16 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



supplanting in many cases native species. Instances of mam- 

 mals of economic importance either on account of the value of 

 the pelt or the food furnished by the flesh will readily suggest 

 themselves. The fur trade in this state seems to have dimin- 

 ished in importance, so that statistics of its income would have 

 little value, at any rate it was impossible to gather any informa- 

 tion sufficiently reliable to be worth reporting. A few Indians 

 devote their time to trapping, but aside from this, the farmer's 

 boy who hopes to add to a limited stock of spending money, by 

 the capture of mink or musk-rat, is almost the only patron of 

 the industry. 



The capture of deer is still quite an industry, and yet the 

 supply does not seem to diminish greatly. Only a few years 

 ago, patient sportsmen succeeded in securing a deer or two 

 within a dozen miles of Minneapolis every winter. 



It would be interesting to trace, so far as possible, the origin 

 of domestic animals in this connection. The space at our dis- 

 posal prohibits more than a cursory word. For additional de- 

 tails one may refer to the works of Oscar Smith, Rutemyer and 

 Vogt. 



Darwin was of the opinion that the domestic dog is a result 

 of the domestication and interbreeding of several feral species. 



Jeitteles believes that the jackal and Indian wolf (Ganis 

 pallipes) have been the progenitors of the various races of do- 

 mestic dogs. From the former he derives terriers and turn- 

 spits, while from the latter he traces the poodle, cur, and bull- 

 dog. The Egyptian dog is believed to have had a separate 

 origin from the large jackal ( Canis lupaster) . 



The fossil ancestors of the wolf may be found in the Dilu- 

 vium, over half a dozen species very much like the modern 

 animal being known. There are a number of wild dogs with a 

 greater number of molar teeth than our familiar species, and 

 these are thought to be the more direct descendants of the 

 primitive canine. Of the relations of the dogs to the cats 

 enough information is furnished by paleontology to show that 

 the petty jealousy still existing is as might be supposed a result 

 of consanguinity unwillingly recognized. 



Among the ruminants it is interesting to recall that America 

 is the primitive home of the camel tribe. In the Pliocene Ter- 

 tiary camels were perhaps the most abundant of the larger 

 mammals with the exception of horses, while the alpaca and 

 llama alone survive to the present. 



