134 



CANTO JB. 



CARNIVORA. 



CANIDJE 



Fig. 51. 



Fossil, nat. size, Kent's Hole. 



VULPES VULGARIS. Common Fox. 



Renard fossile, 



Canis speleeus minor. 

 Fox, 



CUVIER, Ann. du Mus. ix. p. 435 ; Ossem. Foss. iv. 



p. 461. 



WAGNER, Kast. Archiv. fur Natur, xv. p. 17. 

 BUCKLAND, Reliquiae Diluvianse, p. 15. 

 OWEN, Report of British Association, 1842. 



IN entering upon the consideration of the fossil remains 

 of a species of Canida of the size of the Fox, we cease to 

 encounter those difficulties which beset the investigation of 

 the fossils of the larger species, discussed in the preceding 

 sections. 



No Naturalist or Comparative Anatomist has ever had 

 recourse to the Fox for the primary source of any of the 

 domestic races of Dogs, and their specific identity has never 

 been maintained. The varieties of Dog which have dege- 

 nerated to the size of the Fox usually exhibit, in an exag- 

 gerated degree, those characters which distinguish the skele- 

 ton of the Dog from that of the Fox. The known wild 



