'm-* 



136 



THE DOG TRIBE. 



likewise have a peculiar gamy smell, often 

 sufficiently penetrating, and all the more per- 

 sistent since this family exhibit none of the 

 cleanly instincts for which the cat tribe are 

 remarkable. 



None of the Canida are tree- climbers. 

 They hunt down their prey by the rapidity 

 of their course in the open ground. Only 

 seldom do they resort to stratagem. Some 

 species crouch and crawl so as to approach 

 their prey, and have even acquired a certain 

 reputation on account of the "thousand tricks" 

 by which they outwit their victims, but in 

 general the Canida make after their game in 

 full chase. 



The Canida are very prolific. Half a dozen 

 young at a birth is the average, and this 

 average may be considerably exceeded. The 

 young come into the world with closed eyes, 

 and are mostly tended by the mother alone, 

 which for a long time watches over them 

 with the utmost solicitude, and is often 

 even compelled to defend them against the 

 father. 



Though it cannot be denied that the wild 

 Canida have a pretty highly developed in- 

 telligence, yet we should not overestimate 

 their capacities, which do not surpass those 

 of the other Carnivora. Neither in the chase 

 nor in their modes of defending themselves 

 against enemies do they exhibit any very 

 high endowments. We should be careful 

 not to ascribe to the wild species qualities 

 which the domesticated dogs have acquired 

 by centuries of intercourse with man. A 

 weasel is not less sly and cunning than a fox, 

 which yet passes in fable for the master of 

 all sorts of wily tricks, and the wild cats are 

 just as astute as foxes in concerting plans of 

 attack, in which they weigh all the difficulties 

 of an enterprise, and take the probabilities of 

 success into consideration. If we leave out 

 of account the training given by man, the 

 effiicts of which have been inherited and 

 further and further developed for numberless 

 generations, then we can see in the dog only 



a social carnivore, which has intelligence 

 enough for its business as a hunter in the 

 open field, but no more. 



What makes up for all the bad qualities of 

 the dog in the eyes of man is the readiness 

 with which several species of this family have 

 abandoned their liberty in order to place 

 themselves entirely under his rule. This is 

 certainly a very remarkable trait of character, 

 and all the more so since it has been found 

 in several species natives of widely different 

 countries. But precisely in this fact we see 

 a striking proof of that which we have said 

 about the wild Canida, for the domesticated 

 dogs have, as regards their intelligence, 

 neither more nor less than man has put Into 

 them. 



The family of the Canida is very numerous, 

 and the species are all the more varied in 

 character since the family is distributed over 

 a vast geographical area. Founding on the 

 essential differences in the structure of the 

 teeth and feet we may distinguish four genera: 

 the Dogs Proper, forming the genus Canis, 

 with 42 teeth ; the genus Cyon,' with 40 teeth; 

 the genus Otocyon, with 48. These three 

 genera have all five toes on the fore- and 

 four on the hind-feet. Lastly, the Cape Hunt- 

 ing Dogs, forming the genus Lycaon, which 

 have only four toes on all the feet, while their 

 dentition does not differ from that of the dogs 

 proper. 



Since these latter are the most numerous, 

 several subgenera have been distinguished, 

 but these cannot be regarded as well estab- 

 lished. The subdivision into wolves, with 

 a round pupil, and foxes with a vertical slit 

 for the pupil, is still that which is most 

 generally accepted. It must be admitted, 

 however, that there are connecting links 

 between the two extremes as regards the 

 form of the pupil. 



' The smaller number of teeth in the genus Cyon or Cuon (called 

 by some naturalists Chryseus) is due to the absence of the second 

 tubercled tooth on each side of the lower jaw. To this genus 

 belong the kholsun or dhole of Western India (Cfon diikhueiisis), 

 and the buansuah of Northern India {Cuon pritmcvus). — Tr. 



