prince's selfishness. 339 



that it was our own little pet that had wandered 

 away, and had been lost. This predilection was not 

 induced by any sexual instinct, because this dog was 

 also a male. This is a remarkable evidence of the 

 disposition among animals, when they have become 

 divided into races, to form companionship only with 

 their own allied breeds, and to propagate with them. 

 — ' The wild animal, preserving the same habits, 

 nourished by the same food, sometimes in scarcity, 

 and sometimes in abundance, and exposed to the 

 vicissitudes of the seasons, assumes little variety 

 which may not easily be traced to the operation of 

 these causes ; the same soil, climate, and subsistence 

 continue to produce a similar race.'* Domestication, 

 when it has established a peculiar character, main- 

 tains a preference for it, and by conformity to this 

 preference removes a tendency to new varieties, until 

 altered circumstances give rise to other qualities and 

 modifications, when a new breed arises, and maintains 

 its own uniformity by an adherence to the same pre- 

 ferences, and consimilarities. 



*' Prince's jealousy and selfishness leads him to eat 

 up greedily anything he is disposed to refuse, if our 

 other dog, Spot, be called to take it. This begrudg- 

 ing temper is very amusingly turned to account when 

 we wish to force upon him medicine. If he is dis- 

 posed to reject the food with which it is mixed, a 

 call made for the other dog to come and take it, im- 

 mediately induces him to swallow it hastily, to gratify 

 his splenetic temper; but if anything be given to the 

 other dog first, when he has been waiting or begging 



* Dr. J. Bird Sumner on the Records of Creation. Appendix, No. ii. 

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