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. p.t, 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.[19] 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.[20]
With respect to Jackals, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire[21] 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.[22] A number of excellent naturalists, from the time of
Güldenstädt 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
étonnamment à des chacals.” Ehrenberg[23] 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.[24] The greater number of naturalists
divide the jackals of Asia and Africa into several species, but
some few rank them all as one.
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