ting-dog are the dholes or
wild dogs of Asia, as represented by the Central Asian _Cyan
primaevus_ and the Indo-Malay _C. javanicus_. They have, however, five
front-toes, but lack the last lower molar; while they agree with
_Lycaon_ and _Speothos_ in that the heel of the lower sectorial tooth
has only a single compressed cutting cusp, in place of a large outer
and a smaller inner cusp as in _Canis_. Dholes are whole-coloured
animals, with short heads; and hunt in packs. The bush-dog
(_Speothos_, or _Icticyon venaticus_) of Guiana is a small,
short-legged, short-tailed and short-haired species characterized by
the molars being only (2 or 1)/2; the carnassial having no inner cusp.
The long-haired raccoon-dog (_Nyctereutes procyonoides_) of Japan and
China agrees essentially in everything but general appearance (which
is strangely raccoon-like) with _Canis_. The typical group of the
latter includes some of the largest members of the family, such as the
true wolves of the northern parts of both Old and New Worlds (_C.
lupus, &c._), and the various breeds of the domestic dog (_C.
familiaris_), the origin of which is still involved in obscurity.
Some naturalists believe it to be a distinct species, descended from
one that no longer exists in a wild state; others have sought to find
its progenitors in some one of the wild or half-wild races, either of
true dogs, wolves or jackals; while others again believe that it is
derived from the mingling of two or more wild species or races. It is
probably the earliest animal domesticated by man, and few if any other
species have undergone such an extraordinary amount of variation in
size, form and proportion of limbs, ears and tail, variations which
have been perpetuated and increased by careful selective breeding (see
DOG). The dingo or Australian dog is met with wild, and also as the
domestic companion of the aboriginal race of the country, by whom it
appears to have been originally introduced. It is nearly related to a
half-wild dog inhabiting Java, and also to the pariah dogs of India
and other eastern countries. Dogs were also in the possession of the
natives of New Zealand and other islands of the Pacific, where no
placental mammals exist naturally, on their discovery by Europeans in
the 18th century. The slender-jawed _C. simensis_ of Abyssinia and the
South American _C. jubatus_ and _C. antarcticus_ are also gen