510 DR. J. E. GUAY ON THE CANID^. fJ^^^^ 25, 



The Domestic Dog presents three distinct forms of ears. Some, 

 us the Spitz Dog, have short ovate, erect, hairy ears ; others, like the 

 Greyhound, have elongated ears that are folded together, bent back- 

 ward on the sides of the head ; while the Hound and Spaniels 

 have broad ears bent down on the sides of the head. When the 

 varieties with different forms of ears are bred together, intermediate 

 forms may be observed. 



The tail, in most varieties, is elongated, tapering at the end ; it is 

 often more or less curved, and sometimes closely sj)irally bent. 

 But the tails of many Domestic Dogs are cut ; and some few breeds 

 are said to be born tailless. But I have never seen any examjiles of 

 the latter. 



Varieties which are very distinct in their external form, length 

 and kind of hair, and colour, have skulls so alike that they are not 

 to be distinguished by any appreciable character. Thus it is im- 

 possible to distinguish tlie skull of a Terrier from that of a Spaniel, 

 or either of these from that of the Pariah Dog of India, or the 

 " Mongrel Cur" as it is called in England. 



Some of the figured and named varieties, as the Lion-Dog (Chien- 

 liun, Buffon, v. t. 40. f. 2 ; Canis familians leoninus, Gmelin), are 

 described from Dogs that had been artificially prepared ; and of some, 

 as the Prick-Eared Dog, the ears had been artificially clipped ; and 

 the same is the case with some of the short-tailed Dogs. 



If the varieties of Dog are stumbHng- blocks to the systematic 

 zoologist, which some say they are (for what reason I cannot con- 

 ceive), they are never mistaken by their wild allies. It is true that 

 a Wolf will breed with a female Dog, but so will a wild Pheasant 

 with a domestic hen. The system of improving the breed of do- 

 mestic animals by breeding and weeding seems to have been coex- 

 istent with human civilization ; and to keep up the good breeds it 

 is as necessai-y to be carefully attended to now as in the earliest 

 period, showing that the varieties produced have no tendency to 

 become perpetual. 



The varieties of the Dog, like the varieties of Oxen, Sheep, Pigs, 

 Poultry, and Pigeons, are limited ; and the limits seem to have been 

 early discovered, as most, if not all, of the varieties now existing 

 seem to have been known in the earliest historical period, and even 

 anterior to it. 



How any one can think that the differences between varieties of 

 domestic animals are such as zoologists would use to distinguish 

 genera and species, is a mystery that I cannot understand ; and 

 tlie theory that the variation produced by breeding and weeding, 

 or selection as it is called, is to be regarded as the origin of the dif- 

 ference between natural species, is more astonishing, and can only 

 have arisen for want of careful study of the subject. There are some 

 minds so constituted, even among the well educated, who believe 

 in animal magnetism, metallic tactors, table-turning, phrenology, 

 spiritualism, mesmerism, the great pyramid, natural selection, and 

 mimicry of animals — and some even two or more of these theories in 

 succession, or at the same time. 



