CARNIVORA. 



539 



day as a domesticated animal. Such wild dogs as there are, 

 are probably merely derived from the domestic dog ; and the 

 original stock, or stocks, from which our numerous varieties of 

 dogs have sprung, is still uncertain. It is worth while remem- 

 bering, however, all our varieties of dogs are capable of inter- 



Fig. 206. Skull of Jackal (Canis aureus). 



breeding ; and there is a strong probability that the Wolf is the 

 parent stock of at least some of our domestic breeds. The 

 Dog, in fact, will interbreed with both the Wolf and the Jackal. 



The genus Canis, besides the Dog, contains the well-known 

 Jackal ( Canis aureus), and the Wolf ( Canis lupus), and many 

 writers place the Foxes in the same genus. The Foxes, how- 

 ever, are better considered as forming a separate genus ( Vulpes\ 

 of which there are many species, all more or less like the com- 

 mon Fox (Vulpes vulgar is). One of the most remarkable 

 species is the Arctic Fox, which abounds in the Arctic regions, 

 and changes its colour with the season, being brown in sum- 

 mer and white in winter. 



The last group of the Digitigrada is that of the Felidce or 

 Cat tribe, comprising the most typical members of the whole 

 order of the Carnivora, such as the Lions, Tigers, Leopards, 

 Cat, and Panthers. The members of this family all walk upon 

 the tips of their toes, the soles of the feet being hairy, and the 

 whole of the metacarpus and heel being raised above the 

 ground (fig. 203, C). The jaws are short, and, owing to this 

 fact, and to the great size of the muscles concerned in masti- 

 cation, the head assumes a short and rounded form, with an 

 abbreviated and rounded muzzle. The molars and prasmolars 

 are fewer in number than in any other of the Carnivora (hence 

 the shortness of the jaws), and they are all trenchant, except 

 the last molar in the upper jaw, which is tuberculate. Accord- 

 ing to Owen, the dental formula is 



i 3=3;,!=';^ 3=3 ; w 1=1^30. 

 3 3 i i ' 2 2 i i 



