NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG. 21 



tility of offspring, I would beg my zoological readers to ob. 

 serve, that it will not prove identity of species, but merely a 

 dose alliance, unless, indeed, when that fertility exists, inter 

 se, between the hybrids themselves ; that the wolf and dog, 

 jackal and dog, fox and dog, will, if proper pains be taken, 

 breed together, I know, for I have proved it ; but I also know 

 that, unless in the case of the wolf and fox, the progeny are 

 sterile ; and also that even in those cases, although capable 

 of reproducing with either dog, fox, or wolf, they are not ca- 

 pable of doing so inter se; this is ai. important fact, and one 

 that I have not yet seen noticed. 



I might adduce further facts in support of my objections to 

 this Lupine or Vulpine theory, but I feel that I have refuted 

 it sufficiently ; and in the language of the bar, I say, " Our 

 case rests here." 



I now come to another theory, which has been embraced 

 and supported with equal, if not greater ardor, viz. that all 

 the known varieties of dog have taken their origin from one 

 originally created variety, and that one the shepherd's dog. 



Many naturalists, and these natives of different countries, 

 have advanced this theory, and still they have all employed 

 the one designation in indicating their favorite type, viz.- 

 the shepherd's dog. I must here first take the liberty of in- 

 quiring, what shepherd's dog ? for shepherds' dogs differ most 

 materially from each other. Bjiffon as any gallant French- 

 man would stood up for the originality of the matin, or shep- 

 herd's dog of his own country. Later writers, all copying 

 more or less from him, have adhered to the theory of the 

 sheep-dog origin, while they have forgotten the difference 

 which exists between their own national sheep-dogs, and those 

 indicated by Buffbn. Truly there exists but little similitude 

 between the tailless, woolly-looking animal, the sheep-dog of 

 England ; the fox-like colley of Scotland ; the gaunt and 

 short-haired cur of Ireland ; the matin of Buffon ; the noble, 

 stately, and powerful sheep-dog of the Pyrenees, the guardian 

 of the flocks of the Abruzzi ; the gigantic mastiffs, the herd- 

 dogs of the Himalaya mountains ; and, in short, between va- 

 rious other sorts of sheep-dog, used foi tending flocks in as 

 various portions of the known world. Shall we assume the 

 original type to have been the sheep-dog or matin of France, 

 or the more graceful colley of Scotland ? Are we to believe 

 that a brace of either of these dogs were the progenitors of the 

 entire canine race ? Did the gigantic boar-dog the noble 

 Newfoundland the courageous and powerful mastiff the 



