Note 348 — CANES VENATICI. Class I.

Blondus, in his ‘Libellus de Canibus et Venatione,’ remarks on the breed of demi-wolves, as they are called by Shakespeare, that this cross was not had recourse to in his days, because it was not wanted—“tantâ feritate et astutiâ non egemus:” but Wase bears testimony to its historical notoriety.Wase’s Illustrations, &c. of Gratius. p. 67. “From the experience of this country,” says he, “that semifera proles, or whelps, that come of the commixture of a bitch with a dog-wolf, is verified, called anciently lyciscæ; and this ill quality they find inherent to that sort of dogs, that they can by no way of bringing up be restrained from preying uponGratii Cyneg. vs. 167. cattle—‘sed præceps virtus ipsâ venabitur aulâ’—by which they have merited to be esteemed criminal before they be whelped; and there is a law in that behalf, which straitly enjoins, that if any bitch be limed with a wolf, either she must be hanged immediately, or her puppies must be made away: this may serve to avouch somewhat, all that character which Gratius gives of the semiferous mongrels, of his Hyrcanian and the Tiger.”

Parry’s 1st Voyage of Discovery. Appendix.

By the occurrences which took place at Melville Island, recorded in the Appendix of Capt. Parry’s 1st Voyage, we have clear proof that even an undomesticated wolf, in its natural and wild state, will have intercourse with a domestic dog.