PERSIAN GREYHOUND.—Canis familiaris. 
his sword, and stiff with his wounds, was not more entirely the opposite of the carpet 
knight, with pouncet box to nose, and full of “parmaceti” babblings, than is the 
rough, fierce Greyhound of Persia, of the delicate, shivering, faint-hearted Italian 
Greyhound ; sad type of the people from which it takes its name. 
In truth, the Italian Greyhound is but a dwarfed example of the true smooth 
Greyhound, dwarfed after the same manner that delights our Celestial friends, when 
tried on vegetable instead of animal life. The weight of a really good Italian Greyhound 
ought not to exceed eight or ten pounds ; and there are animals of good shape which 
only weigh six or seven pounds. One of the most perfect Dogs of the present day weighs 
eight and three-quarter pounds, and is fourteen and a quarter inches in height. His colour 
is uniformly black. 
Attempts have been made to employ the Italian Greyhound in the chase of rabbits, - 
but its power of jaw and endurance of character are so disproportioned to its speed, 
that all such endeavours have failed. A mixed breed, between the Italian Greyhound 
andsthe terrier, is useful enough, combining endurance with speed, and perfectly capable 
of chasing and holding a rabbit. 
In this country, it is only used as a petted companion, and takes rank among the 
“toy-dogs,” being subject to certain arbitrary rules of colour and form, which may render 
a Dog worthless for one year through the very same qualities which would make it a 
paragon of perfection in another. The Dutch tulip-mania afforded no more capricious 
versatility of criterion than is found in the “points” of toy Dogs of the present day. If 
