272 Modern Dogs. 



one in the same way. This one was, however, 

 unfortunately burnt in a fire, and before the 

 purchaser had bred from her ; but it is an undoubted 

 fact that these pugs came off a Chinese vessel just 

 arrived in port, and were sold to them as Chinese 

 pugs. One lady describes hers as 4 very short in 

 face, good curl tail, and a beautiful jet black ' a 

 perfect pug in points. Again, I have heard of a 

 1 Chinese pug ' being bought at Portsmouth from a 

 ship calling there. 



" It is, therefore, not improbable that Lady 

 Brassey's black pugs Jack Spratt and Mahdi were 

 brought home from China by Lady Brassey, and 

 were of the breed mentioned in that stray advertise- 

 ment for a lost pet, viz., a ' Peking ' pug." 



That the variety is, at any rate, now quite a 

 distinct one I do not doubt at all, for the following 

 reasons. Mrs. Fifield, of Eastleigh, Southampton, 

 who has some excellent specimens, which originally 

 came from the Brassey strain, says that when blacks 

 are mated together they breed true to type and 

 colour, although in almost every litter a perfectly- 

 marked grey specimen appears, but Mrs. Fifield 

 never bred a black one from grey parents. Most 

 of the blacks have, however, a little patch of 

 white on the chest or toes, but others are per- 

 fectly black. Miss " Mortivals " (Miss M. D. 



