92 INTRODUCTION. 



terminology. The French have ado])ted a clear dis- 

 tinction, by naming the dog considered as a genuine 

 wild species, wild cbg {chien sauvage)^ and the dog 

 run wild from a domestic state (cJden maroii)^ ma- 

 roon dog^ or more properly, perhaps, errant dog ; 

 but as this word is again a Gallicism, it might be 

 better to adopt a native term and call it Feral dog. 



The oblique position of the eyes in the wolf may 

 be of some importance when compared with the 

 domestic species ; but physiologists, we apprehend, 

 would scarcely admit a dog's anxiety to see his 

 master and obey his voice, as sufficient cause for the 

 alteration. 



There remains only one more remark to be made 

 upon Mr Bell's arguments, namely, that which 

 allows the gestation of the dog and wolf to be sixty- 

 three days, whereas he fixes that of the jackals, 

 according to Hunter, at fifty-nine. Now, the ex- 

 periments conducted by Mons. F. Cuvier, breeding 

 between two difibrent species of jackals, showed 

 gestation to be sixty-two days; so that, in this 

 respect, the three species may be considered equal, 

 as they are likewise in the duration of blindness of 

 the young litter, — jackals opening their eyes on the 

 tenth or eleventh day, wolves and dogs between the 

 tenth and twelfth days. 



We must be guarded even in drawing inferences 

 from the conformation of the skulls of canines. A 

 comparative series, duly authenticated.^ is a desidera- 

 tum not as yet, we believe, existing in any cabinet : 

 we know that the shades of difierence gradually 



