Note 1716 — BOOK VIII. THE NATURE OF THE TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS.

Although a hybrid animal is produced by the union of the wolf and the dog, it does not form a permanent species. But, as Cuvier remarks, by the insertion of “velut,” Pliny seems to imply that the crocotta unites the physical properties of the two animals. Ctesias, Indic. c. 32, gives an account of the cynolycus, or “dog-wolf,” from which Pliny seems to have taken his crocotta.—B.