Native American, or Indian Dogs. 7 



of the Indian tribes inhabiting the tract of country 

 now called the United- States. It is not certain, in- 

 deed, that the dogs which Soto found in Florida were 

 not of the alco-kind : I think it highly probable, how- 

 ever, that they were not, but that they were much 

 more allied to the wolf and fox, like the modern 

 Creek dogs, which I am afterwards to mention. 



It would appear from Clavigero, that the alco is 

 jiow entirely extinct. " After the conquest of Mexi- 

 co," says this author, " the Spaniards, having neither 

 large cattle nor sheep, provided their markets with 

 this quadruped ; by which means the species was 

 soon extinct, although it had been very numerous*." 



ITZCUINTEPOTZOTLI. 



The Itzcu'mtepotzotli was the Mexican name for 

 another species or variety of dog, which is figured 

 and described by Fabrif, and by Clavigero, whose 

 figure is borrowed from that of the Italian naturalist. 

 If the figure be an accurate one, the animal must 

 have been of a very deformed aspect; and as such, 

 indeed, it is described. It was about the size of a 

 Maltesan dog, or rather larger. The head was very 

 small, the ears pendulous, and the eyes soft and 

 pleasing. The nose had a considerable prominence 

 in the middle, and its tail was very small. But the 

 most striking feature of the animal was a protuber- 

 ance upon its back, not unlike that upon the Arabian 



* The History of.Mexico. Vol. i. p. 40. 



f l!i rum Mcdituiuin Nqvx Hispanix Thesaurus, kc. ]>. 466, Sec. 



