713 



CANTS. 



CAHffl 



Til 



of North America; and another also partially tamed in South 

 America which deaerve attention ; nnd it ia found that then races 

 in different degrees, and in a greater degree a* they are more wild, 

 exhibit the lank and gaunt form, the lengthened limbs, the long and 

 lender muzzle, and the great comparative strength which characterise 

 the wolf; and that the tail of the Australian dog, which may be 

 considered as the most remote from a state of domestication, assumes 

 the slightly biuby form of that animal We have here then a con- 

 siderable approximation to a well-known wild animal of the same 

 genus, in races which, though doubtless descended from domesticated 

 ancestors, hare gradually axgumed the wild condition ; and it is 

 worthy of especial remark, that the anatomy of the wolf, and its 

 osteology in particular, does not differ from that of the dogs in 

 general, more than the different kinds of dogs do from each other. 

 The cranium is absolutely similar, and so ore all or nearly all the 

 other essential parts; and to strengthen still further the probability 

 of their identity, the dog and wolf will readily breed together, and 

 their progeny is fertile. The obliquity of the position of the eyes in 

 the wolf is one of the characters in which it differs from the dogs ; 

 and although it is very desirable not to rest too much upon the 

 effects of habit on structure, it is not perhaps straining the point to 

 attribute the forward direction of the eyes in the dogs to the constant 

 habit, for many successive generations, of looking forwards to their 

 master and obeying his voice." 



Another criterion, and a sound one, is the identity of gestation. 

 Sixty-three days form the period during which the bitch goes with 

 young. Precisely the same time elapses before the she-wolf gives 

 birth to her offspring. Upon Buffon's instance of 73 days, or rather 

 the possibility of such a duration in the gestation of a particular she- 

 wolf, we do not lay much stress when opposed by such strong 

 evidence of the usual period being 63 days. The young of both wolf 

 and dog are born blind, and see at the same or about the same time, 

 namely, at the expiration of the 10th or 12th dav. 



Hunter's important experiments proved without doubt that the 

 Wolf and the Jackal would breed with the Dog; but he had not 

 sufficient data for coming to the conclusion that all three were 

 identical as species. In the course of those experiments he ascer- 

 tained that the jackal went 59 days with young, whilst the wolf went 

 63 days ; nor does he record that the progeny of the dog and jackal 

 would breed together: and he knew too well the value of the 

 argument to be drawn from a fertile progeny not to have dwelt upon 

 the fact if be had proved it ; not to have mentioned it, at least, if he 

 had ever heard of it. 



Skull of Jackal (Oanii aurriu). From f. Cuvicr. 



Mr. Bell disposes of the objection arising from the alleged 

 nntameably savage disposition of the wolf by relating two anecdotes, 

 one on his own authority and the other on that of MOIIB. F. Cuvier, in 

 proof of the susceptibility of attachment to man, and the appetite 

 f'.r it is an appetite for his caresses on the part of the wolf. The 

 first occurred in the Gardens of the Zoological Society in the Regent's 

 Park, London, and was exhibited in the person of a she-wolf, who 

 came forward to be caressed, and even brought her pups to be 

 caressed also, whenever Mr. Bell or any one whom she knew 

 approached her den. Indeed she killed all her unfortunate young 

 one* in succession by rubbing them against the bars of her cage in 

 her zeal to have them fondled by her friends. The second happened 

 in the Mdnagerie du Roi at Paris, and no faithful dog could show 

 more affecting instances of attachment to his master, or distress on 

 account of his absence, than did the male wolf which is the subject of 

 lions. F. Cuvier's touching account. " With all these anologoua 

 properties of form and structure" we quote Mr. Bell "as well as of 

 disposition, I cannot but incline nt least to the opinion that the wolf 

 is the original source from which all our domestic dogs have sprung : 

 nor do I see in the great variety which exists in the different races 



sufficient ground for concluding that they may not, all of them, have 

 descended from one common stock. The turnspit and the mastiff, 

 the pug and the grayhound, are perhaps more unlike each other than 

 any of the varieties of other domestic animals; but if it be true that 

 variation depends upon habit and education, the very dill. i. m 

 employments to which dugs .have in all ages been trained, and the 

 various climates to which they have been naturalised, must not be 

 lost sight of as collateral agents in producing these different forms. 

 The care too with which dogs of particular breeds are matched with 

 similar ones, for the purpose of keeping the progeny as pure as 

 possible, has doubtless its effect in promoting such distinctions." 

 The same author thus sums up his opinion : " Upon the whole, the 

 argument in favour of the view which I have taken, that the wolf is 

 probably the original of all the canine races, may be thus stated . tin- 

 structure of the animal in identical, or so nearly so as to afford i In- 

 strongest a priori evidence in its favour. The dog must have been 

 derived from an animal susceptible of the highest degree of <; 

 cation, and capable of great affection for mankind ; which has been 

 abundantly proved of the wolf. Dogs having returned to a wild xtate, 

 and continued in that condition through many generations, exhibit 





Skull of Wolf (Omit Lupus]. From F. Cuvicr. 



Skull of Canada Wolf (Cimu Lujnu). From F. Cuvicr. 

 characters which approximate more and more to those of the wolf, in 

 proportion OH the influence of domestication ceases to act. The two 

 animals will breed together, nnd produce fertile young. The period 

 of gestation is the same." 



We have given above the skull of a wolf, that it may bo com- 

 pared with those of the different varieties of dogs. 



