CANIS AZAE.E. 67 



Canis fuhicaudus ?, Lund, Blik paa Brasilicns Dyreverclen, femte 



Afhandlmg, p. 20 (1843). 

 Pseudalopex azar<E, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 512; id. Cat. 



Carnivorous Mammalia, p. 199. 

 Cerdocyon azarw, Hamilton Smitli, Jardiue's Nat. Library, vol. ix. 



p. 264, pi. 29. 

 U Agouarachay , Azara, Essais, vol. i. p. 317 (1801). 



Ajiongst the South-American Canida there are a variety of forms to 

 which different specific names have been assigned, but which, at present, 

 we can only regard as so many, more or less local, varieties of that kind 

 which was first described by Prince Wied under the name Canis azaree. 

 Intermediate varieties of coloration are to be found amongst all of 

 those here referred to as most distinct, while it has been well ascer- 

 tained that the abundance and texture of the furry coat, as well as its 

 hue, vary with the seasons of the year. 



The characters which can be best relied on as distinctive are those 

 presented by the structure of the teeth ; and in this respect all the forms 

 which we have grouped together in the above list remarkably agree, 

 while, as we shall hereafter see, other forms upon which the same 

 names have been bestowed have teeth of a very different type. 



Further researches may very likely show that two or more of the 

 forms we have here associated together are really distinct, but evidence 

 of their distinctness is not yet before us. 



It is greatly to be desired that a numerous collection should be made 

 of all the kinds of South-American dogs, the locality and sex of each 

 individual being noted, as well as the time of year when it was obtained, 

 the skull not being extracted from the skin, save at the Museum in 

 which it may be deposited. 



The type of this species, named C. azaree, is the individual specimen, 

 or specimens, described by Wied and preserved in his collection. Mr. 

 Ogilby examined the collection, and, through his aid, Mr. G. Water- 

 house identified that type with the specimen brought back by Mr. 

 Darwin, and now deposited in the British Museum. This individual 

 we have had figured in our Plate XVII. 



The Canis azara is described by Rengger as occurring over the greater 



k2 



