INTRODUCTION. 87 
We may therefore commence our remarks by 
observing that dogs are found in every quarter of 
the globe, wherever man resides or has penetrated ; 
and ask whether, in the present state of our infor- 
mation, we can assert with safety that the common 
wolf (Canis lupus, auctor.) is to be found south 
of the equator? That there are representatives of 
wolves or wild dogs beyond the Crishna in India, 
in the Australian islands, and in South America, is 
not the question ; but so far as personal observation 
went, we have not met with the wolf of the western 
hemisphere to the south of the equator, nor are 
they known in South Africa. Next, it may be 
added, that as there are confessedly several species 
of wolf in North America, and probably also in 
the northern part of the Old World, are these 
species likewise derived from the C. dupus, or are 
they originally distinct? And if so, are they ex- 
cluded from the probability of being also in part a 
source whence domestic dogs are derived? If we 
assert the several species of wolf in the northern 
hemisphere to be mere varieties, are we sufficiently 
well informed to infer that the wild canines of South 
America, India, Australia, Java, and Sumatra, and 
the black Derboun of Arabia and Tokla of Abyssinia, 
are also of the same origin? Again:—there are 
several species of foxes on the old and new conti- 
nents,—species that no zoologist will venture to 
declare of identical origin; and are we sure that 
their gestation is of sufficient difference not to per- 
mit them to breed a prolific offspring ? 
