THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
of Solomon” had it in mind when he sang of ‘‘the foxes, the 
little foxes that spoil the vines.” 
None of this fox group seems to have had any part in the 
composition of the domestic dog. Foxes do not tame well, 
nor are they likely, or apparently able, to cross with dogs, for 
none of the few alleged instances of hybrids seems trustworthy. 
On the contrary, various wolves and jackals not only may 
cross in their wild state, but all produce fertile offspring when 
mated with any race of domestic dogs. 
Bears, Raccoons, and Coon-Bears 
In tracing the ancestry of the Canide, mention was made of 
the Miocene fossil genus Amphicyon as combining with canine 
features those later to become characteristic of the bear family 
(Urside). This genus and related forms, such as Hemicyon, 
and Hyeenarctus, so completely fill the gap, structurally speak- 
ing, between modern bears and dogs, that it is plain that the 
ursine line developed from among them. 
One of the more prominent of the later ancestors was Arctotherium, — 
the genus of the arctotheres, — which seems to have originated in southern 
South America, where it was a contemporary of the saber-toothed tiger, 
megatherium, and those other huge animals of the Pleistocene which made 
the fauna of the Pampas of that time so remarkable. It had a great broad 
head, short, snub-nosed muzzle, and sharper, more doglike teeth than 
bears, showing that it was more carnivorous. Toward the end of the 
Pleistocene one species, probably a migrant from the South, dwelt in Cali- 
fornia, and is described by Cope”* as “the most powerful carnivorous 
mammal which has lived on our continent” ;. it was as big as a grizzly, had 
a face like a bulldog, and died out with the disappearance of the huge, slow 
creatures on which it preyed, more by main strength, I guess, than by any 
exercise of activity or intelligence. 
The nearest existing representative of these ancient forms 
is the little-known A&luropus of eastern Tibet, —a_ bulky, 
broad-faced, vegetable-eating, bearlike creature, grayish white 
except the legs, shoulders, cars, and rings around the eyes, 
210 
