Origins of Mendelism / Robert C. Olby, with an introduction by Professor C. D. Darlington.

  • Olby, Robert C. (Robert Cecil), 1933-
Date:
1966
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Origins of Mendelism / Robert C. Olby, with an introduction by Professor C. D. Darlington. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Appendix 149 the wolf killed the dog, but M. Surirey de Boissy wrote the following letter to Buffon describing a successful attempt. Namur, 9th June, 1773. At M. le Marquis de Spontin's at Namur a very young she-wolf was reared, who for two years had as a companion a dog of about the same age. They were at liberty to wander through the house, kitchen and stables and they slept under the table or on the feet of those around them. They lived on very inti¬ mate terms. The dog was a very vigorous breed of mastif. The wolf's diet for the first six months was mük, after which they gave her raw meat which she preferred to cooked meat. While she was eating no one dared to approach her; at other times you could do what you liked with her as long as you did not maltreat her. She would caress all the dogs which were brought to her until the time when she showed a preference for her old companion, then she would quarrel with all others. She was first mated on the 25 th March [1773]. The mating was repeated frequently over a period of sixteen days. At eight o'clock on the sixth of June she gave birth to her young ones and so the gestation period was seventy-three days at the most. She gave birth to four puppies. They have the extremities of their paws and one half of the chest white, in this holding to the dog, which is black and white. Since being brought to bed she has growled and bristled at anyone who ap¬ proached. She would not recognize even her masters and would even fly at the dog if he came near. I add that she has been double-chained {attachée à deux chaînes^ after an outburst that she made chasing the dog who had leapt over a neighbour's wall where there was a bitch on heat. She half-strangled her rival and the coach¬ man used a stick to separate them. He conducted her back to her quarters where, owing to an unwise repetition of the correction [beating her with a stick] she was enraged