480 iuli.ktin: miskim of (ompahativk zocilocy. 



al)(>ut fifty yiars ap)" (1S()0). Soinc otluT namr uiiist tlu'ivfore he 

 applii'tl to this wolf if it ever hv shown to Ik- distinct. 



The above accounts by Hernandez and ll)y Uecchi and Lynceus are 

 the basis of most of the earher references to the INIexican Hairless Dog. 

 Lesson, in 1S27, howe\er, redescribed it under the name caraihaniff, 

 and Omelin. earlier, 17SS, had considered it the same as the Turkish 

 or Kj;yptian Hairless Do};, under the name ('anls f. (lecjupiius; this 

 however, is a hairless variety of another breed. 



.Vo/r.v.— The fonner distribution of this remarkal)le dog is now 

 hardly traceable with certainty except in a general way, but it was 

 kept by the Mexicans of Chihuahua and southward, as well as by 

 the nati\"es of Peru, more especially those of the lower altitudes. 

 According to Seler (1890) the jNIexicans wrapped these, dogs in cloths 

 at night as a protection against cold. Some were not naturally 

 hairless, but Avere rubbed with turpentine from early youth, causing 

 the hair to fall out. On the other hand, dogs naturally hairless were 

 raised, as at the pueblos Teotlixco and Tocilan. The Zapotec and 

 ^laya langiuiges ha\e separate words for the hairless dog. The term 

 xohHicuinill is said to signify the monstrous dog. Patrick Browne 

 (1789. p. 48(5) Avriting of the natural history of Jamaica, mentions the 

 Indian dog as " Canis pilis carens, minor," a creature "frequent 

 among the Jcics and //ryrw.v" in that island; he describes it as "gen- 

 erally about the size of a cur-dog with a rough skin, which looks like 

 the hide of a hog." There is nothing to indicate, however, that the 

 breed was common in the West Indies. 



In Peru, Tschudi (1844, p. 249) observed this dog mainly on the 

 coast, since its lack of a hairy coat made it unable to withstand the 

 cold of the higher altitudes of the interior except in the warm valleys, 

 and then only if carefully protected. He describes it as slaty gray 

 or reddish gray, sometimes spotted, and says it is voiceless. He is 

 probably mistaken, however, in supposing these were the dogs found 

 by Columbus among the Lucayans. Nearly twcnt\- years previously, 

 Lesson had seen the Hairless Dog in numl)ers at Payta, Peru. 



According to Rengger (1830), a hairless dog, possibly identical with 

 the Mexican Hairless Dog, was indigenous among the Indians of 

 Paraguay, who had a special word — i/(i(juci — for it. He describes it 

 as haxing a relatively small head, pointed snout, ears erect or only 

 their tips drooping forward, rump fat, extremities fine, tail spindle- 

 sha])((l anfl usually drooping. Some individuals do not bark, but 

 howl only. 



During the last hundred years, little attention seems to have l)een 



