264 THE A L C O. 



rated by the circumftance of this animal's having 

 no American name : Fernandes gives it the bor- 

 rowed one of Xo/oitzcuintli, which is the, name 

 of the Mexican wolf. Thus, of thefe three 

 fpecies or varieties of American dogs, there re- 

 main only two, which are called indifcriminate- ^ 

 ly al'co; for, independent of the fat alco, which j 

 ferved as a lap-dog to the Peruvian ladies, there 

 was a meagre and melancholy alco, which was 

 employed in the chafe ; and, it is by no means 

 impofhble, that the three races, apparently diffe- 

 rent from thofe of our dogs, fpring from the 

 fame flock. The dogs of Lapland, Siberia, Ice- i 

 land, &c. muft have paflTed, like the foxes and 

 wolves, from the one Continent to the other, 

 and degenerated by the influence of the climate 

 and a domeftic ftate. The firft alco, w'nh the 

 Ihort neck, approaches the Iceland dog; and 

 the tefhichi of New Spain is, pejhaps, the fime 

 animal with the koupara*, or crab-dog of Gui- 

 ana, which in figure refembles the fox, and in 

 hair the jackal. He has been called the crab-dog, 

 becaufe he chiefly lives upon crabs and other 

 cruftaceous animals, i have feen only one Ikiii 

 of this Guiana animal j and i am unable to de- 

 termine vvl'iCther it is a particular fpecies, or 

 whether it ihould be referred ta thole of the 



dog, fox, or jackal. 



XV. 



* Canus ferus, major, cancrofus, vulgo diflus kciifara ; 

 Sarrhe-, iranc. Equin. p. I ^■j. 



