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Show 1880.] DENTAL CHARACTERS OF THE CANIDiK. 273 considerable range of variation, though probably less than a larger senes would show \ But, as they are? I must confess myself unable to nna any important break in the series of gradations of cranial and dental structure between Canis latrans and G. antarcticus, on the one hand (see Table XIII.), and G. latrans and C. occidentalis (Table A v., VIII. ix., x.) on the other. Moreover, considering that only two sets of measurements of G. magellanicus are given, it is not unreasonable to expect that, with a larger series of this form, all the American Ihooids, so far as their dental and cranial characters are concerned, would be susceptible of arrangement in a continuous series of almost imperceptible modifications. I may further remark i ii c ™ d l s c e m n o difference of the slightest importance between skulls ot 6. latrans and those of some of our domestic Dogs2. Of the three skulls of Canis occidentalis (Table X V . Nos. VIII., ix., x.) No. x. is a very large typical Wolf-skull, nowise distinguishable from the most characteristic examples of the Old-World Wolves. Nos. vu. and VIII., on the other hand, have teeth not at all, or but little, larger than those of some specimens of G. latrans, from which they differ chiefly in the greater width of the palate and total length of the skull. Moreover, in these skulls the facial line, instead of being nearly straight or even slightly convex, as is usual in Wolves, Jackals, and domestic Dogs of the Greyhound type, is as concave as in the skulls of many Newfoundland Dogs and Mastiffs, to which they present striking resemblances. If we now leave the N e w World for the Old, travelling westward, it is a very interesting fact that in Japan, in the Amur basin, and in North China we meet with a form of canine animal which has been made the type of a distinct genus, Nyctereutes, but which is essentially a low Thooid of the South-American type. This is the Canis procyonoides3, oi the external characters, the skeleton, and dentition of which a full account has been given by Schrenck ('Beisen und Forschungen im Amurlande,' Band i. 1858). TABLE XVI.-Cranial and Dental Measurements of Canis procyonoides. I. II. III. IV. Total length 115 107 96 Length of palate 57 55 49 54 Breadth „ 34 33-5 38 34 1 Baird's observations ('Eeport,' under Canis) point to an extraordinary amount of local variation in C. occidentalis and C. latrans. 2 The close resemblance of C. latrans to certain domestic Dogs of the Old World has already been noted by Jeitteles and Coues. See the former writer's excellent essay ' Die Stammvater unserer Hunde-Rassen,' 1877. 3 The specific name appears to m e to be as little applicable as the generic distinction of " Nyctereutes " is justifiable. Beyond a superficial external resemblance, there is nothing of the Raccoon about this animal. 18* |