CHAPTER XX 



THE CHIEF BREEDS OF DOGS 



" T ET us not dwell further on the dog's origin a 



I 1 very obscure question, concerning which all 



that one can say is nothing but supposition, although 



more or less plausible. Let us turn to the study of 



the animal as found in a state of domestication. 



"It would be hard to discover two dogs exactly 

 alike. Were they of the same breed, the same shape 

 and size, they would differ in coat, at least in some 

 details. Three colors, red, white, and black, belong 

 to the dog's coat; sometimes one alone for the whole 

 body, sometimes all mixed, sometimes the three dis- 

 tributed in spots or in great splashes. If the color- 

 ing is varied, the spots are hardly ever arranged in 

 order, but scattered by chance. There is want of 

 symmetry in their distribution; or, in other words, 

 on the two halves of the body, the right and left, the 

 spots do not correspond. You might say the same of 

 most domestic animals: you would nearly always 

 note differences between two oxen, two horses, two 

 goats, two cats ; and would find that in the same ani- 

 mal both sides of the body are not exactly alike in the 

 arrangement of the colors. 

 "It is just the reverse with wild animals : there is 



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