GENERAL CHARACTEKISTICS OF THE DOG. 7 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



In every variety the dog is more or less endowed with a keen 

 sight, strong powers of smell, sagacity almost amounting to reason, 

 and considerable speed, so that he is admirably adapted for all pur- 

 poses connected with the pursuit of game. He is also furnished 

 with strong teeth, and courage enough to use them in defence of his 

 master, and with muscular power sufficient to enable him to draw 

 moderate weights, as we see in Kamtschatka and Newfoundland, 

 Hence, among the old writers, dogs were divided into Pugnaces, Sc- 

 gaces, and Celeres ; but this arrangement is now superseded, various 

 other systems having been adopted in modern times, though none 

 perhaps much more satisfactory. Belonging to the division Verte- 

 hrata, class Mammalia, order Fcrw, family Felidce, and sub- 

 family Canina, the species is known as Cani^i familiaris, the sub- 

 family being distinguished by having two tubercular teeth behind 

 the canines on the ujjper jaw, with non-retractile claws, while the 

 dog itself difi'ers from the fox with which he is grouped, in having 

 a round pupil in the eye instead of a perpendicular slit, as is seen 

 in that animal. 



The attempt made by Linnajus to distinguish the dog as having 

 a tail curved to the left, is evidently without any reliable founda- 

 tion, as though there are far more with the tail on that side than 

 on the right, yet many exceptions are to be met with, and among 

 the pugs almost all the bitches wear their tails curled to the left. 



