THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE DOG 3 



than others. Yery few would now hold to a theory — at 

 one time more acceptable — that all the principal varieties 

 of dogs were derived from a distinct wild ancestral 

 species. 



In favor of the view that the dogs of the present and 

 the past historical period were derived from several, or, 

 at all events, more than one wild species, may be men- 

 tioned the following : 



1. The great difference, especially in form, of the dif- 

 ferent breeds of dogs. 



2. At the most anciently-known historical period sev- 

 eral breeds existed resembhng wild breeds then living. 



Breeds of dogs allied to greyhounds are figured on 

 Egyptian monuments between 3400 b. c. and 2100 b. c, 

 though there is evidence that besides these breeds there 

 were, thousands of years before our time, pariah dogs, 

 greyhounds, other hounds, house-dogs, mastiffs, lap-dogs, 

 turnspits, etc., which bear no small resemblance to the 

 breeds of the present day ; but there is not evidence to 

 prove that these subvarieties are identical with those of 

 the present time. But long before the historical period 

 in Europe there is evidence that man possessed the dog. 

 The resemblance of dogs, in different parts of the world, 

 to wild species of animals, is suggestive of a multiple 

 origin — i. e., an origin from several wild stocks. Con- 

 sidering man's sociable nature, the tendency of many wild 

 species resembling our dogs to hunt in packs — which 

 animals are more readily tamed — the attempt to tame the 

 young of such species can be readily understood, and its 

 success would be followed by fresh attempts as soon as it 

 was perceived how useful they might be in the chase, 



