161 



THE DOMESTIC DOG. 



CANIS FAMILIARIS. 



As was declared in our Preface, it is by no raecns the object of this 

 work to describe the varieties of form and faculty which exist amongst 

 the now multitudinous breeds of the Domestic Dog. Nevertheless, 

 the companion of man must not be passed over altogether in silence ; 

 for, whatever may have been its origin, the Domestic Dog has every 

 appearance of constituting, together witli the Dingo, one species now. 

 Although it may be true tliat certain breeds of dogs unite more readily 

 with their own variety than with other forms, it is none the less 

 abundantly evident that dogs of very diffei-ent races breed freely 

 toge ther, and th at their offspring are perfectly fertile. But apart from 

 this matter, no attentive observer of the ways of animals can have 

 failed to note how, when dogs happen to meet, even though of the 

 most diverse breeds — some toy lap-dog and some huge mastiff — each 

 at once makes manifest its feeling that the other is a dog and a brother. 

 Nor will the spontaneous judgment of the ordinary observer fail to 

 accord with that indicated by the animals themselves. 



Assuming then, at least provisionally, that the dog, as we know it, 

 i s to be considered as a distinct sp ecies, it is al)»olutLly jhe mo st 

 wonderful species of ani mal known to us as rcj,Mi(N thr nu mber a nd 

 d iversity of the races which compose it. We have but to think of the 

 Pug-dog ~and the Greyhound, the Toy Spaniel and the Bloodhound, 

 the Turnspit and the St. Bernard's Dog, to recognize diversities of 

 bodily conformation exceeding those of any other species of Beast or 

 Bird known to us. 



As to the number of breeds. Professor Fitzinger * recognizes no less 



• See ' Der Hund und seine Racen.' 1876. 



