ALLEN: DOGS OF THE AMEKKAN ABOUIOINES. 441 



occiipiiMl \)\ the groups of tribes iimongst which they were found. 

 In the following pages an attempt is made to (h'fine such of these 

 breeds as seem to he indicated l)y tlie fragmentar\ accounts of 

 travellers as well as l)y the study of what skeletal remains have been 

 available. No doubt the number of breeds recognized is subject to 

 revision, for it has been found difficult to detennine with any approach 

 to certainty in some cases, what external and skeletal characters are 

 to be associated, and in how far certain supposed breeds are mongrel 

 or relatively pure. Again, the skeletal characters may frequently fail 

 to give any clue to external traits that would l)e distinctive. More- 

 over, while the tenii "breed" is applied to these locally distinct forms 

 of dogs, it is not assumed that the American nati\es made any con- 

 scious effort to change or keep constant the traits of their dogs; 

 possibly some of the variations are merely the result of a certain 

 mongrel mating, going on quite independent of human intent, so that, 

 as in case of the Peruvian Pug-nosed Dog, the variation cropped out 

 only occasionally and may or may not have been purposely preser\^ed. 

 Nomenclature. — The bestowal of Latin names upon the different 

 breeds of dogs recognized has here been purposely avoided, as it 

 seems unwise to extend to such artificial variations the systematic 

 recognition accorded natural species and subspecies. Nevertheless, 

 Latin names or Greek letters have been used by other writers to indi- 

 cate domestic breeds, and such names have been applied in many 

 ways: — as trinomials, quadrinomials, or quinquenomials; some- 

 times separated from the binomial, Canis familiaris, by a comma or 

 the abbreviation " var.," or otherwise used in such a way as to cause 

 doubt as to their technical standing in systematic nomenclature. 

 Some names of dogs have been erected in a strictly binomial fashion 

 and if accorded standing, conflict with other names. Thus Riiti- 

 meyer's Canis palustris (1863) of the Lake-dwellings is preoccupied 

 by von Meyer's Canis (= Galecynus) palustris (1843). The name 

 Canis viexicanus currently used for the Mexican Wolf proves to apply 

 to the Mexican Hairless Dog only. Hodgson's Canis laniger (1845) 

 for a Thibetan Wolf is preoccupied by Hamilton Smith's Canis laniger 

 (1840) for the Nootka Sound Dog. Other cases might be added. 

 The practice of using standard English (or vulgar) names for all arti- 

 ficial breeds is therefore to be recommended. With the descriptions 

 following, a list of Latin names applied by previous writers is given 

 under each breed. 



