ORIGIN OF THE DOG. 19 



variety of color, and marking. Of these, two very remarkable 

 ones are the Dhole of India, and the Dingo of Australia. There is, 

 besides, a half -reclaimed race amongst the Indians of North Ameri- 

 ca, and another, also partially tamed in South America, which de- 

 serve attention. And it is found that these races in different de- 

 grees, and in a greater degree as they are more wild, exhibit the 

 lank and gaunt form, the lengthened limbs, the long and slender 

 mu/zle, and the great comparative strength which characterize the 

 woif ; and that the tail of the Australian dog, which may be con 

 sidered as the most remote from a state of domestication, assumes 

 the slightly bushy form of that animal. 



" We have here a remarkable approximation to a well-known 

 wild animal of the same genus, in races which, though doubtless 

 descended from domesticated ancestors, have gradually assumed 

 the wild condition ; and it is worthy of especial remark that the 

 anatomy of the wolf, and its osteology in particular, does not differ 

 from that of the dog in general, more than the different kinds of 

 dogs do from each other. The cranium is absolutely similar, and 

 so are all, or nearly all, the other essential parts ; and, to strengthen 

 still further the probability of their identity, the dog and wolf will 

 readily breed together, and their progeny is fertile. The obliquity 

 of the position of the eyes in the wolf is one of the characters in 

 which it differs from the dog ; and, although it is very desirable 

 not to rest too much upon the effects of habit on structure, it is 

 not perhaps straining the point to attribute the forward direction 

 of the eyes in the dog to the constant habit, for many successive 

 generations, of looking forward to his master, and obeying his 

 voice."* 



Such is the state of the argument in favor of the original de- 

 scent from the wolf, but, as far as it is founded upon the breeding 

 together of the wolf and dog, it applies also to the fox, which is 

 now ascertained occasionally to be impregnated by the dog ; but in 

 neither case we believe does the progeny continue to be fertile if 

 put to one of the same cross, and as this is now ascertained to be 

 the only reliable test, the existence of the first cross stands for 



* Bell's British Quadrupeds, pp. 196-7. 



