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172 THE DOMESTIC DOG. 



]\Ir. Edmund Ilarting entirely concurs, and we do not tliuik that any 

 one can affirm with confidence that the Dog may not have had such an 

 origin, even if he does not go so far as to consider the view a probably 

 true one. For our part we think that the evidence is as yet insufficient 

 for us to enunciate any judgment in the matter. We have endeavoured 

 to point out that it is possible that the origin of the D og may have bee n 

 single or multiple, but we refrain from declaring that we regard either 

 the one or the other as preponderatingly evident. 



Nevertheless onr judgment inclines to the view that the Dome stic 

 Dog is a form which has been evolved by human eff ort from at lea st 

 vJ* I. two, ])robably more, wild species, though it is possibl e it may be b^ t a 



modification of one which has long become cxtiuct save in its domest ic 

 and feral progeny. 



We, however, heartily agree with Professor Nchring that many expe- 

 riments are needed, not only concerning the fertility of hybrids, but 

 also as to what variations can be induced in pure-bred Wolves and Foxes 

 by long domestication carried on through a considerable number of 

 successive generations. 



Before dismissing the problem, we think it well to reproduce the 

 remarks of Mr. A. D. liartlett, who has been for so many years Super- 

 intendent of the Gardens of the Zoological Society, lie has had most 

 exceptional opportunity for making valuable observations, and of such 

 op})ortunities he has again and again made exceptionally good use. 

 He savs * : — 



" The extraordinary and wonderful number of well-marked_breeds of 

 the Domestic Dog, and tluir vai'iatious of size, form, and CQloiH;i_reijder 

 any attempt to account for their origin a task of^ some difficulty; but 

 as many wild dogs appear to be descendants of domestic dogs, it is 

 necessary to endeavour to account for the origin of the domestic race. 

 There can be no doubt, for example, that the Esquimaux Dogs are 

 reclaimed or domesticated Wolves. 



"All Wolves, if taken young and reared by man, are tame, playful, 

 and eshibitTTondness for those who feed and attend to them! The 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1890, p. 47. 



