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Show 1890.] ON THE DOMESTIC DOG. 7 These have been for convenience' sake placed in the order given in the article " D o g " in the last edition of the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica ' ; but we do not desire it to be understood on tbat account that we pledge ourselves to that or any other of the numerous classifications extant. To the table dealing with each breed is affixed a few notes on its possible derivation1. The measurements have been made after the plan adopted by Professor Huxley in his paper already referred to. A few of these may be explained here, in his words, for the sake of clearness. Basicranial Axis : this, the standard, is " a median line drawn in the bisected skull from the hinder edge of the basioccipital bone to the junction between the presphenoid and the ethmoid in the base of the skull." The value of this is taken as 100, and the other measurements, cranial and dental, are expressed in terms of it. " When, as often happens, the skull under examination cannot be bisected, a sufficiently close approximation to the true length of the basicranial axis may be obtained by taking the distance along the median line of the base of the skull from the posterior edge of the basioccipital bone to a point opposite the middle of tbe distance between the optic and ethmoidal foramina. This point always lies a little behind the posterior extremity of the vomer." In the remaining columns " ' total length ' means the distance from the front edge of the premaxillary bones to the extremity ol the occipital spine. The ' zygomatic width' is the greatest transverse distance between the outer faces of the zygomatic arches. The ' length of the bony palate' is measured from the front edge of the symphysis of the prsemaxillary bones to the hinder edge of the middle of the bony palate, not taking into account the inconstant median spine which is frequently developed. The ' width of the bony palate' is the distance between the points at which the outer faces of pm-4 and m.1 meet." The remainder of the paper after the special tables is devoted to the consideration of certain points arising out of the figures contained therein. 1 It maybe convenient here to mention the chief writers referred to, with thtitles of their works and the abbreviations used in reference to them:- Animals and Plants under Domestication. Darwin.-" D." Encyclopedia Britannica, Ed. 9. Art. "Dog."-"E. B." The Dog. " Stonehenge." 1879.-" S." British Quadrupeds. "Dogs." Bell.-"B." The Dog. W . Youatt.-" Y." Varieties of Dogs. Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. iii. p. 236.- "G-." Naturalist's Library. Smith, vol. v.-" 0. H. S." Die Ra^en des zahmen BTundes. Fitzinger, Sitzungsb. d. mathem.- naturw. 01. d. kaiserl. Ak. der Wissensch. lvi. Bd. i. S. 377.-" F." Eine Studie lib. die Abstammung der Hunderassen, von A. v. Pelzeln. Zool. Jahrb.-" P." Die Stammvater unserer Hunde-Rassen. Jeitteles. Wien, 1877--" J." |