THE DOG FAMILY 145 



tetradactyla), Plate X. Fig. i, pops in and out of its holes in 

 the South African veldt like magic ; while the Cynogale 

 (Cynogale bennetti), an animal of Malaysia, has webbed feet 

 and very much the same habits as the otter. 



FAMILY CANID.E (DOGS). 



Under the general title of Dogs are included not only 

 the Dog proper, wild and domesticated, but also the wolf, 

 jackal, and fox, each of which constitutes a more or less 

 natural division among the many species that make up 

 the family. The Dogs are more widely spread than any 

 of the foregoing Carnivora, and in those that are to follow 

 they are second in this respect only to the weasels. 



The Dogs, with one exception, have five toes on the fore 

 feet and four on 

 the hind, to which 

 latter a small rudi- 

 mentary claw is 

 sometimes added. 

 The blunt claws 

 with which the toes 

 are furnished are 

 not retractile. In 

 gait they are all 

 Digitigrades. The 

 paw of a dog is not 

 the perfect weapon 

 of a cat, and hence 

 a dog always attacks at once with its teeth, never begin- 

 ning with a blow of the paw. 



It is easy to distinguish the Dogs from the cat tribe 

 by their elongated muzzle, and with few exceptions their 

 larger number of teeth, viz., forty-two instead of thirty, 

 the extra teeth consisting of six each additional premolars 

 and molars. Their strength of jaw is very great. The 

 senses of smell, sight, and hearing are very acute. Except 

 in the fox the pupil of the eye is round and not elongated 

 as in the cat. When tired by exertion a Dog pants and 

 lolls out its tongue, through which organ it perspires. 



n 



SKULL OF THE DOMESTIC DOG. 

 (One-fourth natural size.) 



