NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG. 13 



naturalist. This faithful animal bore one separation from him 

 with difficulty. Another was attempted, but this was more than 

 he could bear : he pined himself to death, a martyr to his attach- 

 ment. 



Baron Cuvier's arrangement very properly excludes the hyaena 

 from the genus Canis, but it retains the other members of the Lin- 

 nsean arrangement. His canine generic characters are — three false 

 molars above, four below, and two tuberculous teeth behind each 

 carnivorous one. The first of these tuberculous teeth in the 

 upper row is very large. The upper carnivorous tooth has but a 

 single small tubercle within, but the lower one has its posterior 

 point altogether tuberculous. The canine tongue is soft. The 

 fore-feet have five toes, and the hinder four. 



The specific characters of the dog are — his curved tail, and his 

 numerous variations as to size, form, colour, and the quantity and 

 quality of the hair. The dog indeed may be said to be, altogether, 

 the most complete, the most varied, and the most useful conquest 

 ever made by man. Almost every variety of canidae has become 

 our property : each individual is altogether devoted to his master, 

 assumes his manners, knows and defends his property, and remains 

 attached to him until death ; all which appears to proceed neither 

 from fear nor hope of reward, but solely from genuine attachment. 

 The swiftness, the strength, and the powers of scent in the dog 

 have, indeed, created for man a powerful ally against other ani- 

 mals, whose encroachments he w^atches with a jealous eye. He, 

 in fact, is the only animal which has followed man through every 

 region of the earth. 



We have seen that some naturalists regard the dog as a species 

 of wolf, others as a fox, and some as a domesticated jackal, which 

 is evidently erroneous ; for such dogs as have become wild again 

 in desert islands do not resemble either of these species. The 

 truly wild dogs, and those also belonging to barbarous people, as 

 the inhabitants of New Holland, have straight ears, which would 

 lead us to the belief that the European races approximating most 

 to the original type are the dingo of New Holland, our shepherd's 



