90 CHARLES R. STOCKARD 



THE BASSETHOUND AND ENGLISH BULLDOG HYBRIDS IN 

 CONNECTION WITH DWARF LEG GROWTH 



The reader may again refer to page 47 for the discussion 

 of the general type and characteristics of the bassethound. 



The English bulldog, commonly known among dog fanciers 

 as simply the bulldog, offers probably the most perfectly 

 suited material for an investigation of the interrelationships 

 between genetic constitution and the endocrine glands in the 

 development, growth and functions of the mammalian body. 

 Xo other deviation from a standard of type in any known 

 breed shows such consistent uniformity in the modified his- 

 tological condition of its endocrine glands in association with 

 characteristically extreme distortions in the growth patterns 

 of the head, body and tail, and certain defective conditions 

 in the skeleton of the appendages. The bulldog also deviates 

 to a marked degree in behavior and psychology from what 

 one would accept as the reactions of the standard or ancestral 

 dog type. 



The bulldog is a fairly old and well established breed 

 although it is not perfectly homozygous in its genetics for 

 the determining factors of all its characteristics. The breed 

 has existed more or less in its present form for well over 

 a century. The earliest bulldogs were not so grossly deformed 

 as the present day animals but were more mastiff-like in 

 character. Very probably the bulldog was originally derived 

 from a series of mutations which gave rise to structural 

 deviations, passing through a stocky mastiff type and from 

 this to the more highly modified bulldog through the addition 

 of later mutations. The animal used for bull-baiting and dog- 

 fighting a century ago in England was a far less deformed 

 individual than our present day bulldog in which the mouth 

 and teeth are so defective as to make its biting ability 

 very poor. The structures and characters of the bulldog will 

 be more fully considered in the chapters beyond in connec- 

 tion with the investigations on head types, endocrine histology 

 and instincts and behavior. In the present consideration we 

 are concerned only with the growth of the extremities and 



