Darwin “lived with a lot of animals,” science historian David Feller said while lecturing on Sunday at the American Museum of Natural History. He was discussing the role that Darwin’s experience with dogs played in the development of his views on trait selection and inheritance. Speaking before parents and children, Mr. Feller told how Darwin grew up in the farm community of Shrewsbury, England, where his family had dogs.

Mr. Feller, who is also a dog breeder, listed the names of the dogs that Darwin referred to in his writing: Shelah (a terrier), Nina (possibly Shelah’s daughter), Dash (a pointer that Darwin bought at Cambridge), Spark (his brother Erasmus’s dog), Polly (terrier), Czar, Pincher, Snow, Bob, and Bran.

Darwin is famous for the scientific discovery that man evolved from other animals. Mr. Feller showed that Darwin’s experience with dogs while bird and fox hunting gave him an opportunity to draw parallels and consider the similarities between men and animals. Darwin also spent time with game hunters and dog breeders and learned a lot from them, he said.

Interestingly, Mr. Feller said that in 19th-century England, dogs were believed by many to be more evolved than primates such as apes. He quoted Reverend Orestes Brown, who wrote “dogs are certainly far ahead of the monkey in moral qualities. In affection for his master and fidelity to him and so is the horse when kindly treated.” Brown wrote this in 1859 as a critique of Darwin’s “The Origin of Species.” He was attacking Darwin by, in effect, saying that man could not be related to a monkey since a monkey was not even as smart as a dog.

The program was co-presented by the American Kennel Club, and Mr. Feller illustrated aspects of his lecture with live dogs that were onstage. He showed a pointer, a beagle, a bulldog, a greyhound, and a Scottish deerhound.

***

GUESTS WITH GUSTO Robert Weide, producer of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” interviewed Dick Cavett last week at the Museum of Television & Radio. Mr. Weide read a long list of distinguished names that Mr. Cavett had interviewed since hosting his own television show in 1969, which ran on ABC through 1974 before moving to CBS and elsewhere. Mr. Weide lamented that the same caliber of guests does not exist on talk shows today, nor is there anyone “equipped to interview that caliber of guest” as Mr. Cavett had. “This is what I mourn,” Mr.Weide said.

In one clip the audience watched, Mr. Cavett sardonically asked a rather surly Norman Mailer, who was on the show with Janet Flanner and Gore Vidal, if he would like another chair to contain his giant intellect.

An early clip showed Mr.Cavett using his knowledge of German to assist Jack Paar in interviewing Miss Universe.

The audience roared when, in a 1970 clip, Mr. Cavett asked Noel Coward, “You’re … what is the word when one has such terrific, prolific qualities?” “Talent,” Coward shot back.

Mr. Cavett mentioned the time he had an ant expert on his talk show and introduced the man by saying “no show is complete without an ant expert.”

Speaking of ants, one clip showed Salvador Dali strolling with an anteater on a leash. He dropped the animal on the floor, and it headed for Lillian Gish’s lap while fellow guest pitcher Satchel Paige looked on bemusedly.

Mr. Weide asked about the unique combinations of guests Mr. Cavett had gathered onstage, such as musician Sly Stone, actress and singer Debbie Reynolds, and tennis star Richard Alonso “Pancho” Gonzalez. Hearing those three incongruous names, Mr. Cavett joked, “Together again.”

Next month on the label Shout Factory, Mr. Cavett is releasing a CD of his interviews with comic legends such as Groucho Marx, Jerry Lewis, Lucille Ball, Mel Brooks, Carol Burnett, Woody Allen, George Burns, and Jack Benny. Author Eddie Friedfeld will be interviewing Mr. Cavett February 19 at the 92nd Street Y.

What other CD collections may come out in the future? “Maybe we should do ‘Great Minds’ before Tom Cruise dies,” Mr. Cavett said sardonically to the audience.

gshapiro@nysun.com