Chap. I THEIR PARENTAGE. 35 



amount of variation. The intercrossing of the several 

 aboriginal wild stocks, and of the subsequently formed races, 

 has prohably increased the total number of breeds, and, as 

 we shall presently see, has greatly modified some of them. 

 But we cannot explain by crossing the origin of such extreme 

 forms as thoroughbred greyhounds, bloodhounds, bulldogs, 

 Blenheim spaniels, terriers, pugs, &c., unless we believe that 

 forms equally or more strongly characterised in these different 

 respects once existed in nature. But hardly any one has 

 been bold enough to suppose that such unnatural forms ever 

 did or could exist in a wild state. When compared with all 

 known members of the family of Canidaj they betray a 

 distinct and abnormal origin. No instance is on record of 

 such dogs as bloodhounds, spaniels, true greyhounds having 

 been kept by savages : they are the product of long-continued 

 civilization. 



The number of breeds and sub-breeds of the dog is great ; Youatt 

 for instance, describes twelve kinds of greyhounds. I ■will not 

 attempt to enumerate or describe the varieties, for we cannot dis- 

 criminate how much of their difference is due to variation, and 

 how much to descent from different aboriginal stocks. But it may 

 be worth while briefly to mention some ix)ints. Commencing with 

 the skull, Cuvier has admitted^* that in form the differences are 

 " plus fortes que celles d'aucunes especes sauvages d'un meme 

 genre naturel." The proportions of the different bones ; the curva- 

 ture of the lower jaw, the i:)osition of the condyles with respect to 

 the plane of the teeth (on which F, Cutier founded his classification), 

 and in mastiffs the shape of its posterior branch ; the shape of the 

 zygomatic arch, and of the temporal fossae ; the position of the 

 occiput— all vary considerably.®^ The difference in size between 

 the brains of dogs belonging to large and small breeds " is some- 

 thing prodigious " " Some dogs' brains are high and rounded, 

 while others are low, long, and narrow in front." In the latter, 

 " the olfactory lobes are visible for about half their extent, when 

 the brain is seen from above, but they are wholly concealed by the 

 hemispheres in other breeds."®" The dog has properly six pairs of 

 molar teeth in the upper jaw, and seven in the lower ; but several 



'■• Quoted by I. Geoffroy, ' Hist. observations on the degeneracy of 



Nat. Gen.,' torn. iii. p. 453. the skull in certain breeds, by Prof. 



'^ F. Cuvier, in ' Annales du Bianconi, ' La Theorie Darwinienne,' 



Museum,' torn, xviii. p. 337 ; Godron, 1874, p. 279. 



'De I'Espece,' torn. i. p. 342; and • '" Dr. Burt Wilder, 'American 



Col. H. Smith, in 'Nat. Library,' Assoc. Advancement of Science,' 1873, 



vcl. ix. p. 101, See also some pp. 236, 239. 



C 2 



