AT.l.KN: 1M)(;S OF THK AMKHICAN AHOHICIN'KS. 4.S1 



giv(Mi to this breed, althon^^h lately it has l)een taken u|) by <1()>; fan- 

 ciers. Ix'Conte, in ISoli, calls it the Comanche Dofj, and says it is 

 common among the Indians of that tribe, but, " though some of these 

 dogs have l)een brought within the United States, we have no descrip- 

 tion of them."' Packard (ISSo) mentions seeing one in his \isit to 

 Mexico, but they were apparently uncommon. In a recent letter 

 from Mr. Arthur Stockdale, he states that in Mexico City they are 

 now considered somewhat of a rarity, though said to be common in 

 Chiiuiahua, where however, little attention is paid tiiem. 



There is some evidence that they do not breed readily with nonuaily 

 haired dogs, yet such crosses have been made, and curiously the result 

 seems to be that about 50% of the young are naked or practically so, 

 the other oO^t fully haired. Stockdale (1917) records such a litter 

 consisting of two puppies, one hairless, the other normal. Kohn 

 (1911) records a mating of a Hairless Dog with a Fox-terrier, the four 

 offspring of which comprised two naked and two completely-haired 

 dogs. His microscopic study of the skin of the Hairless Dog indicates 

 that its character is that of a young embryo's, whence it may l)e that 

 the hairless character is merely the retention of the embryonic condi- 

 tion, just as the short-nosed skull of the Japanese Lap-dog seems to 

 be a case of the retention of the embryonic proportions of the skull. 



As to the origin of this breed, it is most likely a variant of the larger 

 type of Indian Dog, in which the hairlessness is due to a retention of 

 the embryonic condition of the skin, precluding hair development, 

 just as the short-nosed breeds of dogs are the result of the failure of 

 the facial bones to attain full growth. 



I have unfortunately been unable to ol)tain skulls for comparison. 



Sm.\ll Ixdi.\x Dog or Techichi. 

 Plate 10. 



1788. Canis fainiliaris americanu-s Gmelin, Linnc's Syst. iiat.. ed. 13, 1, 



pt. 1, p. 66 (in part). 

 1792. Canis americanus -plancus Kerr, ,\mnial kingdom, 1, p. 136 (based on 



the Techichi of Hernandez). 



1840. ?Canis alco Hamilton Smith, .Jardine's Xat. library. Mammalia, 10, 

 p. 135, pi. 4, left-hand fig. 



1841. ?Canis familiariti cxiyennensis BlainviUe, Osteographie. Atlas, pi. 7'. 

 1867. Canis caraihaeus, hernandesii Fitzinger, Sitzb. K. akad. wiss., Wien, 



56. pt. 1, p. 498. 

 1882. ?Cams gibbvs Duges, La natm-aleza, 5, p. 14, fig. 1-3. 



