DOGS, POXES. 387 



single one of the feral forms now living, as the wolf or jackal, or 

 in several such forms as are denominated wild-dogs, or in the union 

 of both, still remains to be determined. The researches of Nehring 

 seem to indicate that a race of wild-dogs, akin to the existing do- 

 mestic one, inhabited a considerable part of Central Europe during 

 prehistoric times. Various forms of wild-dog, as the dhole and 

 buansuah (sub-genus Cuon), range over the greater part of Asia, 

 from Siberia to Java and Sumatra, where they in great measure 

 replace the wolf of the more strictly northern regions. The last 

 (Canis lupus) is found throughout the whole of Europe and North- 

 ern Asia, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and also in Nova Zembla 

 and Japan. There can be little quesfion as to the identity with 

 this form of the corresponding American species (Canis occiden- 

 talis), which, in its numerous varieties, covers the entire North 

 American continent, from Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. The coy- 

 ote, or American prairie-wolf, is by some authors considered to be 

 intermediate between the wolf and fox. South America is wholly 

 deficient in wolves, as in foxes, their place being taken by the fox- 

 like forms which have been referred to the groups Lycalopex, 

 Pseudalopex, and Thous. The most broadly distributed of these 

 is Azara's dog (C. Azarse), which ranges over the greater part of 

 Brazil, and southward to Patagonia. The most southerly species 

 of the family is the Antarctic dog (C. Magellanicus), which inhab- 

 its Chili, Patagonia, and Tierra del Puego. Of the remaining 

 lupine forms the most widely distributed are the jackals, of which 

 several species are recognised, whose combined ranges embrace the 

 whole of Africa and much of Southern and Western Asia. 



The vulpine section of the Canidse includes the fennecs and foxes, 

 the former all African, the latter — with ten to fifteen species — 

 spread over the whole of North America and Europe, and largely 

 also over Asia and Africa. There can be no question (as in the 

 case of the wolves) that several of the forms that have generally 

 been recognised as distinct species are in reality only varietal types, 

 whose inter-relationship is made manifest when full geographical 

 suites are made use of for comparison. The identity between the 

 common European fox (C. vulpes) and the American red-fox (C. 

 fulvus) may be considered as established. Recognised as one 

 species, the habitat of the common fox of the Northern Hemisphere 

 may be said. to embrace the whole of Europe, North Africa, North 



