SPECIFIC IDENTITY OF DOG AND WOLF. 37 



degree as they are more wild, exhibit the lank and gaunt form, 

 the lengthened limbs, the long and slender muzzle, and the preat 

 comparative strength, which characterise the Wolf; and the tail 

 of the Australian Dog, which may be considered as the most 

 remote from the state of domestication, assumes the slightly bushy 

 form of that animal*." All these wild races, too, have more or 

 less completely lost that common character of domestication 

 variety of colour and marking, and have assumed a uniform dull- 

 brown hue, much resembling that of the common "Wolf. It has 

 been objected, that the Wolf does not exhibit that character, 

 which is so remarkable in all the races of the Dog attachment 

 to Man. Even the wild breeds of Dogs are easily brought under 

 subjection, and are made useful to him in various ways ; which 

 could not be the case, if they had the same savage disposition as 

 the common Wolf. But it has been shown, that the Wolf is 

 much more capable of domestication than is commonly supposed, 

 if taken young from its wild state, and brought up under the 

 influence of Man ; and that it then displays as much attachment 

 to its master, and remembrance of kindness shown to it, as any 

 Dog could do. So that there is no difficulty in understanding 

 how, by a continuance of this influence through successive gene- 

 rations, the character of the race may becoiie so permanently 

 changed, that the traces of former domestication may not .be 

 altogether lost, even in breeds which have returned to their wild 

 state for centuries f. 



* Bell's British Quadrupeds, p. 197. 



f The question as to the identity of species between the Dog and the Wolf can- 

 not be regarded as yet settled one way or the other. It will probably be determined 

 by more positive information upon some points, respecting the propagation of the 

 two races, which havenot been satisfactorily ascertained. Thus,if the periodduring 

 which the female goes with young is the same in the Wolf as in the Dog (63 days), 

 as it appears to be from the observations of Hunter and Desmarest, it will be a 

 powerful argument for the identity of the species ; but, if it is different, it will 

 almost certainly prove the species to be distinct ; since this is a character in which 

 the variation is very narrowly limited. Again, it is well known that the Dog will 

 breed with the Wolf, and that the offspring will breed again with either of the 

 parent races ; but it will require to be ascertained, whether the offspring of the 

 Dog and the Wolf will breed with another hybrid of the same kind. If it does, 

 the identity of the species of its parents is almost certain ; if it cannot, a power- 

 ful argument is afforded for the separation of the two races as distinct species. 

 (See VEOET. PHYSIOL. 454.) 



