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Show 510 DR. J. E. GRAY ON TUE CANIDAE. [June 25, The Domestic Dog presents three distinct forms of ears. Some, as the Spitz Dog, have short ovate, erect, hairy ears ; others, like the Greyhound, have elongated ears that are folded together, bent backward on the sides of the head; while the Hound and Spauiels have broad ears bent down on the sides of the head. When the varieties with different forms of ears are bred together, intermediate forms may be observed. The tail, in most varieties, is elongated, tapering at the end ; it is often more or less curved, and sometimes closely spirally bent. But the tails of many Domestic Dogs are cut; and some few breeds are said to be born tailless. But I have never seen any examples of the latter. Varieties which are very distinct in their external form, length and kind of hair, and colour, have skulls so alike that they are not to be distinguished by any appreciable character. Thus it is impossible to distinguish the skull of a Terrier from that of a Spaniel, or either of these from that of the Pariah Dog of India, or the "Mongrel Cur" as it is called in England. Some of the figured and named varieties, as the Lion-Dog (Chien-lion, Buffon, v. t. 40. f. 2; Canis familiaris leoninus, Gmelin), are described from Dogs that had been artificially prepared ; and of some, as the Prick-Eared Dog, the ears had been artificially clipped; and the same is the case with some of the short-tailed Dogs. If the varieties of Dog are stumbling-blocks to the systematic zoologist, which some say they are (for what reason I cannot conceive), they are never mistaken by their wild allies. It is true that a Wolf will breed with a female Dog, but so will a wild Pheasant with a domestic hen. The system of improving the breed of domestic animals by breeding and weeding seems to have been coexistent with human civilization; and to keep up the good breeds it is as necessary to be carefully attended to now as in the earliest period, showing that the varieties produced have no tendency to become perpetual. The varieties of the Dog, like the varieties of Oxen, Sheep, Pigs, Poultry, and Pigeons, are limited; and the limits seem to have been early discovered, as most, if not all, of the varieties now existing seem to have been known in the earliest historical period, and even anterior to it. How any one can think that the differences between varieties of domestic animals are such as zoologists would use to distinguish genera and species, is a mystery that I cannot understand; and the theory that the variation produced by breeding and weeding, or selection as it is called, is to be regarded as the origin of the difference between natural species, is more astonishing, and can only have arisen for want of careful study of the subject. There are some minds so constituted, even among the well educated, who believe in animal magnetism, metallic factors, table-turning, phrenology, spiritualism, mesmerism, the great pyramid, natural selection, and mimicry of animals-and some even two or more of these theories in succession, or at the same time. |