ORIGIN OF THE DOG. 5 



will be necessary to ascertain to what type the animal approaches 

 most nearly, after having for many successive generations existed 

 in a wild state, removed from the influence of domestication 

 and of association with mankind. Now we find that there are 

 several different instances of the existence in dogs of such a state 

 of wildness as to have lost even that common character of domes- 

 tication, variety of colour and marking. Of these, two very re- 

 markable ones are the dhole of India and the dingo of Australia. 

 There is, besides, a half-reclaimed race amongst the Indians of 

 North America, and another also partially tamed in South 

 America, which deserve attention. And 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 and slender muzzle, and the great 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 slightly bushy form 

 of that animal. 



" We have here a remarkable approximation to a well-known 

 wild animal of the same genus, in races which, though doubtless 

 descended from domesticated 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 dog in general, more than the different 

 kinds of dogs do from each other. The cranium is absolutely 

 similar, and so are all, or nearly all, the other essential parts ; 

 and, to strengthen still further the probability of their identity, 

 the dog and wolf will readily breed together, and their progeny 

 is fertile. The obliquity of the position of the eyes in the wolf 

 is one of the characters in which it differs from the dog ; and, 

 although it is very desirable not to rest too' much upon the 



