ANCIENT DOGS 423 



skeletons of both being 171 situ ; this animiil was about the size of 

 a Shepherd Dog. The actual Dog of to-day is divisible into more 

 than 180 different breeds ; but in a work upon " Natui'al History " 

 it would seem out of place to enumerate and characterise these 

 artificial products. Authors vary in their opinion as to what 

 stock gave rise to the domestic races of the past and of to-day. 

 The Jackal, the Bunasu {C. 2'>nmaevtLs), the Indian Wolf (C. 

 2)alli2^rs), have been pi'oposed as likely ancestors. It is more 

 probable that there is much adndxture, and that various wild 

 types have been selected by man in various countries. 



Extinct Canidae. — Many of the existing species of Canidae 

 are also to be found in Pleistocene deposits of tlie countries which 

 they now inhal^it. A few show a wider range in the immediate 

 past than in the present. Thus Lycaon {L. anglicus) has been 

 met with in caves in Glamorganshire, while Icticyon of South 

 America appears to be congeneric with ^peothos of the Brazilian 

 caves. The African Otocyon seems to occur in deposits in India. 

 There are also numerous extinct species belonging to the genus 

 Canis, which extend as far back as the Pliocene. 



The earlier types of Dogs have been placed in different genera. 

 Cynodictis is an Eocene form from European strata. The skull is 

 decidedly Civet-like, with a short snout. The fore- and hind-feet 

 were five-toed, with well -developed pollex and hallux. The 

 dentition was that of modern Dogs, the molars being two in the 

 upper and three in the lower jaw. The general aspect of the 

 creature and the form of the skeleton was much like that of the 

 Viverrine genus Par adoxv 1^11 s, of which, as well as of the Dogs, 

 Cynodictis might have been an ancestor. 



Simocyon of the Upper Miocene serves as the type of a separate 

 sub-family of Dogs, Simocyoninae. The skull is short. Inroad, and 

 high ; the shortening of the skull affecting the jaws has reduced 

 the teeth greatly ; the first three premolars are very small, fall 

 out soon; and are thus often deficient. There are only two 

 molars in each jaw. This type is of course nowhere near the 

 ancestral Dog. It is a much -specialised branch of an early type. 

 Ce-phalognle is less specialised ; there are the usual four pre- 

 molars. Enhydrocyon is an intermediate form ; it has lost one 

 premolar in each jaw. 



Ahiphicyon, forming the type of another sub-family, Amphi- 

 cyoninae, though usually placed among the Dogs, presents us with 



