194 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Dogs. 



CANIDiE (the Canine Family). 



This family includes the Dog, the Wolf, the Jackal, 

 the Fox, and the Lycaon ; in other words, all those 

 animals which Linnaeus assigns to his genus Canis, 

 and which, though agreeing in dentition, and in the 

 digitigrade structure of the feet, may nevertheless 

 with propriety be divided into subgenerie groups. 

 In all the muzzle is elongated; the bony palate 

 terminates in a line with the hinder margin of the 

 posterior molars, in this respect differing from that 

 of other Carnivora ; and there are two true molars 

 on each side both of the upper and lower jaw. The 

 genus Megalotis, in the form of the lower jaw, in the 

 dentition, and in the prolongation of the bony 

 palate, offers an exception to the general rule. 



fi 1—1 



Dental formula: — Incisors, -; Canines, - — -; 

 6 1 — 1 



o q J J 2 2 



Molars— false , carnassieres n — -, true-— - =42. 



4 — 4 1 — 1 2 — 2 



The true molars below are small, the last being even 

 minute, as is the first false molar, and often drop- 

 ping out early. Fig. 860 illustrates the dentition 

 of the dog. 



Fore feet with five toes ; hind feet with four toes, 

 and sometimes a fifth on the tarsus ; claws not re- 

 tractile. 



Genus Canis: — 



861, 862, 863, &c— The Dog 



( Canis familiaris). Our ' Pictorial Museum ' is rich 

 both in skulls and examples of the races into which 

 the domestic dog has ramified, and which are so nu- 

 merous and interblended, as to present every variety 

 of size, form, and disposition, from the high-bred 

 greyhound or gigantic mastiff, to the puny cur or 

 ill-formed mongrel. 



Turning first to the skulls, we may observe that 

 Figs. 864 and 865 represent the skull of the mas- 

 tiff (Dogue de forte race) in two views ; and it may 

 be added that though the head is larger by a third 

 or more than those of the shepherd's dog and spaniel, 

 the cranial capacity is by no means so great. Figs. 

 866 and 867 show the skull of the spaniel (Barbet) 

 in two views ; Figs. 868 and 869, the skull of the 

 Danish dog (Matin) in two views; Fig. 870, the 

 skull of the half wild Australian dingo, may be con- 

 trasted with Fig. 871, the skull of the intelligent 

 shepherd's dog. 



It is with a feeling of something like hesitation 

 that we enter upon the history of the dog, respect- 

 ing whose origin few naturalists have an opinion 

 in common, and which has given rise to many con- 

 jectures. 



It was the opinion of Pallas that the dog is a fac- 

 titious animal, that is, not descended from any 

 single original wild stock, but from a mixture of 

 nearly allied primitive species, whose hybrid off- 

 springs have possessed prolific powers; and he 

 observes that those domesticated animals which 

 either do not intermix with other species, or which 

 produce with others an unprolific progeny, are very 

 little changed, however completely and anciently 

 they have been under the dominion of man. When 

 indeed we look at the great differences in instincts, 

 form, and size which the domestic dog exhibits, we 

 find it difficult to believe, interbreed as they may 

 together, that all are the lineal descendants of one 

 common origin. Yet is this opinion the most gene- 

 rally entertained. Mr. Bell even goes a step farther, 

 and refers the domestic dog to the wolf as its pri- 

 meeval parent ; some indeed have referred it to the 

 jackal. 



<! In order," says Mr. Bell, "to come to any rational 

 conclusion on this head, it 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 dogs in such a state of wildness as to have lost 

 that common character of domestication, variety of 

 colour and marking. Of these, two very remark- 

 able ones are the Dhale 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 charac- 

 terize the wolf; and that the tail of the Australian 

 dosr, which may be considered as the most remote 

 from a state of domestication, assumes the slightly 

 bushy form of that animal. We have here then a 

 considerable approximation to a well-known animal 

 of the same genus, which, though doubtless descended 

 from domesticated ancestors, have gradually assumed 

 the wild condition; and it is worthy of special 

 remark that the anatomy of the wolf, and its osteo- 

 logy in particular, does not differ from that of the 



dogs in general, more than the different kinds of 

 dogs do from each other. The cranium is abso- 

 lutely 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 of the 

 wolf is one of the characters in which it. differs from 

 the dogs ; and although it is very desirable not to 

 rest too much upon the effects of habit on structure, 

 it is not perhaps straining the point to attribute the 

 forward direction of the eyes in the dogs to the 

 constant habit, for many successive generations, of 

 looking towards their master and obeying bis voice." 

 Mr. Bell adds, as another corroborative circumstance, 

 the fact that the period of gestation in the dog and 

 the wolf is the same, sixty-three days, while in the 

 jackal it is fifty-nine clays. 



The opinion of so eminent and judicious a naturalist 

 is certainly entitled to great weight ; but while we 

 admit that Mr. Bell has made a strong case, we 

 cannot but observe that several points are defective. 

 In the first place., it is assumed that all wild dogs 

 are the descendants of a domestic race ; but though 

 respecting some few this may be true, yet it by no 

 means follows that the assertion applies to all : 

 we may instance the Buansu, or wild dog of Nepal, 

 described by Mr. Hodgson under the title of Canis 

 primsBvus. This animal, which he believes to be 

 the origin of the domestic dog, and not its descend- 

 ant, ranges from the Sutlege to the Burhampootra, 

 and seems to extend, with some immaterial dif- 

 ferences, into the Vindyia, the Ghauts, the Nilgiris, 

 the Casiah Hills, and the chain passing brokenly 

 from Mirzapore through South Bahar and Orissa 

 to the Coromandel Coast. " Of this race, although 

 so wild as rarely to be seen, Mr. Hodgson has 

 succeeded in obtaining many individuals. He is 

 consequently enabled to describe not only the form 

 and colours, but the manners also, which he does 

 in great detail. Some of those he obtained pro- 

 duced young in captivity, having been pregnant 

 when taken. The Buansu, he observes, preys by 

 night as well as by day, and hunts in packs of from 

 six to ten individuals, maintaining the chase rather 

 by its powers of smell than by the eye, and gene- 

 rally overcoming its quarry by force and perse- 

 verance. In hunting it barks like a hound, but its 

 bark is peculiar, and equally unlike that of the 

 cultivated breeds of dogs and the strains of the 

 jackal and the fox. Adults in captivity made no 

 approach towards domestication ; but a young one 

 which Mr. Hodgson obtained when it was not more 

 than a month old, became sensible to caresses, 

 distinguished the dogs of its own kennel from others, 

 as well as its keepers from strangers ; and on the 

 whole, its conduct manifested to the full as much 

 intelligence as any of his sporting dogs of the same 

 age.'' (' Zool. Proceds.,' 1833, p. 111.) 



In the same number of the < Proceeds.' is the 

 notice of a communication from W. A. Wooler, 

 Esq., giving an account of a wild dog from the 

 Mahabhshwar Hills, in the Presidency of Bombay, 

 and called there Dhale. The habits of this dog in 

 a state of nature accord with those of the Buansu 

 of Nepal, and with which animal it is most probably 

 identical. 



Colonel Sykes proves, we think, that the wild 

 dog of the Dukhun, called by the Mahrattas Kolsun, 

 is the same as the Buansu of Nepal, the skulls and 

 external characters precisely agreeing. (' Zool. Pro- 

 ceeds.,' 1833, p. 133.) 



Colonel Sykes observes, that this dog differs from 

 any wild species hitherto described. Its head is 

 compressed and elongated ; its nose not very sharp ; 

 the eyes are oblique, the pupils round, the irides 

 light brown. The expression of the countenance 

 is that of a coarse, ill-natured Persian greyhound, 

 without any resemblance to the jackal, the fox, or 

 the wolf; and in consequence essentially distinct 

 from the Canis Quao, or Sumatrensis, of General 

 Hardwicke. The ears are long, erect, and some- 

 what rounded at the top ; the limbs are remarkably 

 large and strong in relation to the bulk of the animal, 

 which is intermediate in size between the wolf and 

 jackal ; it hunts in packs, and in the stomach of 

 one killed was found a portion of the Nylghau ante- 

 lope. ('Zool. Proceeds., 5 1831, p. 100.) 



Here then we have a genuine wild dog, called 

 in the different mountain districts it inhabits, 

 Buansu, Dhale, and Kolsun, of a sandy red or rufous 

 colour, and destitute of the last small molar of the 

 lower jaw. Colonel Baber, in a note subjoined to 

 Col. Sykes's description in the ' Trans. Asiat. Soc,.,' 

 states "that it was often seen by him on the western 

 coast, and in the Balaghat district, where it is nu- 

 merous. " As often," he adds, " as I have met with 

 them, they have invariably been in packs of from 

 thirty to perhaps sixty. They must be very formi- 

 dable, as all animals are very much afraid of them. 

 Frequently remains of hogs and deer have, been 

 brought to me, which had been taken overnight bv 

 these wild dogs. The natives assert that they kill 



tigers and chetahs, and there is no doubt of the 

 fact. It is quite correct that they are found in the 

 Nilageris, though only in the western parts. I 

 myself was followed, while travelling between the 

 Paitera river and Naddibatt, a distance of eight or 

 nine miles, by a pack of them ; and had I not re- 

 peatedly fired off my pistols, they would certainly 

 have carried away three or four terriers and Spanish 

 dogs that were following me at the time. Two or 

 three times I succeeded in getting young ones, but 

 I.'did not keep them longer than three or four 

 weeks, they were so very wild as well as shy. It 

 was only at night that they would eat, and then 

 most voraciously." 



With respect to the Canis Quao of General Hard- 

 wicke, it is a red wolfish-looking dog in the Ram- 

 ghur Hills ; the Canis Sumatrensis is a wild dog of 

 the same general characters, found in Sumatra, but 

 with ears less acutely pointed. 



From every account of wild dogs, it would appear 

 that their colour is always sandy-yellow or red, a 

 colour occasionally seen in animals of the domestic 

 breeds. We do not, however, while we contend 

 that these wild dogs are genuine, pretend to assert 

 that any of them are the originals of any one of our 

 domestic breeds ; all we wish, is to prove that there 

 are genuine wild dogs, which fact being established, 

 the necessity of looking to the wolf as the origin of 

 the dog falls to the ground, for these wild dogs are 

 not wolves. 



Again, we have yet to learn, and experiment only 

 can decide, that there is that pliability, that suscep- 

 tibility of modification in the physical and moral 

 nature of the wolf, which will permit of its conver- 

 sion into the mastiff, the setter, the greyhound, and 

 the spaniel. 



In the next place, though the wolf and dog will 

 breed together, their progeny, if fertile, as Buffon 

 seems to prove, is so in a low degree only, the 

 mixed race gradually failing, and becoming extinct ; 

 but granting the contrary, nothing is proved, be- 

 cause, whatever naturalists may say, there is reason 

 to believe that closely allied species (there are de- 

 grees of affinity) will interbreed and produce a per- 

 manently mingled stock. 



Moreover, we have yet to be shown a race of true 

 wolves, the descendants of dogs which have re- 

 turned to their natural condition, and reassumed 

 their genuine characters. If the, wild dogs which 

 we have described, and which we regard as genuine, 

 be really the descendants of a domestic stock, even 

 then, seeing that they have resumed their original 

 characters (as evidenced by their uniformity of size, 

 figure, colour, and instincts), the argument that the 

 wolf is the primaeval type of the dog is at once nulli- 

 fied ; for, as we have said, these rufous wild dogs 

 are distinct from the wolf. While we thus venture 

 to question the theory entertained by Mr. Bell and 

 other eminent naturalists, we are not prepared to 

 point out the origin or origins of the domestic dog ; 

 and we venture to say that the subject will always 

 remain a Gordian knot, which science will never un- 

 ravel. Buffon has eloquently observed, that " those 

 species which man has greatly cultivated, whether 

 belonging to the animal or the vegetable world, 

 are, beyond all, those which are the most altered ; 

 and as the alteration is sometimes to such a degree 

 that we cannot recognise in them any thing of their 

 primitive form (such being the case with wheat, 

 which has no resemblance to the plant, from which 

 it is supposed to have derived its origin), it is not 

 impossible that among the numerous varieties of 

 the dog which we see in the present day, there is 

 not one which bears a resemblance to the original 

 type, or rather, to the first animal of the species." 



If we pass from dogs confessedly wild to those 

 which are half-wild, only semi-domesticated, the 

 Dingo, or Australian dog, is one of the most remark- 

 able and best known. Of the origin of this dog, 

 and of the circumstances connected with its intro- 

 duction into Australia, we are totally ignorant. 

 We know that wild packs exist there in the remoter 

 districts, the scourge of the country, preying on the 

 native kangaroo, and making havoc among the 

 flocks and herds of the European settlers. So wolf- 

 like are these dogs in general form (though they 

 are specifically distinct from the wolf), that the 

 first navigators who touched at New Holland 

 scarcely recognised them as dogs. Dampier, in the 

 account of his voyage performed in 1699, states 

 that his men saw two or three beasts like hungry 

 wolves, and the similarity is to a certain degree 

 very striking. The domestic breed, if domestic it 

 can be called, in all respects resembles those which 

 are completely emancipated. 



The Dingo, called Warragal by the natives, is 

 about as large as a harrier ; its body is firmly built, 

 its limbs muscular ; its head is broad between the 

 ears, and its muzzle is acute ; the neck is thick and 

 powerful ; the ears are short, pointed, and erect ; 

 its tail, which is rather long, is somewhat bushy 

 and pendulous, or at most raised only horizontally. 

 The general colour is sandy-red ; the eyes are rather 



