LEAVES FROM MY NOTE-BOOK. 49 



dogs show a ready adaptation to circumstances by catching crabs 

 and fish in the tidal pools in the rocky coast. They will turn over 

 the stones on the shore to catch the crustaceans which lie beneath, 

 and " are clever enough to knock off the shell-fish at a first blow," 

 for if this be not done shell-fish are well known to have an almost 

 invincible power of adhesion.* 



Alteration of Mental and Physical Characteristics 



BY Climate. 



In India the climate directly modifies the forms of dogs, and 

 even their mental and moral qualities. Several of our English 

 breeds cannot live -in India, and it is positively stated that when 

 bred there they degenerate, not only in their mental faculties, but 

 in form. Captain Williamson, who carefully attended to this 

 subject, states that " hounds are the most rapid in their decline ; 

 greyhounds and pointers also rapidly decline." Dr. Falconer states 

 that bulldogs which have been known, when first brought into the 

 country, to pin down even an elephant by its trunk, not only fall 

 off in two or three generations in pluck and ferocity, but lose the 

 underhung character of their lower jaws ; their muzzles become 

 finer, and their bodies lighter. The Rev. R. Everest obtained a 

 pair of setters born in India, which perfectly resembled their 

 Scotch parents ; he raised several litters from them in Delhi, 

 taking most stringent precautions to prevent a cross ; but he never 

 succeeded, though this was only the second generation in India, in 

 obtaining a single young dog like its parents in size and make ; 

 their nostrils were more contracted, their noses more pointed, their 

 size inferior, and their limbs more slender. 



Degenerative changes even more pronounced are mentioned 

 as occurring in dogs on the coast of Guinea. According to 

 Bosman, " they alter strangely ; their ears grow long and stiff like 

 those of foxes, to which colour they also incline ; so that in three 

 or four years they degenerate into very ugly creatures ; and in 

 three or four broods their barking changes into a howl.t 



I will just mention, before leaving the subject of the dog, the 

 curious case of a mental quality remaining where outward physical 



* p. 41- 

 \Ibid., pp. 39—4. 



International Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science. 

 Third Series. Vol. VI. e 



