74 The Carnivora. 
Of this section of the carnivora—the Cynoidea—there ap- 
pears to be no more than four genera, viz., the genus Canis, 
including a number of varieties of wolf, dog, and fox; Megalotis, 
or the long-eared fox; Lycaon, or the hyena dog; and Nycte- 
rentes, or the raccoon dog. From this group appear to have 
sprung all the wonderful varieties of hybrids known, which are 
completely, or almost completely, fertile inter se and with both 
parents. If, as there is every reason to believe, all the existing 
varieties of dogs are the descendants of a few wild stocks, re- 
sembling one another in about the same degree as do the living 
species of wolf, we cannot account for the immense prevailing 
differences, except by invoking the influence of conscious and 
unconscious selection on the part of man. 
There are two questions to be asked in examining the pedi- 
gree of our domestic dogs. Do any wild species still exist, or 
are any known to history bearing their characteristics? Does 
any fossil species throw any light on their origin? Taking a 
general view of the domestic varieties, we are impelled to ask 
whether the marked differences in them are original, or whether 
they are the result of long-continued selection. For instance, 
glance at the animals on the benches at any general dog show. 
Are the short-faced, under-hung bulldogs, the bandy-legged, 
long-eared dachshunds, the massive St. Bernards, the slim 
Italian greyhounds, and the wheezing pugs with their tongues 
lolling out of their mouths, the direct representatives of any 
wild dogs possessing these very distinct characters? To this we 
are able to reply pretty confidently, that these special physical 
features are not original. We know of no wild species with any 
resemblance to these particular forms, neither does history or 
tradition support the conclusion that such have ever existed in a 
state of nature. The answer, too, is confirmed by paleontology. 
The fossil members of the genus Canis present substantially 
unaltered the aspect of existing wolves and jackals in their 
straight legs, and long, sharp, muzzles, and this is the type 
associated with the earliest remains of man in pre-historic 
times. 
