First lesson in zoology : adapted for use in schools . h, till in Florida black wolves pre-dominate and in Texas red ones. The prairie-wolf or coyote (Canis latrans) is characteris-tic of the Western plains and Pacific coast. The Indiandogs breed with the coyote, and the offspring is fact appears to support the theory that the Indian 262 FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. dog, Mexican dog, and the spitz dog are descendants of theprairie-wolf. The Eskimo and Newfoundland dogs areprobably descendants of the gray wolf. On the other hand,fourteen kinds of dogs can be distinguished in the Koman
First lesson in zoology : adapted for use in schools . h, till in Florida black wolves pre-dominate and in Texas red ones. The prairie-wolf or coyote (Canis latrans) is characteris-tic of the Western plains and Pacific coast. The Indiandogs breed with the coyote, and the offspring is fact appears to support the theory that the Indian 262 FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. dog, Mexican dog, and the spitz dog are descendants of theprairie-wolf. The Eskimo and Newfoundland dogs areprobably descendants of the gray wolf. On the other hand,fourteen kinds of dogs can be distinguished in the Komanand Greek records; of these five are principal types or spe-cies, five others climatic yarieties, the remainder beingeither breeds artificially produced, or hybrids. As regardsthe Egyptian dogs, seven kinds may be distinguished, be-sides the jackal, three of them being distinct species. The Viverra and Genetta or civet cats, and the hyaenas,lead to the caL family, which stands at the head of theCamivora. The lion, jaguar (Eig. 360), panther, FiQ. 260.—Ja^ar, South America. and tiger belong to the genus FeK!>. Fells concolor, thecougar, panther, or puma, ranges over both American con-tinents. A very large panther may weigh about 300pounds, and stand about 2\ feet high at the shoulders, andbe metres in length. It is very gaunt, but not sothin as it looks. It is not so fierce as supposed, not attack-ing man unless wounded and cornered. The domestic cat (Felis domestica) was first domesticatedin Egypt, the Greeks and Eomans not possessing it; thecat and common marten were in use as domesticated ani-mals at the same date in Italy, nine hundred years beforethe crusades. It appears that the domestic cat of theGreeks and Komans was a species of marten. THE DOCILE MAMMALS. 263 Of the lynxes there are two species in North America,Lynx rufus, the American wildcat, and the Canada Canadensis, or lovp cervier, the latter being muchthe laxger species. The Canada
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1894
