ON COIJ RSI NC, 137 



And it sliould be thus managed: — ^vatch the opportunity of Chap, x.wii. 



Time of sexual 

 intercourse. 



Tu bis vicenis plenum jam mensibus acrem 



In Venerera pennitte marem : sit foemina, binos 



Quae tulerit soles. H*c optima cura jugaadis. 



Gratius would have a general parity of character in both male and female, 



Junge pares ergo, et majorum pigiiore signa Cyneg. vs. 2G3. 



FcEturani. 



And Bargaeus agrees with him that the similaiity should extend to the essential 

 points of age, shape, and bodily powers : 



conjunge una qui corpore, quique "• Angelii 



c- . ....... Bargaei Cvnet;. 



iMut ffitace pares, atijue iisdem vinbus, ut mor I v' 



Ipsa tuis votis similis foetura sequatur. 



Columella is mistaken if he intends his observations on breeding in general, (de- 

 livered in his chapter on swine-breeding), to apply to the canine race. " In omni De Re Rust, 

 genere quadrupedum," says he, " species maris diligenter eligitur, quoniam fre- ^' ^"* '-• ^' 

 quenter patri similior est progenies quam matri." Markham's comparative view of 

 the merits of the male and female in breeding for the Celtic kennel vs^ill be found more 



practically correct. See Countrey Contentments, B. i. The dam should be selected Booke i. 



. , , . and 



with the greatest attention to shape, pedigree, and character in the field ; nor should Countrey 



the same points be disregarded in the sire, but they are not so important in the latter. Farme. c. xxii. 



The chances, however, of producing a good litter are greater in the ratio of excellence 



{ytvi/atSTTis) in both parents, their genealogical distinction, the blood of their " pro- 



avorum atavi," &c. for the reasons stated by the philosophic poet : — 



Fit quoque ut interdum similes existere avorum . Lucretii 



Possint, et referant proavorum saepe fi^uras, L. i v. vs. 1212. 



Propterea, quia nmlta mudis priraordia multis 



Mista suo celant in corpore sajpe parentes, 



Quffi patribus patres tradunt a slirpe profecta, &c. 



It is evident from what the elder Xenophon says on the accoutrements of the 

 dog, in the sixth chapter of his Cynegeticus, that the Grecian sportsmen took some 

 pains to preserve the purity of breed of certain varieties of the dog. Sharp spikes 

 were attached to the ffTeA/uoj/iai or body -clothes; iyKare^pafjievai Se iyKivrpiSis, 'Lva 

 Tct yivt\ (pv\dT7ai(Ti, to prevent promiscuous connexion. 



The remarks of the text aie defective on the subject of breeding, leaving much to 



S 



