OCR Text |
Show 14 INTRODUCTION. because it collects under one point of view, and gives a ratio~al explanatiO. n of , man y apparently independent classes of facts. • In treating tho seveml subjects .included in tho present and succcetlwg works I have cootinunlly been l e~ to ask for information from ronny zool~gtsts, botanists, geologists, breeders of anun~l s, 11nd horticuUurists, and I have lllvariably received from them the mo~t generous assistance. Without such md I could have effected little. I have repeatetlly applied for information .a~d specimens to foreigners, and to Bntish merchants and officers of the Government residing in distant lands, and, with tho rarest exceptions, I have received prompt, open-handed, and valuable assistance. I ctmoot express too strongly my obligations to the many persons who have as istod me, and who, I am convinced, would be equally willing to assist others in any scientific investigation. CHAP. I. DOGS: THEIR PARENTAGE. 15 CHAPTER I. DOMESTIC DOGS AND OATS. ANCIENT VAnTETIES OF THE DOG- RESEMBLANCE OF DOMESTIC DOGS IN VARIOUS COUNTRJES TO NATIVE CANINE SPECIES- ANIMALS NOT ACQUAINTED WITII MAN AT ]'JUST FEA11LESS- DOGS RESEMBLING WOLVES AND JAOKALS- llABI'I.' OF BARKING ACQUIRED AND LOST - FERAL DOGS - '!'AN-COLOURED EYE-SPOTS - PERIOD OF GESTATION - OFFENSIVE ODOUR - FEI~TILI'l'Y OF Tlill RACES WHEN CROSSED - DIFFERENCES IN 'l'llE SEVERAJ, UAOES IN PAin DUE TO DESCENT FROM DIS' l'lNCT SPECIES - DIFFEHENCES IN Tlill SKULL AND 'l'EETU- DIFli'ERENCES IN THE BODY, IN CO:KSTI'I.'U'l'ION - FEW IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES llA VE BEEN FIXED BY SELECTION- DIRECT ACTION OF CLIMATE- WATER-DOGS WITH PALMA TED FEETIIISTOI< Y OF TilE CIIANGES WIHCH OER'l'A!N ENGLISH !!ACES OF THE DOG IIAVE GJ{ADUALLY UNDERGONE THROUGH SELECTION- EXTINCTION OF THE LESS IMPUOVED SUll-BlmEDS. OATS, CROSSED WITH SEVERAL SPECIES- DIFFERENT BREEDS FOUND ONLY IN SEPARA'l'ED COUNTRIES- DIHEOT EFFECTS OF TilE CONDITIONS OF LIFE- FERAL OATS -INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY. THE first and chief point of interest in this chapter is, whether the numerous domesticated varieties of the dog have descended from a single wild species, or from several. Some authors believe that all have descended from the wolf, or from the jackal, or from an unknown and extinct species. Others again believe, and this of late has been the favourite tenet, that they have descended from several species, extinct and recent, more or less commingled together. We shall probably never be able to ascertain their origin with certainty. Palreontology 1 does not throw much light on the question, owing, on the one hand, to the close similarity of the skulls of extinct as well as living wolves and jackals, and owing on the other hand to the great dissimilarity of the skulls of the several breeds of the domestic dogs. It seems, however, that remains have been found in the 1 Owen, 'British Fossil Mammals,' p. 123 to 133. Pictet's 'Traitc de Pnl.,' 1853, tom. i. p. 202. De Blainvillo, in his 'Osteographie, Canidoo,' p. 142, has largely discussed the whole subject, and concludes that the extinct parent of all domesticated dogs camo nearest to the wolf in organization, and to the jackal in habits. |