. 48 Hybridity in Animals. - 
vent them. 'T'o obviate this fault, these wolves were crossed by 
the common dog ; giving rise to amixed breed, that combined the 
keener instinct of the wolf with the greater docility of the dog. 
Should these hybrids reproduce among themselves, or with either 
of the parental sources, how completely will the history of these 
animals illustrate the origin of the dog tribe, its primitive domes- 
tication, the crosses between different ies, and the varieties 
that must have followed from such intermixture? I hope yet to 
be able to lay before the reader all the facts of this singular his- 
tory. : i 
African,* and the English pig, and finds that while they agree in 
the number of cervical vertebrae, (as indeed all quadrupeds do, ) 
there is a remarkable, difference in each of the other classes of 
these bones. _We have not space for details, except to observe 
that the dorsal vertebree vary from thirteen to fifteen, the lumbar 
- from four to six, and the caudal from thirteen to twenty. Now, 
as far as time and circumstances had allowed the experiment to 
proceed, these several animals bred freely with each other, and 
in the instance of the Chinese pig, the offspring is unquestionably 
fruitful. 
Mr. Eyton very justly remarks, that the above three pigs must 
be considered as distinct species, or osteological characters can. no 
longer be received as criteria of species; and Hamilton Smith 
has arrived at the conclusion, that» there were three if not 
_ original species, endued with powers of unlimited repro- 
uction. : ; rs ‘ 
Feline Hybrids.—These. animals, at least the domestic varie- 
ties, had long been regarded as of one species ; but modern re- 
searches have established that the blue or Chartreuse cat, origin- 
ally belonged to a distinct feline group; the Bengal cat of Pen- 
t. 
* The Sus ethiopicus has even been removed to a separate genus by Cuvier— 
eres. See P. Eliani in Ruppell, Atlas zu der Reise in Nord-Afrika, p.61. 
+ Hamilton Smith, Equide, p. 339. Sania 
