SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 671 



For this purpose they were kept in all the ancient fortresses, 

 as they still are in the countries of the East. The Romans, 

 every year, with characteristic brutality, whipped a dog to 

 death, in memory of an event, which probably never hap- 

 pened, the saving of their Capitol by the cackling of geese, 

 while the dogs slept at their posts. 



The names applied to the Dog differ so much in the various 

 languages of Asia and Europe, that no relation can be traced 

 between most of the designations ; and yet there are cases 

 of widely- spread languages, in which we can trace a com- 

 mon root in names applied to the animal. He is the Ci and 

 Gu, pronounced Ki and Ku, of the Celtic Britons, the Kubb 

 of the Arabs, the xvuv of the Greeks, the Canis of the Latins ; 

 terms, again, which are found in innumerable derivatives ap- 

 plied to countries, tribes, nations, and divinities. The Eng- 

 lish term Dog is derived from the German Dogge; but the 

 Dog is properly the Hund of the Germans, whence the Anglo- 

 Saxon Hounde, and the English Hound. 



The female of the dog goes with young sixty-three days, 

 but with a slight variation within this period, dependent 

 upon temperament and race. She sometimes receives, when 

 in heat, more than one male, and it has been supposed that 

 puppies resembling the different males have been produced 

 in the same litter ; which may perhaps be ascribed to the 

 tendency observed in the female of the Dog as well as of 

 some other animals, even the Mare, to reproduce in their 

 subsequent offspring animals resembling the previous ones. 

 The female of the Dog, when she is not under restraint, 

 makes selection of her mate, the mastiff selecting the mastiff, 

 the terrier the terrier, and so on. The puppies are born 

 with the eyelids closed by a membrane, which divides about 

 the tenth day. The mother nourishes her young with un- 

 ceasing fondness, and, when they have acquired sufficient 

 strength, leads them forth, and teaches them to chase, to 

 worry, and usually the habits proper to her peculiar race. 

 She gradually weans them by refusing to yield them milk. 



