14 THE MASTIFF TYPE. 



and concomitantly that of the body also. To the mastiff or 

 as it is sometimes incorrectly and pedantically termed the 

 mollossian group, belong. The mastiff, its stunted and 

 exaggerated confrere the bulldog, and the dwarfed and still 

 more artificially exaggerated pug dog. All these possess 

 certain conformity of type, diametrically opposite to breeds 

 like the hound, greyhound, or spaniel ; although infusion of 

 the blood of other species and circumstances, especially the 

 ignorance and caprice of man, may more or less modify or 

 intensify the characteristics. 



In the mastiff group the muzzle is markedly short, the 

 cranium elevated, the superior maxillary is wide and ponder- 

 ous, the zygomatic arch is strongly developed and widely 

 divergent, the frontal bone is very thick and wide, the 

 temporal bones are strongly developed, the lower maxillary 

 is thick and massive, widely divergent and convex, turning 

 up and naturally inclined to overshutting the upper jaw. 

 This is a point that dog fanciers have contended and quarreled 

 about, with as much fury, and little more reason than their 

 dogs themselves, will^over a bone ; and it is labour thrown 

 away to try and teach the obstinate and wilfully ignorant ; that 

 nature intended the teeth of some animals to overshut. while 

 those of others to be level or undershut, so as to fit them 

 best for their respective habit. All dogs of the mastiff or 

 baiting kind should certainly be what is termed " undershot," 

 and if setting prejudice and ignorance aside, any one 

 will only take the trouble to investigate the matter in a 

 naturalists point of view, for example by examining the mouth 

 of the ordinary fresh water pike, they will see that fluvial 

 bulldog is considerably undershot, in order to enable it to 

 seize and hold more securely its prey. Here we see nature 

 left to itself instructing us, if we have but the sense to learn. 



