INTKODUCTION. 33 



ticularly of the hare, so it became likewise necessary to 

 prevent them having recourse to smelling, or scenting 

 their game, the very action of which retarded their pro- 

 gress ; and thus the quality of hunting by scent was 

 gradually lost for want of exercising it.— It will now be 

 necessary to return to the Dane, the cultivation of whose 

 progeny produced other important varieties beside the 

 boar-hound and greyhound. One of the first of these 

 was the Mastiff rca?fc. molossus, Lin.), which is known to 

 be a dog of great antiquity : he was formerly, also, of 

 considerable importance among British animals". De- 

 scended immediately from the Dane, was the Dalmatian 

 or Spotted Coach-dog^^ From all these, there gradual- 



** The Mastiff, or dogue ot BuFFON, is unquestionably derived from 

 the Dane, probably from the accidental deformity of a stunted or 

 rickety specimen, which peculiarity had afterwards been continued 

 and cultivated. The breed of mastiffs was, in " olden times," an 

 important branch of British commerce. When this island was under 

 the Roman yoke, these dogs were in such request, that an officer 

 was appointed, under the name of Procurator Synegii, to superintend 

 the breeding and transmitting them to the Roman Amphitheatre. 

 Strabo tells us that these dogs have been trained to war, and were 

 used by the Gauls against their adversaries. The bull-dog un- 

 doubtedly owes it origin to the mastiff. A very useful mongrel is 

 also derived from it, which is still seen about farm-houses, and is 

 known, in the older accounts of dogs, under the name of ban-dog : 

 but the mastiff itself is now seldom seen, having given place to the 

 more beautiful, but certainly not more trustworthy, breed from New- 

 foundland. 



*3 The Dalmatian, or Spotted Coach-dog, is called by Buffon Le 

 Braquf^ de Bengal, or Bengal harrier. This application of term ap- 

 pears extraordinary, when we consider that this breed is not natu- 

 rally given to hunt ; and likewise that no such dog is common in 

 India. The Dalmatian is evidently a smaller variety of the Dane, 

 ■which he resembles in form and habits. Having a sleek, smooth, 

 milk-white coat, regularly interspersed with black spots, and great 

 symmetry of proportion, he forms an elegant appendage to the car- 

 riages of the wealthy, and an useful guard to the stable. 



