INTRODUCTION, 95 



the foxes, some one species, let us say the wolf, is 

 parent of the whole, — and therefore that the genus 

 Canis of authors, so far as the diurnal species are con- 

 cerned, consists of one only ; the wild and tame being 

 alike mere varieties, produced by passing to different 

 latitudes and longitudes of the earth, and subsisting 

 upon different qualities of food ; or we must adopt 

 some standard of specification other than the merely 

 anatomical method. 



Fixing upon certain species as typicial animals, is 

 in itself a proper mode to serve our comparative 

 data ; but we must not mistake these types for real 

 generical beings, the parents of different species. 

 Nature does not recognize them, excepting perhaps 

 in a very few cases : the more indistinct modifica- 

 tions of her creatures are called into being to serve 

 the inexhaustible fecundity of her adaptations, and 

 to consume, according to their modified structures, 

 a prescribed portion of antagonist produce, bal- 

 lancing the circle of production and consumption so 

 that nothing should be lost and nothing super- 

 abundant. This is so obvious to all inquirers, that 

 in our apprehension there are sufficient grounds for 

 extending the principle to specific purposes; and 

 applying it to canines, induces us to presume, there 

 may have existed several congenerical species, pro- 

 vided by the liberality of Nature with qualities more 

 social and intellectual, and therefore more readily 

 brought into subjection by man; animals whose 

 types nevertheless are either not as yet ascertained, 

 or which have been totally absorbed by domestica- 



