710 Domesticity in Animals. [December, 
Mr. Swainson, before pronouncing the dog the rasorial 
type of the Ferce (Carnivora), might have done well to inquire 
whether this animal is an original and unitary species at 
all or rather an artificial blend of several wild Canidae. It 
might also be asked whether some of these Canidae, espe- 
cially Cuon dukhuensis and C. primcevus , have not as good a 
right as the domestic dog to be considered as a “ rasorial 
type” of the Carnivora? Yet they show none of the same 
attachment to man which the common dog exhibits ; and 
though they have been occasionally employed in hunting, no 
dependence can be placed upon them. 
There is another carnivorous animal which has never been 
introduced into Europe, but which in India and China has 
been for thousands of years a trusted household friend of 
man, and which for combatting the serpents and other 
dangerous vermin of hot climates is much more useful than 
either the dog or the cat. We refer to the so-called ichneu- 
mon and mungus ( Herpestes ichneumon and H. griseus), which 
are two species alike in their habits. One of these creatures 
is often in India left to guard a sleeping infant in the absence 
of the mother, and will destroy any snake, scorpion, centi- 
pede, &c., which dares to approach. Yet this docile, intelli- 
gent, and faithful creature belongs to a group approaching 
very closely in structure and habits to the Felidae, and 
having semi-retraXile claws. 
Another and quite different attempt at generalisation is 
conveyed in the assertion that all domestic animals are 
naturally gregarious. In the majority of instances, both 
among birds and mammals, this is decidedly true, the cat 
and the mungus (?) being the only exceptions. But we 
cannot affirm conversely that all gregarious animals have 
entered into domestication. The wolf, zebra, the different 
species of baboons, the hyaenas, and various other forms 
might here be named. 
A further very curious observation is, that all the truly 
domesticated species, both of birds and mammals, are poly- 
gamous, or at least promiscuous in their amours. We have 
here the only point of difference in habits between the 
ordinary tameable inmates of the farmyard and the phea- 
sants. The common cock, the turkey, the guinea-fowl are 
feathered Mormonites, whilst the pheasant adheres to one 
mate. Among mammalia the case is quite similar. The 
ox, the sheep, the goat, the horse are all polygamous, whilst 
the cat and the dog form no permanent connexions, the 
nurture and defence of the young being left to the female 
alone. On the other hand the fox* which lives in pairs, has 
