IN GENERAL. 117 



or five ; one group alone has only four toes on all 

 the feet. In all of them the two middle toes are 

 congest and equal, and the two outer shorter ; the 

 fifth on the fore-feet is internal, and never reaches 

 to the ground. Of the feet the toes only rest on the 

 earth ; the claws are not retractile, but are strong, 

 blunt, and fit for digging the ground ; the soles and 

 end of each toe are furnished with tubercles. Several 

 species, both in high and low latitudes, have the 

 soles or tubercular part of the feet covered with hair. 

 Near the arctic circle, Nature has conferred this 

 protection upon some kinds of domesticated dogs, 

 and even upon the red fox. It is a sort of glove. 

 To which end, then, was it likewise bestowed upon 

 several smaller species living near or within the 

 tropics ? This question is not yet determined ; but 

 we may surmise that the fur is of a different struc- 

 ture, and intended to enable the possessors to ap- 

 proach their prey without noise or concussion of the 

 earth, of which small birds and insects are remark- 

 ably sensible ; and, therefore, that those so provided 

 are all to a certain extent insectivorous. 



Canines have two sorts of hair, an under fiir of a 

 soft woolly nature, and one of longer coarser piles 

 forming the outer coat. The tail in general is long 

 and hairy, reaching below the heel to the ground, 

 or even more. Its muscular flexibility and action 

 furnishes some slight additions for the separation of 

 the d liferent groups, and most naturalists agree with 

 Linnaeus in the assertion, that in domestic dogs it 



