38 TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



horses, goats, deer, etc.), which it tears open with one bite. The animal 

 thus attacked then bleeds to death from the carotid arteries. 



B. Distribution of the Wolf, and Damage inflicted by it. 



The wolf is met with throughout the whole of Europe, Northern and 

 Central Asia. Even at the present time it is frequently met with in 

 France, Spain, Italy, the greater part of Austria, Hungary, the Balkan 

 States, Eussia and Scandinavia. In Germany it is now quite extinct ; 

 but examples from France and Eussia are still met with annually in the 

 border districts. It frequents, by preference, mountain ranges, dense 

 woods, swampy districts, and wide steppes. As the body is kept con- 

 stantly in motion in the pursuit of the chase, the wolf requires a large 

 quantity of food, and, moreover, slays many more animals than it 

 actually needs for its nourishment. Accordingly, it is a great scourge to 

 cattle-owners and hunters, who wage constant war against it. A single 

 wolf in the neighbourhood of Schliersee and Tegernsee.in Upper Bavaria 

 is recorded to have made away with about 1,000 sheep in the space of 

 nine years, apart from game, the number of which could not be deter- 

 mined. In winter, when suffering from hunger, wolves will even attack 

 human beings. 



The Jackal (Ganis aureus) is a near relative of the wolf. It 

 is found in Asia, North Africa, Greece, Turkey and Dalmatia. The 

 " fox " mentioned in the Bible as having served Samson in burning 

 the fields of the Philistines was probably a jackal. These animals 

 also hunt in packs. Their plaintive howls, " making night hideous," 

 and their daring thefts, make them everywhere an object of special 

 aversion. 



2. The Dog 1 (Canis familiar is) . 

 A. Origin and Varieties (Breeds). 



The dog is the descendant of various species of wolf and jackal 

 which are still met with in various countries. Indeed, the resemblance 

 between the dogs of savage tribes and the wolves or jackals occurring in 

 those districts is so great that they have often been mistaken for one 

 another. 



Man, by occasionally taming them, came to recognise the good qualities 

 of these animals, and subjected them to his service. From their de- 

 scendants he selected invariably the fittest, and thus, by continuous 

 breeding and training, extending over perhaps thousands of years, the 

 dog has been evolved from the wolf or jackal. 



