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DOGS. 
thoroughly explored, and that competent naturalists should devote much time and severe 
labor to the collection of specimens, and the careful investigation of animals while in their 
wild state. 
Gentle and quiet as the animal appears, it is one of the fiercest little creatures known. Its 
limbs, though small, are very powerful, their muscles being extremely full and well knit 
together. Its appetite for blood seems to be insatiable as that of the tiger, and its activity 
is very great, so that it may well be imagined to be a terrible foe to any animals on whom it 
may choose to make an attack. For this savage nature it has received the name of “Ferox,” 
or fierce. Its generic name of Cryptoprocta is given to it on account of the manner in which 
the hinder quarters suddenly taper down and merge themselves in the tail. The word itself is 
from the Greek, the former half of it signifying “hidden,” and the latter half, “hind- 
quarters.” 
The color of the Cryptoprocta is a light brown, tinged with red. The ears are very large 
and rounded, and the feet are furnished with strong claws. The toes are five in number on 
each foot. 
In the foregoing description of the Yiverrine animals, examples and figures are given of 
every remarkable genus which forms a portion of this curious group. Whether or not the 
Hyena should be considered as belonging to the Yiverrines is a question which is still mooted 
by many naturalists, who think that the Hyenines ought to be ranked as a divergent group of 
the Civet Cats. 
With the exception of one or two species, these creatures are so little known that their 
habits in a wild state have yet to be fully described. This is the more to be regretted, because 
the native customs of an animal are more illustrative of its character, and give deeper insight 
into the part which it plays in the economy of nature, than can be gained by inspecting the 
same creature when shut up in the contracted space which its cage affords, or when a change 
in its nature has been wrought by the companionship of human beings. The habits of these 
agile and graceful animals are so interesting, when watched even in the limited degree which 
is afforded by our present means of observation, that they give promise of much curious 
information when noted in the wild freedom of their normal condition. 
We lose much valuable knowledge of the habits of a new or scarce animal by the over- 
readiness of the discoverer to secure his prize. If one is fortunate enough to hit upon an animal 
which is new to science, or to meet with one which is rarely seen, he would do better service to 
Zoology by waiting awhile, and quietly watching the manner in which the animal conducted 
itself, than by hastily levelling his gun, and so giving to science nothing but a lifeless mass of 
dead matter, instead of a spirited history of a breathing and living being. For my own part, 
I would rather read in a library a good description of some strange animal, than see in a 
museum a stuffed skin about which nothing is known. 
THE DOG-FAMILY. 
DOGS. 
The large and important group of animals which is known by the general name of the 
Dog-Tribe, embraces the wild and domesticated Dogs, the Wolves, Foxes, Jackals, and that 
curious South-African animal, the Hunting-Dog. Of these creatures, several have been 
brought under the authority of man, and by continual intermixtures have assumed that 
exceeding variety of form which is found in the different “breeds” of the domestic Dog. 
The original parent of the Dog is very doubtful, some authors considering that it owes its 
parentage to the Dhole, or the Buansuah ; others thinking it to be an offspring of the Wolf ; 
and others attributing to the Fox the honor of being the projenitor of our canine friend and 
ally. With the exception of a very few spots, the Dog is to be found spread over almost 
every portion of the habitable globe, and in all countries is the friend of man, aiding him 
