8 The Dog Book 



race among the Indians of North America, and another, also partially 

 tamed, in South America, which deserve attention. It is found that these 

 races, in different degrees, and in a greater degree as they are more wild, 

 exhibit the lank and gaunt form, the lengthened limbs, the long, slender 

 muzzle, and the comparative strength, which characterise the wolf; and 

 that the tail of the Australian dog, which may be considered as the most 

 remote from a state of domestication, assumes the slight bushy form of that 

 animal. We have here, then, a considerable approximation to a well- 

 known wild animal of the same genus, in races which, though doubtless 

 descended from domestic ancestors, have gradually assumed the wild 

 condition; and it is worthy of especial remark that the anatomy of the 

 wolf, and its osteology in particular, does not differ from that of the dogs in 

 general more than the different kinds of dogs from each other." The 

 only difference in structure which Mr. Bell admits of is the eye, the forward 

 direction of which in the dog as opposed to the oblique in the wolf he attrib- 

 utes to the "constant habit for many generations of looking toward their 

 master, and obeying his voice." He also points to the possibility of their 

 interbreeding, and asserts that their progeny is fertile. 



The evidence is all on the side of the impossibility of the dog and 

 wolf and dog and jackal crosses to breed inter se, however fertile the progeny 

 may be when bred back to either side of the cross; but what if this inter se 

 fertility was established, how much further would it go than merely to 

 accord with the non-controvertible statement that while distinct they so 

 closely approach each other as to be capable of producing fertile hybrids. 

 But as a matter of fact this point is still unproved. 



Mr. Bell's claim that the various wild dogs are the descendants of do- 

 mesticated dogs, or in other words are feral dogs, and that they all closely 

 resemble the wolf, will not stand investigation. What could possibly be 

 the origin of the Dingo. He was there when Australia was discovered by 

 Europeans, and in no part of the country was there the slightest evidence of 

 his being or having ever been a domesticated animal. Then again, if all 

 came originally from the wolf, why is it that not one of the wild, untamable, 

 irreclaimable varieties do not breed back to their origin and become wolves ? 

 They stop at being dogs, and while wolves are gray in colour all wild dogs are 

 reddish. The Eskimo is gray, but we hold that he is a dog and not a re- 

 claimed wolf. 



There is a great deal for us to learn yet regarding these northern 



