INTRODUCTION. 13 



added, an innumerable host of other respectable au- 

 thorities ; but, contenting myself with these for the pre- 

 sent, I shall now turn to those of a contrary opinion, 

 who, though they are less numerous, are yet sufficiently 

 important to merit attention. 



Mr. Pennant, a deservedly esteemed naturalist, in 

 his British Zoology , derives the dog from the jackal. 

 Independently of the recorded fact, that these animals 

 had been known to breed together, and produce prolific 

 origin, it did not escape this accurate observer that 

 the teeth of the jackal more nearly resembled those of 

 the dog than those of the wolf or fox; many of his 

 habits also are so nearly allied to those of the dog, as 

 strongly incline him to consider the dog as nothing more 

 than a reclaimed jackal. 



The opinion of Pallas on this point seems some- 

 what wavering. In some of his writings he argues that 

 the jackal is unquestionably the source of our dogs ; 

 which conclusion he draws from the similitudes of size 

 and figure, and also from a close resemblance in man- 

 ner and disposition ^ In others, on the contrary % he 

 seems to give the dog altogether a factitious origin, and 

 considers him as not derived from any original stock, 



^ Homini facillimae adsuescit nunquani, iiti lupus et vulpes cicu- 

 rati, infidi auimi signa edeus, lususve cruentaiis ; canes non fugit 

 sed ardentur appetit, cum lisque colludit, ut plane nullum sit dubium 

 cum iisdem geueraturum si tentetur expeiimentum. Yocem desi- 

 derii caninae simillimam habet; homini cauda eodem modo abblandi- 

 tur, et in dorsum provolvi atque manibus demulceri amat. Ipse 

 quoque ululatus ejus, cum iatratu cauum ejulabundo magnum habet 

 analogiam. Ergo dubium vix esse puto, hominis speciem, in eadem 

 cum lupo aureo climate naturaliter inquilinam, antiquitus hujus catu- 

 lis cicuratis domesticos sibi educasse canes, quorum naturalis iustinc- 

 tus jam homini, quem feri non multum tiraent, amicus, et in venatio- 

 Jiem pronus erat. — SpiciL Zool. fasc. xi, p. 1, note. 



* Memoir sur la Variation des Animaux. — Acta Acad. Petrop, 1780. 



