343 



markable, that, according to Le Gentil, among 

 the Hindoos, though this people was unacquaint- 

 ed with the series of signs which begins with the 

 rat, the place of the Ram is sometimes occupied 

 by a marron dog. In the same manner, among 

 the Mexicans, itzcuintli denotes the wild dog 

 for that which is tame is called techichi. Mexico 

 formerly swarmed with carnivorous quadrupeds* 

 of a species between the wolf and the dog, which 

 Hernandes has but imperfectly described. The 

 race of these animals, known by the names of 

 xoloitzcuintli, itzciiintepotzotli, and tepeitzcui?itli } 

 is perhaps not yet entirely destroyed ; but pro- 

 bably withdrawn into the most desert and soli- 

 tary forests. In the part of the country through 

 which I passed, I have never heard any mention 

 of a marron dog. Le Gentil *}- and Bailly were 

 mistaken, when they asserted, that the word 

 media, which denotes our ram, signifies a marron 

 dog. This word of the Sanscrit language is the 

 ordinary name of the ram, it is employed | in a 

 very poetical manner by an Indian author, who 

 describes the combat of two warriors, saying, 

 " that by their heads they were two mecha 

 " (rams) ; by their arms, two elephants ; by their 

 " feet, two noble coursers." 



* See my Tableaux de la Nature, Tom. J, p. 117. 

 f Le Gentil, Voyage, Tom. 1, p. 247. 



| Observation de Mr. de Chezy. 



