3d. The second generation being crossed, a third generation of seven pups "was the
consequence.
4th. A female of the third generation, crossed by her sire, gave birth to four pups,
of "which one male and one female lived.
Buffon sent two of such hybrids to M. Le Roi, Inspector of the Park at Versailles.
Here they bred together, producing three pups. Two were given to the Prince de
Condé but of these no account remains. The third, retained by M. Le Roi, was
killed in a boar-hunt. The father of these whelps was then mated with a she-wolf,
who bore three pups. Here the report closes.407
“ I have seen, in Moscow,” says Pallas, “ about twenty spurious animals from dogs
and black wolves (c. lycaori). They are, for the most part, like wolves ; except that
they carry their tails higher, and have a kind of hoarse barking. They multiply
among themselves ; and some of the whelps are grayish, rusty, or even of the whitish
hue of the Arctic woives.” 408 Crosses of this kind have been known from remote anti-
. quity, and are called wolf-dogs (c. pomeranus). One of them is figured on an Etruscan
medal of the second or, third century before Christ. Ovid, describing the pack of
Acteon, enumerates some thirty dogs, which appear to represent many different breeds ;
and he is careful to observe that one of them [Napê) sprang from a wolf; while another
(Lycisca) is evidently the dog which Pliny refers to similar mixed bloods.
By a feral dog, is meant a domesticated dog which has run wild. Numberless are the
instances of this kind, where dogs have become wild and multiplied ; but in no instance,
save through lupine admixture, have dogs ever been brought to resemble wolves. The
dog of New Holland, called the dingo, is a reclaimed lupine, or wild dog. It is still
found abundantly in the wild state in that country. Some naturalists consider the
dingo to be a distinct.species, or an aboriginal dog; others, a variety of the common
dog. Australia, it should be remembered, possesses an exclusive fauna andjflora; and
the canis dingo would seem to be the aboriginal canine element pertaining to this special
zoological province. The dingo, wild or tame, préservés its own physical characteristics
when pure, but breeds freely with other dogs.
Systems of zoology mostly limit our North American wolves (exclusively of those
of Mexico and California) to two species — canis lupus and canis latrans. But there is
little reason to doubt that the grey wolf of Canada and other northern parts of this
continent, is a different species from any of the Old World. Richardson adopts for it
the name of C. occidentalis, and long ago hesitated about its relation to the C. lupus,
because they differ ‘both in conformation and character. Townsend describes the
giant wolf as a distinct species, by the name of C. gigas ; and Peale makes the- same
distinction.
While the dogs indigenous to North America, according to Morton, are derived from
at least two species of wolves, which he considers, in common with Gray, Agassiz,
Richardson and others, to be peculiar to our continent, the European race (although
in some instances largely crossed by another wolf ) is foi* the most part devoid of any
such lupine mixture. The domestic dogs of Europe, when they assume the feral state,
cannot be mistaken by naturalists for wolves. Besides, it will be proved further on,
that the dog, the wolf, the jackal, and the hyena are figured as distinct animals on
the monuments of Egypt, in company with many different races of dogs, as far back
as 3500 years before Christ.
Dr. Morton held the Indian dogs of North America to be derived from at least two
distinct species of wolves ; that these two species have combined to form a third, or
hybrid race, and that this last unites again with the European dog.
Sir John Richardson travelled over more than 20,000 miles of the northern regions
of America ; traversing 30° of latitude, and upwards of 50° of longitude ; occupied for
seven years in making observations. To him are we mainly indebted for the following
facts : —
The Esquimaux Dog (O. familiaris, Deem.)
“ The great resemblance which the domesticated dogs of aboriginal Americans bear
to the wolves of the same country, was remarked by the earliest settlers from Europe,
and has induced some naturalists of much observation to consider them to be merely
half-tamed wolves. Without entering at all into theequestion of the origin of the domestic
dog, I may state that the resemblance between the wolves of those Indian nations
who still preserve their ancient mode of life,' continues to be very remarkable;
and it is nowhere more so than at the very northern extremity of the continent — the
Esquimaux dogs being not only extremely like the grey wolf of the Arctic Circle in
form and color, but also nearly equalling them in size.” 409
This famed Arctic voyager and naturalist adds, that he saw a family of these wolves,
when playing together, occasionally carry their tails curved upwards; which seems to
be the principal character which Linnaeus supposed to distinguish the dog from the
wolf.
Capt. Parry relates that his officers, seeing thirteen wolves in a single pack, mistook
them for Esquimaux dogs; so complete was the resemblance. He observed, that when
the wolf is tamed, the two animals will readily breed together.4*0
From these and other facts familiar to naturalists, it would appear that the Esquimaux
dog is a reclaimed northern wolf [canis occidentalis).
4 The common American wolf,” Richardson observes, “ sometimes shows a remarkable
diversity of color. On the banks of the Mackenzie I saw five young wolves leaping
and tumbling over each other with all the playfulness of the puppies of the domestic
dog, and it is not improbable that they were all of one litter. One of them was pied,
another entirely black, and the rest showed the colors of the common grey wolves.”
So variable, however, are the external characters of the latter animal, both as to
size and color, that naturalists have endeavored, at different times, to establish no less
than five species in the northern part of America alone. Two of these, however (C.
ater and C. nubilus), are generally regarded as mere varieties of the common grey
wolf. Hence, it would naturally follow, that the domestication of these several varieties
would develop a corresponding difference between our northern Indian and the more
Arctic dogs of the Esquimaux; although both kinds may claim, in part, the same specific
origin. Speaking of the wolves of our Sashatchewan and Copper-mine rivers,
Richardson states :|§^
y The resemblance between the northern wolves and the domestic dog 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, and so exactly in the same
key, that even the practised ear of an Indian fails at times to discriminate between
them.411 At certain seasons they breed freely with the wolf, while, on other occasions,
both male and female wolves devour the dogs as they would any other prey.”
The Hare-Indian Dog (Q. familiaris lagopus).
The author just quoted observes, that similitudes between this animal and the
prairie-wolf (C. latrans) are “ so great, that on comparing live specimens, I could detect
no difference in form (except the smallness of the cranium), nor in the fineness
of the fur, and the arrangement of its spots and color. In fact, it bears the same relation
to the prairie-wolf, that the Esquimaux dog does to the great grey wolf (C.
occidentalis).” 412
Like the cognate wolf, these dogs vary considerably in color, size, and shape; 000
those on the Mackenzie river being so remarkably small, as to have been sometimes
compared to the Arctic fox. In the Mandan country the dogs are larger; and are likewise
assimilated by Say, the Prince de Wied, and other travellers, to the prairie-wolf.
4t During my residence in the Michigan Territory, in the year 1831-32 (wrote Dr. J.
C. F ish er to Dr. Morton), I on several occasions shot the Ojibeway or Indian dogs, by