Permanence and Evolution. 29 



THE DOG. 



It is admitted by Darwin that the dog has 

 in all probability descended from more than one 

 wild stock. In many countries the dogs are 

 indistinguishable from the wolves or other wild 

 canines dogs are often kept by savages who 

 have no other domestic animals ; many wild 

 canines are very tameable, and no argument can 

 be drawn from the alleged sterility of hybrid 

 wolf-dogs kept in close confinement. But 

 besides these there are other breeds, the most 

 common in Europe, very distinct from any 

 known wild animal. Darwin says that they are 

 " unnatural forms," and that " no one has been 

 bold enough to maintain that they existed in 

 a state of nature ; " but seeing how true they 

 breed, I do not see why the principal and best 

 marked (the greyhound, the mastiff, the terrier, 

 the spaniel, etc.) should not have so existed, 

 and the others have been formed by crossing 



