuvier, loc. cite p. 458. He does not cite the work containing this alleged 
opinion of Daubenton. In the great “ Histoire Naturelle,” the words of the pains- 
taking coadjutor of the eloquent Buffon, are “ Plus j’ai observé les chiens et les 
loups, soit a l’extérieur, soit a Vintérieure, plus je les ai comparés les uns aux 
autres, tant les males que les femelles, plus j’aurois été porté a conclure de la res- 
semblance qui est dans leur conformation, qwils sont de la méme espéce, si M. 
Buffon n’ayoit tenté inutilement de faire accoupler le chien avec la louve.” Tom. 
vii. p. 54. The success of the experiment which Daubenton seems to have 
thought essential to establish the conclusion of the specific identity of the Wolf and 
Dog was subsequently obtained by John Hunter, who carried the experiment a 
step further in regard to the hybrid offspring. See his “ Observations tending to 
show that the Wolf, Jackall, and Dog, are all of the same species.” Hunter’s 
Works, Palmer’s Edition, vol. ivy. and my note at p. 324. 
