8 The Dog Book 
race among the Indians of North America, and another, also partially 
tamed, in South America, which deserve attention. It is found that these 
races, in different degrees, and in a greater degree as they are more wild, 
exhibit the lank and gaunt form, the lengthened limbs, the long, slender 
muzzle, and the comparative strength, which characterise the wolf; and 
that the tail of the Australian dog, which may be considered as the most 
remote from a state of domestication, assumes the slight bushy form of that 
animal. We have here, then, a considerable approximation to a well- 
known wild animal of the same genus, in races which, though doubtless 
descended from domestic ancestors, have gradually assumed the wild 
condition; and it is worthy of especial remark that the anatomy of the 
wolf, and its osteology in particular, does not differ from that of the dogs in 
general more than the different kinds of dogs from each other.” The 
only difference in structure which Mr. Bell admits of is the eye, the forward 
direction of which in the dog as opposed to the oblique in the wolf he attrib- 
utes to the “constant habit for many generations of looking toward their 
master, and obeying his voice.” He also points to the possibility of their 
interbreeding, and asserts that their progeny is fertile. 
The evidence is all on the side of the impossibility of the dog and 
wolf and dog and jackal crosses to breed inter se, however fertile the progeny 
may be when bred back to either side of the cross; but what if this inter se 
fertility was established, how much further would it go than merely to 
accord with the non-controvertible statement that while distinct they so 
closely approach each other as to be capable of producing fertile hybrids. 
But as a matter of fact this point is still unproved. 
Mr. Bell’s claim that the various wild dogs are the descendants of do- 
mesticated dogs, or in other words are feral dogs, and that they all closely 
resemble the wolf, will not stand investigation. What could possibly be 
the origin of the Dingo. He was there when Australia was discovered by 
Europeans, and in no part of the country was there the slightest evidence of 
his being or having ever been a domesticated animal. Then again, if all 
came originally from the wolf, why is it that not one of the wild, untamable, 
irreclaimable varieties do not breed back to their origin and become wolves ? 
They stop at being dogs, and while wolves are gray in colour all wild dogs are 
reddish. The Eskimo is gray, but we hold that he is a dog and not a re- 
claimed wolf. 
There is a great deal for us to learn yet regarding these northern 
