OF THE CLASS MAMMALIA. 



273 



some of their primitive savage habits. Some naturalists 

 are disposed to think that originally there may have been 

 several species of the dog, and others imagine the wolf or 

 jackal to be the origin of the domestic dog ; but when aban- 

 doned on desert isles, the dog never assumes the character of 

 either of these animals. The dogs of people but little civilized 

 have the ears erect, and hence it has been supposed that the 

 shepherd's dog, or wolf dog, is the origin of the domestic dog 

 of all varieties. 



The common wolf is readily distinguished from the dog by 

 the tail, which in the wolf is straight. The wolf has much 

 the air of the house dog (matin) ; but, unlike that animal, the 

 wolf leads a rather solitary life in the great forests, reuniting 

 in troops only when pressed with hunger. The wolf is agile, 

 adroit, strong, and well adapted for the pursuit, attack, and 

 conquest of his prey; nevertheless he is naturally slow and 

 cowardly, unless pressed by hunger ; he then attacks the 

 domestic animals under man's protection ; women and children, 

 and man himself, do not then escape his ferocity. 



The Chacal, the Loup dore, inhabiting the warm coun- 

 tries of Asia and Africa, more resemble in its habits the 

 domestic dog than the wolf: it may be tamed. 



Fig. 236. The Fox. 



The fox differs from the domestic dog by the form and 



greater length of the tail, which is tufted ; by the vertical 



form of the pupil during the day-time, and by the greater 



comparative size of the head. They are nocturnal, dig bur- 



T 



