DOMESTIC DOGS AND CATS.
ANCIENT VARIETIES OF THE DOG.
RESEMBLANCE OF DOMESTIC DOGS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES TO NATIVE CANINE SPECIES.
ANIMALS NOT ACQUAINTED WITH MAN AT FIRST FEARLESS.
DOGS RESEMBLING WOLVES AND JACKALS.
HABIT OF BARKING ACQUIRED AND LOST.
FERAL DOGS.
TAN-COLOURED EYE-SPOTS.
PERIOD OF GESTATION.
OFFENSIVE ODOUR.
FERTILITY OF THE RACES WHEN CROSSED.
DIFFERENCES IN THE SEVERAL RACES IN PART DUE TO DESCENT FROM DISTINCT
SPECIES.
DIFFERENCES IN THE SKULL AND TEETH.
DIFFERENCES IN THE BODY, IN CONSTITUTION.
FEW IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES HAVE BEEN FIXED BY SELECTION.
DIRECT ACTION OF CLIMATE.
WATER-DOGS WITH PALMATED FEET.
HISTORY OF THE CHANGES WHICH CERTAIN ENGLISH RACES OF THE DOG HAVE
GRADUALLY UNDERGONE THROUGH SELECTION.
EXTINCTION OF THE LESS IMPROVED SUB-BREEDS.
CATS, CROSSED WITH SEVERAL SPECIES.
DIFFERENT BREEDS FOUND ONLY IN SEPARATED COUNTRIES.
DIRECT EFFECTS OF THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE.
FERAL CATS.
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. Palaeontology (1/1. Owen 'British Fossil Mammals'
pages 123 to 133. Pictet 'Traite de Pal.' 1853 tome 1 page 202. De
Blainville in his 'Osteographie, Canidae' page 142 has largely discussed
the whole subject, and concludes that the extinct parent of all
domesticated dogs came nearest to the wolf in organisation, and to the
jackal in habits. See also Boyd Dawkins, 'Cave Hunting' 1874 page 131 etc.
and his other publications. Jeitteles has discussed in great detail the
character of the breeds of pre-historic dogs: 'Die vorgeschichtlichen
Alterthumer der Stadt Olmutz' II. Theil, 1872 page 44 to end.) 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 later tertiary deposits more like those of a large
dog than of a wolf, which favours the belief of De Blainville that our dogs
are the descendants of a single extinct species. On the other hand, some
authors go so far as to assert that every chief domestic breed must have
had its wild prototype. This latter view is extremely improbable: it allows
nothing for variation; it passes over the almost monstrous character of
some of the breeds; and it almost necessarily assumes that a large number
of species have become extinct since man domesticated the dog; whereas we
plainly see that wild members of the dog-family are extirpated by human
agency with much difficulty; even so recently as 1710 the wolf existed in
so small an island as Ireland.
The reasons which have led various authors to infer that our dogs have
descended from more than one wild species are as follows. (1/2. Pallas, I
believe, originated this doctrine in 'Act. Acad. St. Petersburgh' 1780 Part
2. Ehrenberg has advocated it, as may be seen in De Blainville's
'Osteographie' page 79. It has been carried to an extreme extent by Col.
Hamilton Smith in the 'Naturalist Library' volumes 9 and 10. Mr. W.C.
Martin adopts it in his excellent 'History of the Dog' 1845; as does Dr.
Morton, as well as Nott and Gliddon, in the United States. Prof. Low, in
his 'Domesticated Animals' 1845 page 666, comes to this same conclusion. No
one has argued on this side with more clearness and force than the late
James Wilson, of Edinburgh, in various papers read before the Highland
Agricultural and Wernerian Societies. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
('Hist. Nat. Gen.' 1860 tome 3 page 107), though he believes that most dogs
have descended from the jackal, yet inclines to the belief that some are
descended from the wolf. Prof. Gervais ('Hist. Nat. Mamm.' 1855 tome 2 page
69, referring to the view that all the domestic races are the modified
descendants of a single species, after a long discussion, says, "Cette
opinion est, suivant nous du moins, la moins probable.") Firstly, the great
difference between the several breeds; but this will appear of
comparatively little weight, after we shall have seen how great are the
differences between the several races of various domesticated animals which
certainly have descended from a single parent-form. Secondly, the more
important fact, that, at the most anciently known historical periods,
several breeds of the dog existed, very unlike each other, and closely
resembling or identical with breeds still alive.
We will briefly run back through the historical records. The materials are
remarkably deficient between the fourteenth century and the Roman classical
period. (1/3. Berjeau 'The Varieties of the Dog; in old Sculptures and
Pictures' 1863. 'Der Hund' von Dr. F.L. Walther, Giessen 1817 s. 48: this
author seems carefully to have studied all classical works on the subject.
See also Volz 'Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte' Leipzig 1852 s. 115, 'Youatt
on the Dog' 1845 page 6. A very full history is given by De Blainville in
his 'Osteographie, Canidae.') At this latter period various breeds, namely
hounds, house-dogs, lapdogs, etc, existed; but, as Dr. Walther has
remarked, it is impossible to recognise the greater number with any
certainty. Youatt, however, gives a drawing of a beautiful sculpture of two
greyhound puppies from the Villa of Antoninus. On an Assyrian monument,
about 640 B.C.,an enormous mastiff (1/4. I have seen drawings of this dog
from the tomb of the son of Esar Haddon, and clay models in the British
Museum. Nott and Gliddon, in their 'Types of Mankind' 1854 page 393, give a
copy of these drawings. This dog has been called a Thibetan mastiff, but
Mr. H.A. Oldfield, who is familiar with the so-called Thibet mastiff, and
has examined the drawings in the British Museum, informs me that he
considers them different.) is figured; and according to Sir H. Rawlinson
(as I was informed at the British Museum), similar dogs are still imported
into this same country. I have looked through the magnificent works of
Lepsius and Rosellini, and on the Egyptian monuments from the fourth to the
twelfth dynasties (i.e. from about 3400 B.C. to 2100 B.C.) several
varieties of the dog are represented; most of them are allied to
greyhounds; at the later of these periods a dog resembling a hound is
figured, with drooping ears, but with a longer back and more pointed head
than in our hounds. There is, also, a turnspit, with short and crooked
legs, closely resembling the existing variety; but this kind of monstrosity
is so common with various animals, as with the ancon sheep, and even,
according to Rengger, with jaguars in Paraguay, that it would be rash to
look at the monumental animal as the parent of all our turnspits: Colonel
Sykes (1/5. 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' July 12, 1831.) also has described an
Indian pariah dog as presenting the same monstrous character. The most
ancient dog represented on the Egyptian monuments is one of the most
singular; it resembles a greyhound, but has long pointed ears and a short
curled tail: a closely allied variety still exists in Northern Africa; for
Mr. E. Vernon Harcourt (1/6. 'Sporting in Algeria' page 51.) states that
the Arab boar-hound is "an eccentric hieroglyphic animal, such as Cheops
once hunted with, somewhat resembling the rough Scotch deer-hound; their
tails are curled tight round on their backs, and their ears stick out at
right angles." With this most ancient variety a pariah-like dog coexisted.
We thus see that, at a period between four and five thousand years ago,
various breeds, viz. pariah dogs, greyhounds, common hounds, mastiffs,
house-dogs, lapdogs, and turnspits, existed, more or less closely
resembling our present breeds. But there is not sufficient evidence that
any of these ancient dogs belonged to the same identical sub-varieties with
our present dogs. (1/7. Berjeau gives facsimiles of the Egyptian drawings.
Mr. C.L. Martin in his 'History of the Dog' 1845 copies several figures
from the Egyptian monuments, and speaks with much confidence with respect
to their identity with still living dogs. Messrs. Nott and Gliddon ('Types
of Mankind' 1854 page 388) give still more numerous figures. Mr. Gliddon
asserts that a curl-tailed greyhound, like that represented on the most
ancient monuments, is common in Borneo; but the Rajah, Sir J. Brooke,
informs me that no such dog exists there.) As long as man was believed to
have existed on this earth only about 6000 years, this fact of the great
diversity of the breeds at so early a period was an argument of much weight
that they had proceeded from several wild sources, for there would not have
been sufficient time for their divergence and modification. But now that we
know, from the discovery of flint tools embedded with the remains of
extinct animals in districts which have since undergone great geographical
changes, that man has existed for an incomparably longer period, and
bearing in mind that the most barbarous nations possess domestic dogs, the
argument from insufficient time falls away greatly in value.
Long before the period of any historical record the dog was domesticated in
Europe. In the Danish Middens of the Neolithic or Newer Stone period, bones
of a canine animal are embedded, and Steenstrup ingeniously argues that
these belonged to a domestic dog; for a very large proportion of the bones
of birds preserved in the refuse consists of long bones, which it was found
on trial dogs cannot devour. (1/8. These, and the following facts on the
Danish remains, are taken from M. Morlot's most interesting memoir in 'Soc.
Vaudoise des Sc. Nat.' tome 6 1860 pages 281, 299, 320.) This ancient dog
was succeeded in Denmark during the Bronze period by a larger kind,
presenting certain differences, and this again during the Iron period, by a
still larger kind. In Switzerland, we hear from Prof. Rutimeyer (1/9. 'Die
Fauna der Pfahlbauten' 1861 s. 117, 162.), that during the Neolithic period
a domesticated dog of middle size existed, which in its skull was about
equally remote from the wolf and jackal, and partook of the characters of
our hounds and setters or spaniels (Jagdhund und Wachtelhund). Rutimeyer
insists strongly on the constancy of form during a very long period of time
of this the most ancient known dog. During the Bronze period a larger dog
appeared, and this closely resembled in its jaw a dog of the same age in
Denmark. Remains of two notably distinct varieties of the dog were found by
Schmerling in a cave (1/10. De Blainville 'Osteographie, Canidae.'); but
their age cannot be positively determined.
The existence of a single race, remarkably constant in form during the
whole Neolithic period, is an interesting fact in contrast with what we see
of the changes which the races underwent during the period of the
successive Egyptian monuments, and in contrast with our existing dogs. The
character of this animal during the Neolithic period, as given by
Rutimeyer, supports De Blainville's view that our varieties have descended
from an unknown and extinct form. But we should not forget that we know
nothing with respect to the antiquity of man in the warmer parts of the
world. The succession of the different kinds of dogs in Switzerland and
Denmark is thought to be due to the immigration of conquering tribes
bringing with them their dogs; and this view accords with the belief that
different wild canine animals were domesticated in different regions.
Independently of the immigration of new races of man, we know from the
wide-spread presence of bronze, composed of an alloy of tin, how much
commerce there must have been throughout Europe at an extremely remote
period, and dogs would then probably have been bartered. At the present
time, amongst the savages of the interior of Guiana, the Taruma Indians are
considered the best trainers of dogs, and possess a large breed which they
barter at a high price with other tribes. (1/11. Sir R. Schomburgk has
given me information on this head. See also 'Journal of R. Geographical
Soc.' volume 13 1843 page 65.)
The main argument in favour of the several breeds of the dog being the
descendants of distinct wild stocks, is their resemblance in various
countries to distinct species still existing there. It must, however, be
admitted that the comparison between the wild and domesticated animal has
been made but in few cases with sufficient exactness. Before entering on
details, it will be well to show that there is no a priori difficulty in
the belief that several canine species have been domesticated. Members of
the dog family inhabit nearly the whole world; and several species agree
pretty closely in habits and structure with our several domesticated dogs.
Mr. Galton has shown (1/12. 'Domestication of Animals' Ethnological Soc.
December 22, 1863.) how fond savages are of keeping and taming animals of
all kinds. Social animals are the most easily subjugated by man, and
several species of Canidae hunt in packs. It deserves notice, as bearing on
other animals as well as on the dog, that at an extremely ancient period,
when man first entered any country, the animals living there would have
felt no instinctive or inherited fear of him, and would consequently have
been tamed far more easily than at present. For instance, when the Falkland
Islands were first visited by man, the large wolf-like dog (Canis
antarcticus) fearlessly came to meet Byron's sailors, who, mistaking this
ignorant curiosity for ferocity, ran into the water to avoid them: even
recently a man, by holding a piece of meat in one hand and a knife in the
other, could sometimes stick them at night. On a island in the Sea of Aral,
when first discovered by Butakoff, the saigak antelopes, which are
"generally very timid and watchful, did not fly from us, but on the
contrary looked at us with a sort of curiosity." So, again, on the shores
of the Mauritius, the manatee was not at first in the least afraid of man,
and thus it has been in several quarters of the world with seals and the
morse. I have elsewhere shown (1/13. 'Journal of Researches' etc. 1845 page
393. With respect to Canis antarcticus, see page 193. For the case of the
antelope, see 'Journal Royal Geographical Soc.' volume 23 page 94.) how
slowly the native birds of several islands have acquired and inherited a
salutary dread of man: at the Galapagos Archipelago I pushed with the
muzzle of my gun hawks from a branch, and held out a pitcher of water for
other birds to alight on and drink. Quadrupeds and birds which have seldom
been disturbed by man, dread him no more than do our English birds, the
cows, or horses grazing in the fields.
It is a more important consideration that several canine species evince (as
will be shown in a future chapter) no strong repugnance or inability to
breed under confinement; and the incapacity to breed under confinement is
one of the commonest bars to domestication. Lastly, savages set the highest
value, as we shall see in the chapter on Selection, on dogs: even half-
tamed animals are highly useful to them: the Indians of North America cross
their half-wild dogs with wolves, and thus render them even wilder than
before, but bolder: the savages of Guiana catch and partially tame and use
the whelps of two wild species of Canis, as do the savages of Australia
those of the wild Dingo. Mr. Philip King informs me that he once trained a
wild Dingo puppy to drive cattle, and found it very useful. From these
several considerations we see that there is no difficulty in believing that
man might have domesticated various canine species in different countries.
It would indeed have been a strange fact if one species alone had been
domesticated throughout the world.
We will now enter into details. The accurate and sagacious Richardson says,
"The resemblance between the Northern American wolves (Canis lupus, var.
occidentalis) and the domestic dogs of the Indians is so great that the
size and strength of the wolf seems to be the only difference. I have more
than once mistaken a band of wolves for the dogs of a party of Indians; and
the howl of the animals of both species is prolonged so exactly in the same
key that even the practised ear of the Indian fails at times to
discriminate them.' He adds that the more northern Esquimaux dogs are not
only extremely like the grey wolves of the Arctic circle in form and
colour, but also nearly equal them in size. Dr. Kane has often seen in his
teams of sledge-dogs the oblique eye (a character on which some naturalists
lay great stress), the drooping tail, and scared look of the wolf. In
disposition the Esquimaux dogs differ little from wolves, and, according to
Dr. Hayes, they are capable of no attachment to man, and are so savage that
when hungry they will attack even their masters. According to Kane they
readily become feral. Their affinity is so close with wolves that they
frequently cross with them, and the Indians take the whelps of wolves "to
improve the breed of their dogs." The half-bred wolves sometimes (Lamare-
Picquot) cannot be tamed, "though this case is rare;" but they do not
become thoroughly well broken in till the second or third generation. These
facts show that there can be but little, if any, sterility between the
Esquimaux dog and the wolf, for otherwise they would not be used to improve
the breed. As Dr. Hayes says of these dogs, "reclaimed wolves they
doubtless are." (1/14. The authorities for the foregoing statements are as
follow:--Richardson in 'Fauna Boreali-Americana' 1829 pages 64, 75; Dr.
Kane 'Arctic Explorations' 1856 volume 1 pages 398, 455; Dr. Hayes 'Arctic
Boat Journey' 1860 page 167. Franklin's 'Narrative' volume 1 page 269,
gives the case of three whelps of a black wolf being carried away by the
Indians. Parry, Richardson, and others, give accounts of wolves and dogs
naturally crossing in the eastern parts of North America. Seeman in his
'Voyage of H.M.S. "Herald"' 1853 volume 2 page 26, says the wolf is often
caught by the Esquimaux for the purpose of crossing with their dogs, and
thus adding to their size and strength. M. Lamare-Picquot in 'Bull. de la
Soc. d'Acclimat.' tome 7 1860 page 148, gives a good account of the half-
bred Esquimaux dogs.)
North America is inhabited by a second kind of wolf, the prairie-wolf
(Canis latrans), which is now looked at by all naturalists as specifically
distinct from the common wolf; and is, according to Mr. J.K. Lord, in some
respects intermediate in habits between a wolf and a fox. Sir J.
Richardson, after describing the Hare Indian dog, which differs in many
respects from the Esquimaux dog, says, "It bears the same relation to the
prairie-wolf that the Esquimaux dog does to the great grey wolf." He could,
in fact, detect no marked difference between them; and Messrs. Nott and
Gliddon give additional details showing their close resemblance. The dogs
derived from the above two aboriginal sources cross together and with the
wild wolves, at least with the C. occidentalis, and with European dogs. In
Florida, according to Bartram, the black wolf-dog of the Indians differs in
nothing from the wolves of that country except in barking. (1/15. 'Fauna
Boreali-Americana' 1829 pages 73, 78, 80. Nott and Gliddon, 'Types of
Mankind' page 383. The naturalist and traveller Bartram is quoted by
Hamilton Smith in 'Naturalist Lib.' volume 10 page 156. A Mexican domestic
dog seems also to resemble a wild dog of the same country; but this may be
the prairie-wolf. Another capable judge, Mr. J.K. Lord ('The Naturalist in
Vancouver Island' 1866 volume 2 page 218), says that the Indian dog of the
Spokans, near the Rocky Mountains, "is beyond all question nothing more
than a tamed Cayote or prairie-wolf," or Canis latrans.)
Turning to the southern parts of the new world, Columbus found two kinds of
dogs in the West Indies; and Fernandez (1/16. I quote this from Mr. R.
Hill's excellent account of the Alco or domestic dog of Mexico, in Gosse's
'Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica' 1851 page 329.) describes three in
Mexico: some of these native dogs were dumb--that is, did not bark. In
Guiana it has been known since the time of Buffon that the natives cross
their dogs with an aboriginal species, apparently the Canis cancrivorus.
Sir R. Schomburgk, who has so carefully explored these regions, writes to
me, "I have been repeatedly told by the Arawaak Indians, who reside near
the coast, that they cross their dogs with a wild species to improve the
breed, and individual dogs have been shown to me which certainly resembled
the C. cancrivorus much more than the common breed. It is but seldom that
the Indians keep the C. cancrivorus for domestic purposes, nor is the Ai,
another species of wild dog, and which I consider to be identical with the
Dusicyon silvestris of H. Smith, now much used by the Arecunas for the
purpose of hunting. The dogs of the Taruma Indians are quite distinct, and
resemble Buffon's St. Domingo greyhound." It thus appears that the natives
of Guiana have partially domesticated two aboriginal species, and still
cross their dogs with them; these two species belong to a quite different
type from the North American and European wolves. A careful observer,
Rengger (1/17. 'Naturgeschichte der Saugethiere von Paraguay' 1830 s.
151.), gives reasons for believing that a hairless dog was domesticated
when America was first visited by Europeans: some of these dogs in Paraguay
are still dumb, and Tschudi (1/18. Quoted in Humboldt 'Aspects of Nature'
(English translation) volume 1 page 108.) states that they suffer from cold
in the Cordillera. This naked dog is, however quite distinct from that
found preserved in the ancient Peruvian burial-places, and described by
Tschudi, under the name of Canis ingae, as withstanding cold well and as
barking. It is not known whether these two distinct kinds of dog are the
descendants of native species, and it might be argued that when man first
migrated into America he brought with him from the Asiatic continent dogs
which had not learned to bark; but this view does not seem probable, as the
natives along the line of their march from the north reclaimed, as we have
seen, at least two N. American species of Canidae.
Turning to the Old World, some European dogs closely resemble the wolf;
thus the shepherd dog of the plains of Hungary is white or reddish-brown,
has a sharp nose, short, erect ears, shaggy coat, and bushy tail, and so
much resembles a wolf that Mr. Paget, who gives this description, says he
has known a Hungarian mistake a wolf for one of his own dogs. Jeitteles,
also, remarks on the close similarity of the Hungarian dog and wolf.
Shepherd dogs in Italy must anciently have closely resembled wolves, for
Columella (vii. 12) advises that white dogs be kept, adding, "pastor album
probat, ne pro lupo canem feriat." Several accounts have been given of dogs
and wolves crossing naturally; and Pliny asserts that the Gauls tied their
female dogs in the woods that they might cross with wolves. (1/19. Paget
'Travels in Hungary and Transylvania' volume 1 page 501. Jeitteles 'Fauna
Hungariae Superioris' 1862 s. 13. See Pliny 'History of the World' (English
translation) 8th book ch. 40 about the Gauls crossing their dogs. See also
Aristotle 'Hist. Animal.' Lib. 8 c. 28. For good evidence about wolves and
dogs naturally crossing near the Pyrenees, see M. Mauduyt 'Du Loup et de
ses Races' Poitiers, 1851; also Pallas in 'Acta Acad. St. Petersburgh' 1780
part 2 page 94.) The European wolf differs slightly from that of North
America, and has been ranked by many naturalists as a distinct species. The
common wolf of India is also by some esteemed as a third species, and here
again we find a marked resemblance between the pariah dogs of certain
districts of India and the Indian wolf. (1/20. I give this on excellent
authority, namely Mr. Blyth (under the signature of Zoophilus) in the
'Indian Sporting Review' October 1856 page 134. Mr. Blyth states that he
was struck with the resemblance between a brush-tailed race of pariah-dogs,
north-west of Cawnpore, and the Indian wolf. He gives corroborative
evidence with respect to the dogs of the valley of the Nerbudda.)
With respect to Jackals, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1/21. For numerous
and interesting details on the resemblance of dogs and jackals see Isid.
Geoffroy St.-Hilaire 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' 1860 tome 3 page 101. See also
'Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes' par Prof. Gervais, 1855 tome 2 page 60.) says
that not one constant difference can be pointed out between their structure
and that of the smaller races of dogs. They agree closely in habits:
jackals, when tamed and called by their master, wag their tails, lick his
hands, crouch, and throw themselves on their backs; they smell at the tails
of other dogs, and void their urine sideways; they roll on carrion or on
animals which they have killed; and, lastly, when in high spirits, they run
round in circles or in a figure of eight, with their tails between their
legs. (1/22. Also Guldenstadt 'Nov. Comment. Acad. Petrop.' tome 20 pro
anno 1775 page 449. Also Salvin in 'Land and Water' October 1869.) A number
of excellent naturalists, from the time of Guldenstadt to that of
Ehrenberg, Hemprich, and Cretzschmar, have expressed themselves in the
strongest terms with respect to the resemblance of the half-domestic dogs
of Asia and Egypt to jackals. M. Nordmann, for instance, says, "Les chiens
d'Awhasie ressemblent etonnamment a des chacals." Ehrenberg (1/23. Quoted
by De Blainville in his 'Osteographie, Canidae' pages 79, 98.) asserts that
the domestic dogs of Lower Egypt, and certain mummied dogs, have for their
wild type a species of wolf (C. lupaster) of the country; whereas the
domestic dogs of Nubia and certain other mummied dogs have the closest
relation to a wild species of the same country, viz. C. sabbar, which is
only a form of the common jackal. Pallas asserts that jackals and dogs
sometimes naturally cross in the East; and a case is on record in Algeria.
(1/24. See Pallas in 'Act. Acad. St. Petersburgh' 1780 part 2 page 91. For
Algeria, see Isid. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' tome 3 page 177.
In both countries it is the male jackal which pairs with female domestic
dogs.) The greater number of naturalists divide the jackals of Asia and
Africa into several species, but some few rank them all as one.
I may add that the domestic dogs on the coast of Guinea are fox-like
animals, and are dumb. (1/25. John Barbut 'Description of the Coast of
Guinea in 1746.') On the east coast of Africa, between latitude 4 deg and 6
deg south, and about ten days' journey in the interior, a semi-domestic
dog, as the Rev. S. Erhardt informs me, is kept, which the natives assert
is derived from a similar wild animal. Lichtenstein (1/26. 'Travels in
South Africa' volume 2 page 272.) says that the dogs of the Bosjemans
present a striking resemblance even in colour (excepting the black stripe
down the back) with the C. mesomelas of South Africa. Mr. E. Layard informs
me that he has seen a Caffre dog which closely resembled an Esquimaux dog.
In Australia the Dingo is both domesticated and wild; though this animal
may have been introduced aboriginally by man, yet it must be considered as
almost an endemic form, for its remains have been found in a similar state
of preservation and associated with extinct mammals, so that its
introduction must have been ancient. (1/27. Selwyn, Geology of Victoria;
'Journal of Geolog. Soc.' volume 14 1858 page 536 and volume 16 1860 page
148; and Prof. M'Coy in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' (3rd series) volume
9 1862 page 147. The Dingo differs from the dogs of the central Polynesian
islands. Dieffenbach remarks ('Travels' volume 2 page 45) that the native
New Zealand dog also differs from the Dingo.)
From this resemblance of the half-domesticated dogs in several countries to
the wild species still living there,--from the facility with which they can
often be crossed together,--from even half-tamed animals being so much
valued by savages,--and from the other circumstances previously remarked on
which favour their domestication, it is highly probable that the domestic
dogs of the world are descended from two well-defined species of wolf (viz.
C. lupus and C. latrans), and from two or three other doubtful species
(namely, the European, Indian, and North African wolves); from at least one
or two South American canine species; from several races or species of
jackal; and perhaps from one or more extinct species. Although it is
possible or even probable that domesticated dogs, introduced into any
country and bred there for many generations, might acquire some of the
characters proper to the aboriginal Canidae of the country, we can hardly
thus account for introduced dogs having given rise to two breeds in the
same country, resembling two of its aboriginal species, as in the above-
given cases of Guiana and of North America. (1/28. These latter remarks
afford, I think, a sufficient answer to some criticisms by Mr. Wallace, on
the multiple origin of dogs, given in Lyell's 'Principles of Geology' 1872
volume 2 page 295.)
It cannot be objected to the view of several canine species having been
anciently domesticated, that these animals are tamed with difficulty: facts
have been already given on this head, but I may add that the young of the
Canis primaevus of India were tamed by Mr. Hodgson (1/29. 'Proceedings
Zoological Soc.' 1833 page 112. See also on the taming of the common wolf,
L. Lloyd 'Scandinavian Adventures' 1854 volume 1 page 460. With respect to
the jackal, see Prof. Gervais 'Hist. Nat. Mamm.' tome 2 page 61. With
respect to the aguara of Paraguay see Rengger's work.), and became as
sensible of caresses, and manifested as much intelligence, as any sporting
dog of the same age. There is not much difference, as we have already shown
and shall further see, in habits between the domestic dogs of the North
American Indians and the wolves of that country, or between the Eastern
pariah dogs and jackals, or between the dogs which have run wild in various
countries and the several natural species of the family. The habit of
barking, however, which is almost universal with domesticated dogs, forms
an exception, as it does not characterise a single natural species of the
family, though I am assured that the Canis latrans of North America utters
a noise which closely approaches a bark. But this habit is soon lost by
dogs when they become feral and is soon reacquired when they are again
domesticated. The case of the wild dogs on the island of Juan Fernandez
having become dumb has often been quoted, and there is reason to believe
(130. Roulin, in 'Mem. present. par divers Savans' tome 6 page 341.) that
the dumbness ensued in the course of thirty-three years; on the other hand,
dogs taken from this island by Ulloa slowly reacquired the habit of
barking. The Mackenzie-river dogs, of the Canis latrans type, when brought
to England, never learned to bark properly; but one born in the Zoological
Gardens (1/31. Martin 'History of the Dog' page 14.) "made his voice sound
as loudly as any other dog of the same age and size." According to
Professor Nillson (1/32. Quoted by L. Lloyd in 'Field Sports of North of
Europe' volume 1 page 387.), a wolf-whelp reared by a bitch barks. I.
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire exhibited a jackal which barked with the same tone
as any common dog. (1/33. Quatrefages 'Soc. d'Acclimat.' May 11, 1863 page
7.) An interesting account has been given by Mr. G. Clarke (1/34. 'Annals
and Mag of Nat. Hist.' volume 15 1845 page 140.) of some dogs run wild on
Juan de Nova, in the Indian Ocean; "they had entirely lost the faculty of
barking; they had no inclination for the company of other dogs, nor did
they acquire their voice" during a captivity of several months. On the
island they "congregate in vast packs, and catch sea-birds with as much
address as foxes could display." The feral dogs of La Plata have not become
dumb; they are of large size, hunt singly or in packs, and burrow holes for
their young. (1/35. Azara 'Voyages dans l'Amer. Merid.' tome 1 page 381;
his account is fully confirmed by Rengger. Quatrefages gives an account of
a bitch brought from Jerusalem to France which burrowed a hole and littered
in it. See 'Discours, Exposition des Races Canines' 1865 page 3.) In these
habits the feral dogs of La Plata resemble wolves and jackals; both of
which hunt either singly or in packs, and burrow holes. (1/36. With respect
to wolves burrowing holes see Richardson 'Fauna Boreali-Americana' page 64;
and Bechstein 'Naturgeschichte Deutschlands' b. 1 s. 617.) These feral dogs
have not become uniform in colour on Juan Fernandez, Juan de Nova, or La
Plata. (1/37. See Poeppig 'Reise in Chile' b. 1 s. 290; Mr. G. Clarke, as
above; and Rengger, s. 155.) In Cuba the feral dogs are described by
Poeppig as nearly all mouse-coloured, with short ears and light-blue eyes.
In St. Domingo, Col. Ham. Smith says (1/38. Dogs, 'Nat. Library' volume 10
page 121; an endemic South American dog seems also to have become feral in
this island. See Gosse 'Jamaica' page 340.) that the feral dogs are very
large, like greyhounds, of a uniform pale blue-ash, with small ears, and
large light-brown eyes. Even the wild Dingo, though so anciently
naturalised in Australia, "varies considerably in colour," as I am informed
by Mr. P.P. King: a half-bred Dingo reared in England (1/39. Low
'Domesticated Animals' page 650.) showed signs of wishing to burrow.
[From the several foregoing facts we see that reversion in the feral state
gives no indication of the colour or size of the aboriginal parent-species.
One fact, however, with respect to the colouring of domestic dogs, I at one
time hoped might have thrown some light on their origin; and it is worth
giving, as showing how colouring follows laws, even in so anciently and
thoroughly domesticated an animal as the dog. Black dogs with tan-coloured
feet, whatever breed they may belong to, almost invariably have a tan-
coloured spot on the upper and inner corners of each eye, and their lips
are generally thus coloured. I have seen only two exceptions to this rule,
namely, in a spaniel and terrier. Dogs of a light-brown colour often have a
lighter, yellowish-brown spot over the eyes; sometimes the spot is white,
and in a mongrel terrier the spot was black. Mr. Waring kindly examined for
me a stud of fifteen greyhounds in Suffolk: eleven of them were black, or
black and white, or brindled, and these had no eye-spots; but three were
red and one slaty-blue, and these four had dark-coloured spots over their
eyes. Although the spots thus sometimes differ in colour, they strongly
tend to be tan-coloured; this is proved by my having seen four spaniels, a
setter, two Yorkshire shepherd dogs, a large mongrel, and some fox-hounds,
coloured black and white, with not a trace of tan-colour, excepting the
spots over the eyes, and sometimes a little on the feet. These latter
cases, and many others, show plainly that the colour of the feet and the
eye-spots are in some way correlated. I have noticed, in various breeds,
every gradation, from the whole face being tan-coloured, to a complete ring
round the eyes, to a minute spot over the inner and upper corners. The
spots occur in various sub-breeds of terriers and spaniels; in setters; in
hounds of various kinds, including the turnspit-like German badger-hound;
in shepherd dogs; in a mongrel, of which neither parent had the spots; in
one pure bulldog, though the spots were in this case almost white; and in
greyhounds,--but true black-and-tan greyhounds are excessively rare;
nevertheless I have been assured by Mr. Warwick, that one ran at the
Caledonian Champion meeting of April 1860, and was "marked precisely like a
black-and-tan terrier." This dog, or another exactly the same colour, ran
at the Scottish National Club on the 21st of March, 1865; and I hear from
Mr. C.M. Browne, that "there was no reason either on the sire or dam side
for the appearance of this unusual colour." Mr. Swinhoe at my request
looked at the dogs in China, at Amoy, and he soon noticed a brown dog with
yellow spots over the eyes. Colonel H. Smith (1/40. 'The Naturalist
Library' Dogs, volume 10 pages 4, 19.) figures the magnificent black
mastiff of Thibet with a tan-coloured stripe over the eyes, feet, and
chaps; and what is more singular, he figures the Alco, or native domestic
dog of Mexico, as black and white, with narrow tan-coloured rings round the
eyes; at the Exhibition of dogs in London, May 1863, a so-called forest dog
from North-West Mexico was shown, which had pale tan-coloured spots over
the eyes. The occurrence of these tan-coloured spots in dogs of such
extremely different breeds, living in various parts of the world, makes the
fact highly remarkable.
We shall hereafter see, especially in the chapter on Pigeons, that coloured
marks are strongly inherited, and that they often aid us in discovering the
primitive forms of our domestic races. Hence, if any wild canine species
had distinctly exhibited the tan-coloured spots over the eyes, it might
have been argued that this was the parent-form of nearly all our domestic
races. But after looking at many coloured plates, and through the whole
collection of skins in the British Museum, I can find no species thus
marked. It is no doubt possible that some extinct species was thus
coloured. On the other hand, in looking at the various species, there seems
to be a tolerably plain correlation between tan-coloured legs and face; and
less frequently between black legs and a black face; and this general rule
of colouring explains to a certain extent the above-given cases of
correlation between the eye-spots and the colour of the feet. Moreover,
some jackals and foxes have a trace of a white ring round their eyes, as in
C. mesomelas, C. aureus, and (judging from Colonel H. Smith's drawing) in
C. alopex, and C. thaleb. Other species have a trace of a black line over
the corners of the eyes, as in C. variegatus, cinereo-variegatus, and
fulvus, and the wild Dingo. Hence I am inclined to conclude that a tendency
for tan-coloured spots to appear over the eyes in the various breeds of
dogs, is analogous to the case observed by Desmarest, namely, that when any
white appears on a dog the tip of the tail is always white, "de maniere a
rappeler la tache terminale de meme couleur, qui caracterise la plupart des
Canides sauvages." (1/41. Quoted by Prof. Gervais 'Hist. Nat. Mamm.' tome 2
page 66.) This rule, however, as I am assured by Mr. Jesse, does not
invariably hold good.]
It has been objected that our domestic dogs cannot be descended from wolves
or jackals, because their periods of gestation are different. The supposed
difference rests on statements made by Buffon, Gilibert, Bechstein, and
others; but these are now known to be erroneous; and the period is found to
agree in the wolf, jackal, and dog, as closely as could be expected, for it
is often in some degree variable. (1/42. J. Hunter shows that the long
period of seventy-three days given by Buffon is easily explained by the
bitch having received the dog many times during a period of sixteen days
('Phil. Transact.' 1787 page 353). Hunter found that the gestation of a
mongrel from wolf and dog ('Phil. Transact.' 1789 page 160) apparently was
sixty-three days, for she received the dog more than once. The period of a
mongrel dog and jackal was fifty-nine days. Fred. Cuvier found the period
of gestation of the wolf to be ('Dict. Class. d'Hist. Nat.' tome 4 page 8)
two months and a few days, which agrees with the dog. Isid G. St.-Hilaire,
who has discussed the whole subject, and from whom I quote Bellingeri,
states ('Hist. Nat. Gen.' tome 3 page 112) that in the Jardin des Plantes
the period of the jackal has been found to be from sixty to sixty-three
days, exactly as with the dog.) Tessier, who has closely attended to this
subject, allows a difference of four days in the gestation of the dog. The
Rev. W.D. Fox has given me three carefully recorded cases of retrievers, in
which the bitch was put only once to the dog; and not counting this day,
but counting that of parturition, the periods were fifty-nine, sixty-two,
and sixty-seven days. The average period is sixty-three days; but
Bellingeri states that this applies only to large dogs; and that for small
races it is from sixty to sixty-three days; Mr. Eyton of Eyton, who has had
much experience with dogs, also informs me that the time is apt to be
longer with large than with small dogs.
F. Cuvier has objected that the jackal would not have been domesticated on
account of its offensive smell; but savages are not sensitive in this
respect. The degree of odour, also, differs in the different kinds of
jackal (1/43. See Isid. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' tome 3 page
112, on the odour of jackals. Col. Ham. Smith in 'Nat. Lib.' volume 10 page
289.); and Colonel H. Smith makes a sectional division of the group with
one character dependent on not being offensive. On the other hand, dogs--
for instance, rough and smooth terriers--differ much in this respect; and
M. Godron states that the hairless so-called Turkish dog is more
odoriferous than other dogs. Isidore Geoffroy (1/44. Quoted by Quatrefages
in 'Bull. Soc. d'Acclimat.' May 11, 1863.) gave to a dog the same odour as
that from a jackal by feeding it on raw flesh.
The belief that our dogs are descended from wolves, jackals, South American
Canidae, and other species, suggests a far more important difficulty. These
animals in their undomesticated state, judging from a widely-spread
analogy, would have been in some degree sterile if intercrossed; and such
sterility will be admitted as almost certain by all those who believe that
the lessened fertility of crossed forms is an infallible criterion of
specific distinctness. Anyhow these animals keep distinct in the countries
which they inhabit in common. On the other hand, all domestic dogs, which
are here supposed to be descended from several distinct species, are, as
far as is known, mutually fertile together. But, as Broca has well remarked
(1/45. 'Journal de la Physiologie' tome 2 page 385.), the fertility of
successive generations of mongrel dogs has never been scrutinised with that
care which is thought indispensable when species are crossed. The few facts
leading to the conclusion that the sexual feelings and reproductive powers
differ in the several races of the dog when crossed are (passing over mere
size as rendering propagation difficult) as follows: the Mexican Alco
(1/46. See Mr. R. Hill's excellent account of this breed in Gosse's
'Jamaica' page 338; Rengger 'Saugethiere von Paraguay' s. 153. With respect
to Spitz dogs, see Bechstein's 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands' 1801 b. 1 s. 638.
With respect to Dr. Hodgkin's statement made before Brit. Assoc. see 'The
Zoologist' volume 4 for 1845-46 page 1097.) apparently dislikes dogs of
other kinds, but this perhaps is not strictly a sexual feeling; the
hairless endemic dog of Paraguay, according to Rengger, mixes less with the
European races than these do with each other; the Spitz dog in Germany is
said to receive the fox more readily than do other breeds; and Dr. Hodgkin
states that a female Dingo in England attracted the male wild foxes. If
these latter statements can be trusted, they prove some degree of sexual
difference in the breeds of the dog. But the fact remains that our domestic
dogs, differing so widely as they do in external structure, are far more
fertile together than we have reason to believe their supposed wild parents
would have been. Pallas assumes (1/47. 'Acta Acad. St. Petersburgh' 1780
part 2 pages 84, 100.) that a long course of domestication eliminates that
sterility which the parent-species would have exhibited if only lately
captured; no distinct facts are recorded in support of this hypothesis; but
the evidence seems to me so strong (independently of the evidence derived
from other domesticated animals) in favour of our domestic dogs having
descended from several wild stocks, that I am inclined to admit the truth
of this hypothesis.
There is another and closely allied difficulty consequent on the doctrine
of the descent of our domestic dogs from several wild species, namely, that
they do not seem to be perfectly fertile with their supposed parents. But
the experiment has not been quite fairly tried; the Hungarian dog, for
instance, which in external appearance so closely resembles the European
wolf, ought to be crossed with this wolf: and the pariah dogs of India with
Indian wolves and jackals; and so in other cases. That the sterility is
very slight between certain dogs and wolves and other Canidae is shown by
savages taking the trouble to cross them. Buffon got four successive
generations from the wolf and dog, and the mongrels were perfectly fertile
together. (1/48. M. Broca has shown ('Journal de Physiologie' tome 2 page
353) that Buffon's experiments have been often misrepresented. Broca has
collected (pages 390-395) many facts on the fertility of crossed dogs,
wolves, and jackals.) But more lately M. Flourens states positively as the
result of his numerous experiments that hybrids from the wolf and dog,
crossed inter se, become sterile at the third generation, and those from
the jackal and dog at the fourth generation. (1/49. 'De la Longevite
Humaine' par M. Flourens 1855 page 143. Mr. Blyth says ('Indian Sporting
Review' volume 2 page 137) that he has seen in India several hybrids from
the pariah-dog and jackal; and between one of these hybrids and a terrier.
The experiments of Hunter on the jackal are well-known. See also Isid.
Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' tome 3 page 217, who speaks of the
hybrid offspring of the jackal as perfectly fertile for three generations.)
But these animals were closely confined; and many wild animals, as we shall
see in a future chapter, are rendered by confinement in some degree or even
utterly sterile. The Dingo, which breeds freely in Australia with our
imported dogs, would not breed though repeatedly crossed in the Jardin des
Plantes. (1/50. On authority of F. Cuvier quoted in Bronn's 'Geschichte der
Natur' b. 2 s. 164.) Some hounds from Central Africa, brought home by Major
Denham, never bred in the Town of London (1/51. W.C.L. Martin 'History of
the Dog' 1845 page 203. Mr. Philip P. King, after ample opportunities of
observation, informs me that the Dingo and European dogs often cross in
Australia.); and a similar tendency to sterility might be transmitted to
the hybrid offspring of a wild animal. Moreover, it appears that in M.
Flourens' experiments the hybrids were closely bred in and in for three or
four generations; and this circumstance would most certainly increase the
tendency to sterility. Several years ago I saw confined in the Zoological
Gardens of London a female hybrid from an English dog and jackal, which
even in this the first generation was so sterile that, as I was assured by
her keeper, she did not fully exhibit her proper periods; but this case was
certainly exceptional, as numerous instances have occurred of fertile
hybrids from these two animals. In almost all experiments on the crossing
of animals there are so many causes of doubt, that it is extremely
difficult to come to any positive conclusion. It would, however, appear,
that those who believe that our dogs are descended from several species
will have not only to admit that their offspring after a long course of
domestication generally lose all tendency to sterility when crossed
together; but that between certain breeds of dogs and some of their
supposed aboriginal parents a certain degree of sterility has been retained
or possibly even acquired.
Notwithstanding the difficulties in regard to fertility given in the last
two paragraphs, when we reflect on the inherent improbability of man having
domesticated throughout the world one single species alone of so widely
distributed, so easily tamed, and so useful a group as the Canidae; when we
reflect on the extreme antiquity of the different breeds; and especially
when we reflect on the close similarity, both in external structure and
habits, between the domestic dogs of various countries and the wild species
still inhabiting these same countries, the balance of evidence is strongly
in favour of the multiple origin of our dogs.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SEVERAL BREEDS OF THE DOG.
If the several breeds have descended from several wild stocks, their
difference can obviously in part be explained by that of their parent
species. For instance, the form of the greyhound may be partly accounted
for by descent from some such animal as the slim Abyssinian Canis simensis
(1/52. Ruppel 'Neue Wirbelthiere von Abyssinien' 1835-40 'Mammif.' s. 39
pl. 14. There is a specimen of this fine animal in the British Museum.),
with its elongated muzzle; that of the larger dogs from the larger wolves,
and the smaller and slighter dogs from the jackals: and thus perhaps we may
account for certain constitutional and climatal differences. But it would
be a great error to suppose that there has not been in addition (1/53. Even
Pallas admits this; see 'Act. Acad. St. Petersburgh' 1780 page 93.) a large
amount of variation. The intercrossing of the several aboriginal wild
stocks, and of the subsequently formed races, has probably increased the
total number of breeds, and, as we shall presently see, has greatly
modified some of them. But we cannot explain by crossing the origin of such
extreme forms as thoroughbred greyhounds, bloodhounds, bulldogs, Blenheim
spaniels, terriers, pugs, etc., unless we believe that forms equally or
more strongly characterised in these different respects once existed in
nature. But hardly any one has been bold enough to suppose that such
unnatural forms ever did or could exist in a wild state. When compared with
all known members of the family of Canidae they betray a distinct and
abnormal origin. No instance is on record of such dogs as bloodhounds,
spaniels, true greyhounds having been kept by savages: they are the product
of long-continued civilisation.
[The number of breeds and sub-breeds of the dog is great; Youatt for
instance, describes twelve kinds of greyhounds. I will not attempt to
enumerate or describe the varieties, for we cannot discriminate how much of
their difference is due to variation, and how much to descent from
different aboriginal stocks. But it may be worth while briefly to mention
some points. Commencing with the skull, Cuvier has admitted (1/54. Quoted
by I. Geoffroy 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' tome 3 page 453.) that in form the
differences are "plus fortes que celles d'aucunes especes sauvages d'un
meme genre naturel." The proportions of the different bones; the curvature
of the lower jaw, the position of the condyles with respect to the plane of
the teeth (on which F. Cuvier founded his classification), and in mastiffs
the shape of its posterior branch; the shape of the zygomatic arch, and of
the temporal fossae; the position of the occiput--all vary considerably.
(1/55. F. Cuvier in 'Annales du Museum' tome 18 page 337; Godron 'De
l'Espece' tome 1 page 342; and Col. H. Smith in 'Nat. Library' volume 9
page 101. See also some observations on the degeneracy of the skull in
certain breeds, by Prof. Bianconi 'La Theorie Darwinienne' 1874 page 279.)
The difference in size between the brains of dogs belonging to large and
small breeds "is something prodigious." "Some dogs' brains are high and
rounded, while others are low, long, and narrow in front." In the latter,
"the olfactory lobes are visible for about half their extent, when the
brain is seen from above, but they are wholly concealed by the hemispheres
in other breeds." (1/56. Dr. Burt Wilder 'American Assoc. Advancement of
Science' 1873 pages 236, 239.) The dog has properly six pairs of molar
teeth in the upper jaw, and seven in the lower; but several naturalists
have seen not rarely an additional pair in the upper jaw (1/57. Isid.
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 'Hist. des Anomalies' 1832 tome 1 page 660, Gervais
'Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes' tome 2 1855 page 66. De Blainville
('Osteographie, Canidae' page 137) has also seen an extra molar on both
sides.); and Professor Gervais says that there are dogs "qui ont sept
paires de dents superieures et huit inferieures." De Blainville (1/58.
'Osteographie, Canidae' page 137.) has given full particulars on the
frequency of these deviations in the number of the teeth, and has shown
that it is not always the same tooth which is supernumerary. In short-
muzzled races, according to H. Muller (1/59. Wurzburger 'Medecin.
Zeitschrift' 1860 b. 1 s. 265.), the molar teeth stand obliquely, whilst in
long-muzzled races they are placed longitudinally, with open spaces between
them. The naked, so-called Egyptian or Turkish dog is extremely deficient
in its teeth (1/60. Mr. Yarrell in 'Proc. Zoological Soc.' October 8, 1833.
Mr. Waterhouse showed me a skull of one of these dogs, which had only a
single molar on each side and some imperfect incisors.),--sometimes having
none except one molar on each side; but this, though characteristic of the
breed, must be considered as a monstrosity. M. Girard (1/61. Quoted in 'The
Veterinary' London volume 8 page 415.), who seems to have attended closely
to the subject, says that the period of the appearance of the permanent
teeth differs in different dogs, being earlier in large dogs; thus the
mastiff assumes its adult teeth in four or five months, whilst in the
spaniel the period is sometimes more than seven or eight months. On the
other hand small dogs are mature, and the females have arrived at the best
age for breeding, when one year old, whereas large dogs "are still in their
puppyhood at this time, and take fully twice as long to develop their
proportions." (1/62. This is quoted from Stonehenge, a great authority,
'The Dog' 1867 page 187.)
With respect to minor differences little need be said. Isidore Geoffroy has
shown (1/63. 'Hist. Nat. General' tome 3 page 448.) that in size some dogs
are six times as long (the tail being excluded) as others; and that the
height relatively to the length of the body varies from between one to two,
and one to nearly four. In the Scotch deer-hound there is a striking and
remarkable difference in the size of the male and female. (1/64. W. Scrope
'Art of Deer-Stalking' page 354.) Every one knows how the ears vary in size
in different breeds, and with their great development their muscles become
atrophied. Certain breeds of dogs are described as having a deep furrow
between the nostrils and lips. The caudal vertebrae, according to F.
Cuvier, on whose authority the two last statements rest, vary in number;
and the tail in English cattle and some shepherd dogs is almost absent. The
mammae vary from seven to ten in number; Daubenton, having examined twenty-
one dogs, found eight with five mammae on each side; eight with four on
each side; and the others with an unequal number on the two sides. (1/65.
Quoted by Col. Ham. Smith in 'Nat. Lib.' volume 10 page 79.) Dogs have
properly five toes in front and four behind, but a fifth toe is often
added; and F. Cuvier states that, when a fifth toe is present, a fourth
cuneiform bone is developed; and, in this case, sometimes the great
cuneiform bone is raised, and gives on its inner side a large articular
surface to the astragalus; so that even the relative connection of the
bones, the most constant of all characters, varies. These modifications,
however, in the feet of dogs are not important, because they ought to be
ranked, as De Blainville has shown (1/66. De Blainville 'Osteographie,
Canidae' page 134. F. Cuvier 'Annales du Museum' tome 18 page 342. In
regard to mastiffs, see Col. H. Smith 'Nat. Lib.' volume 10 page 218. For
the Thibet mastiff, see Mr. Hodgson in 'Journal of As. Soc. of Bengal'
volume 1 1832 page 342.) as monstrosities. Nevertheless they are
interesting from being correlated with the size of the body, for they occur
much more frequently with mastiffs and other large breeds than with small
dogs. Closely allied varieties, however, sometimes differ in this respect;
thus Mr. Hodgson states that the black-and-tan Lassa variety of the Thibet
mastiff has the fifth digit, whilst the Mustang sub-variety is not thus
characterised. The extent to which the skin is developed between the toes
varies much; but we shall return to this point. The degree to which the
various breeds differ in the perfection of their senses, dispositions, and
inherited habits is notorious to every one. The breeds present some
constitutional differences: the pulse, says Youatt (1/67. 'The Dog' 1845
page 186. With respect to diseases Youatt asserts (page 167) that the
Italian greyhound is "strongly subject" to polypi in the matrix or vagina.
The spaniel and pug (page 182) are most liable to bronchocele. The
liability to distemper (page 232) is extremely different in different
breeds. On the distemper, see also Col. Hutchinson on 'Dog Breaking' 1850
page 279.) "varies materially according to the breed, as well as to the
size of the animal." Different breeds of dogs are subject in different
degrees to various diseases. They certainly become adapted to different
climates under which they have long existed. It is notorious that most of
our best European breeds deteriorate in India. (1/68. See 'Youatt on the
Dog' page 15; 'The Veterinary' London volume 11 page 235.) The Rev R.
Everest (1/69. 'Journal of As. Soc. of Bengal' volume 3 page 19.) believes
that no one has succeeded in keeping the Newfoundland dog long alive in
India; so it is, according to Lichtenstein (1/70. 'Travels' volume 2 page
15.), even at the Cape of Good Hope. The Thibet mastiff degenerates on the
plains of India, and can live only on the mountains. (1/71. Hodgson in
'Journal of As. Soc. of Bengal' volume 1 page 342.) Lloyd (1/72. 'Field
Sports of the North of Europe' volume 2 page 165.) asserts that our
bloodhounds and bulldogs have been tried, and cannot withstand the cold of
the northern European forests.]
Seeing in how many characters the races of the dog differ from each other,
and remembering Cuvier's admission that their skulls differ more than do
those of the species of any natural genus, and bearing in mind how closely
the bones of wolves, jackals, foxes, and other Canidae agree, it is
remarkable that we meet with the statement, repeated over and over again,
that the races of the dog differ in no important characters. A highly
competent judge, Prof. Gervais (1/73. 'Hist. Nat. des Mammif.' 1855 tome 2
pages 66, 67.), admits "si l'on prenait sans controle les alterations dont
chacun de ces organes est susceptible, on pourrait croire qu'il y a entre
les chiens domestiques des differences plus grandes que celles qui separent
ailleurs les especes, quelquefois meme les genres." Some of the differences
above enumerated are in one respect of comparatively little value, for they
are not characteristic of distinct breeds: no one pretends that such is the
case with the additional molar teeth or with the number of mammae; the
additional digit is generally present with mastiffs, and some of the more
important differences in the skull and lower jaw are more or less
characteristic of various breeds. But we must not forget that the
predominant power of selection has not been applied in any of these cases;
we have variability in important parts, but the differences have not been
fixed by selection. Man cares for the form and fleetness of his greyhounds,
for the size of his mastiffs, and formerly for the strength of the jaw in
his bulldogs, etc.; but he cares nothing about the number of their molar
teeth or mammae or digits; nor do we know that differences in these organs
are correlated with, or owe their development to, differences in other
parts of the body about which man does care. Those who have attended to the
subject of selection will admit that, nature having given variability, man,
if he so chose, could fix five toes to the hinder feet of certain breeds of
dogs, as certainly as to the feet of his Dorking fowls: he could probably
fix, but with much more difficulty, an additional pair of molar teeth in
either jaw, in the same way as he has given additional horns to certain
breeds of sheep; if he wished to produce a toothless breed of dogs, having
the so-called Turkish dog with its imperfect teeth to work on, he could
probably do so, for he has succeeded in making hornless breeds of cattle
and sheep.
With respect to the precise causes and steps by which the several races of
dogs have come to differ so greatly from each other, we are, as in most
other cases, profoundly ignorant. We may attribute part of the difference
in external form and constitution to inheritance from distinct wild stocks,
that is to changes effected under nature before domestication. We must
attribute something to the crossing of the several domestic and natural
races. I shall, however, soon recur to the crossing of races. We have
already seen how often savages cross their dogs with wild native species;
and Pennant gives a curious account (1/74. 'History of Quadrupeds' 1793
volume 1 page 238.) of the manner in which Fochabers, in Scotland, was
stocked "with a multitude of curs of a most wolfish aspect" from a single
hybrid-wolf brought into that district.
It would appear that climate to a certain extent directly modifies the
forms of dogs. We have lately seen that several of our English breeds
cannot live in India, and it is positively asserted that when bred there
for a few generations they degenerate not only in their mental faculties,
but in form. Captain Williamson (1/75. 'Oriental Field Sports' quoted by
Youatt 'The Dog' page 15.), who carefully attended to this subject, states
that "hounds are the most rapid in their decline;" "greyhounds and
pointers, also, rapidly decline." But spaniels, after eight or nine
generations, and without a cross from Europe, are as good as their
ancestors. Dr. Falconer informs me that bulldogs, which have been known,
when first brought into the country, to pin down even an elephant by its
trunk, not only fall off after two or three generations in pluck and
ferocity, but lose the under-hung character of their lower jaws; their
muzzles become finer and their bodies lighter. English dogs imported into
India are so valuable that probably due care has been taken to prevent
their crossing with native dogs; so that the deterioration cannot be thus
accounted for. The Rev. R. Everest informs me that he obtained a pair of
setters, born in India, which perfectly resembled their Scotch parents: he
raised several litters from them in Delhi, taking the most stringent
precautions to prevent a cross, but he never succeeded, though this was
only the second generation in India, in obtaining a single young dog like
its parents in size or make; their nostrils were more contracted, their
noses more pointed, their size inferior, and their limbs more slender. So
again on the coast of Guinea, dogs, according to Bosman, "alter strangely;
their ears grow long and stiff like those of foxes, to which colour they
also incline, so that in three or four years, they degenerate into very
ugly creatures; and in three or four broods their barking turns into a
howl." (1/76. A. Murray gives this passage in his 'Geographical
Distribution of Mammals' 4to 1866 page 8.) This remarkable tendency to
rapid deterioration in European dogs subjected to the climate of India and
Africa, may be largely accounted for by reversion to a primordial condition
which many animals exhibit, as we shall hereafter see, when their
constitutions are in any way disturbed.
Some of the peculiarities characteristic of the several breeds of the dog
have probably arisen suddenly, and, though strictly inherited, may be
called monstrosities; for instance, the shape of the legs and body in the
turnspit of Europe and India; the shape of the head and the under-hanging
jaw in the bull-and pug-dog, so alike in this one respect and so unlike in
all others. A peculiarity suddenly arising, and therefore in one sense
deserving to be called a monstrosity, may, however, be increased and fixed
by man's selection. We can hardly doubt that long-continued training, as
with the greyhound in coursing hares, as with water-dogs in swimming--and
the want of exercise, in the case of lapdogs--must have produced some
direct effect on their structure and instincts. But we shall immediately
see that the most potent cause of change has probably been the selection,
both methodical and unconscious, of slight individual differences,--the
latter kind of selection resulting from the occasional preservation, during
hundreds of generations, of those individual dogs which were the most
useful to man for certain purposes and under certain conditions of life. In
a future chapter on Selection I shall show that even barbarians attend
closely to the qualities of their dogs. This unconscious selection by man
would be aided by a kind of natural selection; for the dogs of savages have
partly to gain their own subsistence: for instance, in Australia, as we
hear from Mr. Nind (1/77. Quoted by Mr. Galton 'Domestication of Animals'
page 13.), the dogs are sometimes compelled by want to leave their masters
and provide for themselves; but in a few days they generally return. And we
may infer that dogs of different shapes, sizes, and habits, would have the
best chance of surviving under different circumstances,--on open sterile
plains, where they have to run down their own prey,--on rocky coasts, where
they have to feed on crabs and fish left in the tidal pools, as in the case
of New Guinea and Tierra del Fuego. In this latter country, as I am
informed by Mr. Bridges, the Catechist to the Mission, the dogs turn over
the stones on the shore to catch the crustaceans which lie beneath, and
they "are clever enough to knock off the shell-fish at a first blow;" for
if this be not done, shell-fish are well-known to have an almost invincible
power of adhesion.
It has already been remarked that dogs differ in the degree to which their
feet are webbed. In dogs of the Newfoundland breed, which are eminently
aquatic in their habits, the skin, according to Isidore Geoffroy (1/78.
'Hist. Nat. Gen.' tome 3 page 450.), extends to the third phalanges whilst
in ordinary dogs it extends only to the second. In two Newfoundland dogs
which I examined, when the toes were stretched apart and viewed on the
under side, the skin extended in a nearly straight line between the outer
margins of the balls of the toes; whereas, in two terriers of distinct sub-
breeds, the skin viewed in the same manner was deeply scooped out. In
Canada there is a dog which is peculiar to the country and common there,
and this has "half-webbed feet and is fond of the water." (1/79. Mr.
Greenhow on the Canadian Dog in Loudon's 'Mag. of Nat. Hist.' volume 6 1833
page 511.) English otter-hounds are said to have webbed feet: a friend
examined for me the feet of two, in comparison with the feet of some
harriers and bloodhounds; he found the skin variable in extent in all, but
more developed in the otter-hounds than in the others. (1/80. See Mr. C.O.
Groom-Napier on the webbing of the hind feet of Otterhounds in 'Land and
Water' October 13, 1866 page 270.) As aquatic animals which belong to quite
different orders have webbed feet, there can be no doubt that this
structure would be serviceable to dogs that frequent the water. We may
confidently infer that no man ever selected his water-dogs by the extent to
which the skin was developed between their toes; but what he does, is to
preserve and breed from those individuals which hunt best in the water, or
best retrieve wounded game, and thus he unconsciously selects dogs with
feet slightly better webbed. The effects of use from the frequent
stretching apart of the toes will likewise aid in the result. Man thus
closely imitates Natural Selection. We have an excellent illustration of
this same process in North America, where, according to Sir J. Richardson
(1/81. 'Fauna Boreali-Americana' 1829 page 62.), all the wolves, foxes, and
aboriginal domestic dogs have their feet broader than in the corresponding
species of the Old World, and "well calculated for running on the snow."
Now, in these Arctic regions, the life or death of every animal will often
depend on its success in hunting over the snow when soft; and this will in
part depend on the feet being broad; yet they must not be so broad as to
interfere with the activity of the animal when the ground is sticky, or
with its power of burrowing holes, or with other necessary habits of life.
As changes in domestic breeds which take place so slowly are not to be
noticed at any one period, whether due to the selection of individual
variations or of differences resulting from crosses, are most important in
understanding the origin of our domestic productions, and likewise in
throwing indirect light on the changes effected under nature, I will give
in detail such cases as I have been able to collect. Lawrence (1/82. 'The
Horse in all his Varieties, etc.' 1829 pages 230, 234.), who paid
particular attention to the history of the foxhound, writing in 1829, says
that between eighty and ninety years before "an entirely new foxhound was
raised through the breeder's art," the ears of the old southern hound being
reduced, the bone and bulk lightened, the waist increased in length, and
the stature somewhat added to. It is believed that this was effected by a
cross with a greyhound. With respect to this latter dog, Youatt (1/83. 'The
Dog' 1845 pages 31, 35; with respect to King Charles' spaniel page 45; for
the setter page 90.), who is generally cautious in his statements, says
that the greyhound within the last fifty years, that is before the
commencement of the present century, "assumed a somewhat different
character from that which he once possessed. He is now distinguished by a
beautiful symmetry of form, of which he could not once boast, and he has
even superior speed to that which he formerly exhibited. He is no longer
used to struggle with deer, but contends with his fellows over a shorter
and speedier course." An able writer (1/84. In the 'Encyclop. of Rural
Sports' page 557.) believes that our English greyhounds are the
descendants, PROGRESSIVELY IMPROVED, of the large rough greyhounds which
existed in Scotland so early as the third century. A cross at some former
period with the Italian greyhound has been suspected; but this seems hardly
probable, considering the feebleness of this latter breed. Lord Orford, as
is well-known, crossed his famous greyhounds, which failed in courage, with
a bulldog--this breed being chosen from being erroneously supposed to be
deficient in the power of scent; "after the sixth or seventh generation,"
says Youatt, "there was not a vestige left of the form of the bulldog, but
his courage and indomitable perseverance remained."
Youatt infers, from a comparison of an old picture of King Charles's
spaniels with the living dog, that "the breed of the present day is
materially altered for the worse:" the muzzle has become shorter, the
forehead more prominent, and the eyes larger; the changes in this case have
probably been due to simple selection. The setter, as this author remarks
in another place, "is evidently the large spaniel improved to his present
peculiar size and beauty, and taught another way of marking his game. If
the form of the dog were not sufficiently satisfactory on this point, we
might have recourse to history:" he then refers to a document dated 1685
bearing on this subject, and adds that the pure Irish setter shows no signs
of a cross with the pointer, which some authors suspect has been the case
with the English setter. The bulldog is an English breed, and as I hear
from Mr. G.R. Jesse (1/85. Author of 'Researches into the History of the
British Dog.), seems to have originated from the mastiff since the time of
Shakspeare; but certainly existed in 1631, as shown by Prestwick Eaton's
letters. There can be no doubt that the fancy bulldogs of the present day,
now that they are not used for bull-baiting, have become greatly reduced in
size, without any express intention on the part of the breeder. Our
pointers are certainly descended from a Spanish breed, as even their
present names, Don, Ponto, Carlos, etc., show; it is said that they were
not known in England before the Revolution in 1688 (1/86. See Col. Hamilton
Smith on the antiquity of the Pointer, in 'Nat. Lib.' volume 10 page 196.);
but the breed since its introduction has been much modified, for Mr.
Borrow, who is a sportsman and knows Spain intimately well, informs me that
he has not seen in that country any breed "corresponding in figure with the
English pointer; but there are genuine pointers near Xeres which have been
imported by English gentlemen." A nearly parallel case is offered by the
Newfoundland dog, which was certainly brought into England from that
country, but which has since been so much modified that, as several writers
have observed, it does not now closely resemble any existing native dog in
Newfoundland. (1/87. The Newfoundland dog is believed to have originated
from a cross between the Esquimaux dog and a large French hound. See Dr.
Hodgkin 'British Assoc.' 1844; Bechstein 'Naturgesch. Deutschland' b. 1 s.
574; 'Nat. Lib.' volume 10 page 132; also Mr. Jukes 'Excursion in and about
Newfoundland.')
These several cases of slow and gradual changes in our English dogs possess
some interest; for though the changes have generally, but not invariably,
been caused by one or two crosses with a distinct breed, yet we may feel
sure, from the well-known extreme variability of crossed breeds, that
rigorous and long-continued selection must have been practised, in order to
improve them in a definite manner. As soon as any strain or family became
slightly improved or better adapted to alter circumstances, it would tend
to supplant the older and less improved strains. For instance, as soon as
the old foxhound was improved by a cross with the greyhound, or by simple
selection, and assumed its present character--and the change was probably
desired owing to the increased fleetness of our hunters--it rapidly spread
throughout the country, and is now everywhere nearly uniform. But the
process of improvement is still going on for every one tries to improve his
strain by occasionally procuring dogs from the best kennels. Through this
process of gradual substitution the old English hound has been lost; and so
it has been with the Irish wolf-dog, the old English bulldog, and several
other breeds, such as the alaunt, as I am informed by Mr. Jesse. But the
extinction of former breeds is apparently aided by another cause; for
whenever a breed is kept in scanty numbers, as at present with the
bloodhound, it is reared with some difficulty, apparently from the evil
effects of long-continued close interbreeding. As several breeds of the dog
have been slightly but sensibly modified within so short a period as the
last one or two centuries, by the selection of the best individuals,
modified in many cases by crosses with other breeds; and as we shall
hereafter see that the breeding of dogs was attended to in ancient times,
as it still is by savages, we may conclude that we have in selection, even
if only occasionally practised, a potent means of modification.
DOMESTIC CATS.
Cats have been domesticated in the East from an ancient period; Mr. Blyth
informs me that they are mentioned in a Sanskrit writing 2000 years old,
and in Egypt their antiquity is known to be even greater, as shown by
monumental drawings and their mummied bodies. These mummies, according to
De Blainville (1/88. De Blainville 'Osteographie, Felis' page 65 on the
character of F. caligulata; pages 85, 89, 90, 175, on the other mummied
species. He quotes Ehrenberg on F. maniculata being mummied.), who has
particularly studied the subject, belong to no less than three species,
namely, F. caligulata, bubastes, and chaus. The two former species are said
to be still found, both wild and domesticated, in parts of Egypt. F.
caligulata presents a difference in the first inferior milk molar tooth, as
compared with the domestic cats of Europe, which makes De Blainville
conclude that it is not one of the parent-forms of our cats. Several
naturalists, as Pallas, Temminck, Blyth, believe that domestic cats are the
descendants of several species commingled: it is certain that cats cross
readily with various wild species, and it would appear that the character
of the domestic breeds has, at least in some cases, been thus affected. Sir
W. Jardine has no doubt that, "in the north of Scotland, there has been
occasional crossing with our native species (F. sylvestris), and that the
result of these crosses has been kept in our houses. I have seen," he adds,
"many cats very closely resembling the wild cat, and one or two that could
scarcely be distinguished from it." Mr. Blyth (1/89. Asiatic Soc. of
Calcutta; Curator's Report, August 1856. The passage from Sir W. Jardine is
quoted from this Report. Mr. Blyth, who has especially attended to the wild
and domestic cats of India, has given in this Report a very interesting
discussion on their origin.) remarks on this passage, "but such cats are
never seen in the southern parts of England; still, as compared with any
Indian tame cat, the affinity of the ordinary British cat to F. sylvestris
is manifest; and due I suspect to frequent intermixture at a time when the
tame cat was first introduced into Britain and continued rare, while the
wild species was far more abundant than at present." In Hungary, Jeitteles
(1/90. 'Fauna Hungariae Sup.' 1862 s. 12.) was assured on trustworthy
authority that a wild male cat crossed with a female domestic cat, and that
the hybrids long lived in a domesticated state. In Algiers the domestic cat
has crossed with the wild cat (F. lybica) of that country. (1/91. Isid.
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' tome 3 page 177.) In South Africa
as Mr. E. Layard informs me, the domestic cat intermingles freely with the
wild F. caffra; he has seen a pair of hybrids which were quite tame and
particularly attached to the lady who brought them up; and Mr. Fry has
found that these hybrids are fertile. In India the domestic cat, according
to Mr. Blyth, has crossed with four Indian species. With respect to one of
these species, F. chaus, an excellent observer, Sir W. Elliot, informs me
that he once killed, near Madras, a wild brood, which were evidently
hybrids from the domestic cat; these young animals had a thick lynx-like
tail and the broad brown bar on the inside of the forearm characteristic of
F. chaus. Sir W. Elliot adds that he has often observed this same mark on
the forearms of domestic cats in India. Mr. Blyth states that domestic cats
coloured nearly like F. chaus, but not resembling that species in shape,
abound in Bengal; he adds, "such a colouration is utterly unknown in
European cats, and the proper tabby markings (pale streaks on a black
ground, peculiarly and symmetrically disposed), so common in English cats,
are never seen in those of India." Dr. D. Short has assured Mr. Blyth
(1/92. 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' 1863 page 184.) that, at Hansi, hybrids between
the common cat and F. ornata (or torquata) occur, "and that many of the
domestic cats of that part of India were undistinguishable from the wild F.
ornata." Azara states, but only on the authority of the inhabitants, that
in Paraguay the cat has crossed with two native species. From these several
cases we see that in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, the common cat,
which lives a freer life than most other domesticated animals, has crossed
with various wild species; and that in some instances the crossing has been
sufficiently frequent to affect the character of the breed.
Whether domestic cats have descended from several distinct species, or have
only been modified by occasional crosses, their fertility, as far as is
known, is unimpaired. The large Angora or Persian cat is the most distinct
in structure and habits of all the domestic breeds; and is believed by
Pallas, but on no distinct evidence, to be descended from the F. manul of
middle Asia; and I am assured by Mr. Blyth that the Angora cat breeds
freely with Indian cats, which, as we have already seen, have apparently
been much crossed with F. chaus. In England half-bred Angora cats are
perfectly fertile with one another.
Within the same country we do not meet with distinct races of the cat, as
we do of dogs and of most other domestic animals; though the cats of the
same country present a considerable amount of fluctuating variability. The
explanation obviously is that, from their nocturnal and rambling habits,
indiscriminate crossing cannot without much trouble be prevented. Selection
cannot be brought into play to produce distinct breeds, or to keep those
distinct which have been imported from foreign lands. On the other hand, in
islands and in countries completely separated from each other, we meet with
breeds more or less distinct; and these cases are worth giving, showing
that the scarcity of distinct races in the same country is not caused by a
deficiency of variability in the animal. The tailless cats of the Isle of
Man are said to differ from common cats not only in the want of a tail, but
in the greater length of their hind legs, in the size of their heads, and
in habits. The Creole cat of Antigua, as I am informed by Mr. Nicholson, is
smaller, and has a more elongated head, than the British cat. In Ceylon, as
Mr. Thwaites writes to me, every one at first notices the different
appearance of the native cat from the English animal; it is of small size,
with closely lying hairs; its head is small, with a receding forehead; but
the ears are large and sharp; altogether it has what is there called a
"low-caste" appearance. Rengger (1/93. 'Saugethiere von Paraguay' 1830 s.
212.) says that the domestic cat, which has been bred for 300 years in
Paraguay, presents a striking difference from the European cat; it is
smaller by a fourth, has a more lanky body, its hair is short, shining,
scanty and lies close, especially on the tail: he adds that the change has
been less at Ascension, the capital of Paraguay, owing to the continual
crossing with newly imported cats; and this fact well illustrates the
importance of separation. The conditions of life in Paraguay appear not to
be highly favourable to the cat, for, though they have run half-wild, they
do not become thoroughly feral, like so many other European animals. In
another part of South America, according to Roulin (1/94. 'Mem. presentes
par divers Savans: Acad. Roy. des Sciences' tome 6 page 346. Gomara first
noticed this fact in 1554.), the introduced cat has lost the habit of
uttering its hideous nocturnal howl. The Rev. W.D. Fox purchased a cat in
Portsmouth, which he was told came from the coast of Guinea; its skin was
black and wrinkled, fur bluish-grey and short, its ears rather bare, legs
long, and whole aspect peculiar. This "negro" cat was fertile with common
cats. On the opposite coast of Africa, at Mombas, Captain Owen, R.N. (1/95.
'Narrative of Voyages' volume 2 page 180.) states that all the cats are
covered with short stiff hair instead of fur: he gives a curious account of
a cat from Algoa Bay, which had been kept for some time on board and could
be identified with certainty; this animal was left for only eight weeks at
Mombas, but during that short period it "underwent a complete
metamorphosis, having parted with its sandy-coloured fur." A cat from the
Cape of Good Hope has been described by Desmarest as remarkable from a red
stripe extending along the whole length of its back. Throughout an immense
area, namely, the Malayan archipelago, Siam, Pegu, and Burmah, all the cats
have truncated tails about half the proper length (1/96. J. Crawfurd
'Descript. Dict. of the Indian Islands' page 255. The Madagascar cat is
said to have a twisted tail; see Desmarest in 'Encyclop. Nat. Mamm.' 1820
page 233, for some of the other breeds.), often with a sort of knot at the
end. In the Caroline archipelago the cats have very long legs, and are of a
reddish-yellow colour. (1/97. Admiral Lutke's Voyage volume 3 page 308.) In
China a breed has drooping ears. At Tobolsk, according to Gmelin, there is
a red-coloured breed. In Asia, also, we find the well-known Angora or
Persian breed.
The domestic cat has run wild in several countries, and everywhere assumes,
as far as can be judged by the short recorded descriptions, a uniform
character. Near Maldonado, in La Plata, I shot one which seemed perfectly
wild; it was carefully examined by Mr. Waterhouse (1/98. 'Zoology of the
Voyage of the Beagle, Mammalia' page 20. Dieffenbach 'Travels in New
Zealand' volume 2 page 185. Ch. St. John 'Wild Sports of the Highlands'
1846 page 40.), who found nothing remarkable in it, excepting its great
size. In New Zealand according to Dieffenbach, the feral cats assume a
streaky grey colour like that of wild cats; and this is the case with the
half-wild cats of the Scotch Highlands.
We have seen that distant countries possess distinct domestic races of the
cat. The differences may be in part due to descent from several aboriginal
species, or at least to crosses with them. In some cases, as in Paraguay,
Mombas, and Antigua, the differences seem due to the direct action of
different conditions of life. In other cases some slight effect may
possibly be attributed to natural selection, as cats in many cases have
largely to support themselves and to escape diverse dangers. But man, owing
to the difficulty of pairing cats, has done nothing by methodical
selection; and probably very little by unintentional selection; though in
each litter he generally saves the prettiest, and values most a good breed
of mouse- or rat-catchers. Those cats which have a strong tendency to prowl
after game, generally get destroyed by traps. As cats are so much petted, a
breed bearing the same relation to other cats, that lapdogs bear to larger
dogs, would have been much valued; and if selection could have been
applied, we should certainly have had many breeds in each long-civilised
country, for there is plenty of variability to work upon.
We see in this country considerable diversity in size, some in the
proportions of the body, and extreme variability in colouring. I have only
lately attended to this subject, but have already heard of some singular
cases of variation; one of a cat born in the West Indies toothless, and
remaining so all its life. Mr. Tegetmeier has shown me the skull of a
female cat with its canines so much developed that they protruded uncovered
beyond the lips; the tooth with the fang being .95, and the part projecting
from the gum .6 of an inch in length. I have heard of several families of
six-toed cats, in one of which the peculiarity had been transmitted for at
least three generations. The tail varies greatly in length; I have seen a
cat which always carried its tail flat on its back when pleased. The ears
vary in shape, and certain strains, in England, inherit a pencil-like tuft
of hairs, above a quarter of an inch in length, on the tips of their ears;
and this same peculiarity, according to Mr. Blyth, characterises some cats
in India. The great variability in the length of the tail and the lynx-like
tufts of hairs on the ears are apparently analogous to differences in
certain wild species of the genus. A much more important difference,
according to Daubenton (1/99. Quoted by Isid. Geoffroy 'Hist. Nat. Gen.'
tome 3 page 427.), is that the intestines of domestic cats are wider, and a
third longer, than in wild cats of the same size; and this apparently has
been by their less strictly carnivorous diet.