720 DR. J. MURIE ON THE INDIAN WILD DOG. [June 4, 



osteologically as distinctive of a type. Capt. Gildea's specimen, 

 save being a trifle smaller, resembles closely the crania of the Ne- 

 palese and Siberian Wild Dogs. 



Reverting for a moment to the literature and original descriptions, 

 Major-General Hardwicke's* claims priority. Now his account of 

 the Sumatran Wild Dog answers very well indeed to that of the 

 subject of our sketch, but there is a decided want of life-like cha- 

 racter in his drawing, which detracts from the physiognomy of the 

 animal. The remarks upon its colour, habits, voice, eyes, ears, and 

 tail are a perfect counterpart of Capt. Gildea's animals. 



Although Col. Sykesf compares bis " Kolsun," or Dukhun ani- 

 mal, to "a coarse ill-natured Persian Greyhound, without any re- 

 semblance to the Jackal, the Fox, or the Wolf, and in consequence 

 essentially distinct from the Canis quao or sumatrensis," yet his 

 points do not lead me to infer much difference other than a shade 

 lighter hue of the hair on the underparts. Pallas's| reference to 

 C. alpinus shows a stronger-bodied, paler-coloured, and shaggier- 

 haired Dog. Lastly, Hodgson's§ "Buansu" is precisely an inter- 

 mixture of the foregoing both as to size, colour, &c. He observes, 

 however, that it hunts in packs, following the prey by smell, and at 

 such times barking in a peculiar manner. 



In looking over the stuffed skins in the British Museum, it is ap- 

 apparent that between the southern and northern forms there is a 

 gradation of hue and dimensions. The tint of the pelage in the 

 former is ruddy, and in the latter a sandy mixture, — white on the 

 underparts and lengthening of hair keeping pace with the latitude 

 north. 



The question resolves itself into this — Are these varieties to be 

 regarded as specifically distinct? Now, I am aware that entomo- 

 logists and ornithologists every day are piling a literature of new 

 species upon exterior shades of difference occasionally less marked 

 than in the foregoing ; and were mammalogists to follow the same 

 course an endless multiplication of specific forms would ensue. 

 Against this phase of zoological science I am one of those that pro- 

 test. Are we to consider, for example, the Tiger a different animal 

 because the density of its coat varies when inhabiting the torrid 

 jungle of Hiudostan and the verge of the snowy line in Amoorland ? 

 A thickening and lengthening of hair is apparent even after being 

 but a couple of years in the comparatively mild climate of Britain, 

 as my friend Mr. Bartlett avers. Size is no infallible standard ; and 

 pallor of tint we know increases the more northern the clime. 



The genus Cuon I regard but as possessing one species and, geo- 

 graphically, it may be, four varieties. The young in all are light- 

 coloured. 



As to what ought to be the trivial or specific name, Hardwicke's 

 appellation is the earlier one ; but unfortunately both it and Pallas's 



* Trans. Linn. Soc. 1822, vol. xiii. p. 235. 



t P. Z. S. 1831, p. 100. 



\ Zoog. Posso-Asiatica. vol. i. p. 34 (St. Petersburg, 1831). 



§ Asiat. Research, vol. xviii. p. 221, and P. Z. S. 1833. p. 111. 



