314 Modern Dogs. 



the rarest at the present time, and, Landseer not- 

 withstanding, the day of the last of the race has not 

 yet been reached. Two thousand years ago and 

 more the dainty creature was nestled in the laps of 

 the ladies of Greece and Rome, where he was said 

 to divide attention with the dandies and bucks of 

 that day, or, as they were then called, '' puppies," a 

 name which still clings to them as occasion requires. 



Many early writers have mentioned these little dogs 

 of Malta. Aristotle did, and he died 322 B.C., whilst 

 the elder Callimachus, who was almost his contem- 

 porary, likewise alludes to them, and has something 

 to say as to hounds and dogs generally in his poem 

 to Diana. No doubt those Canes Melitaei were pretty 

 much identical with the long-haired, white little dog 

 which is the Maltese of the present day, and that he 

 was of an ancient race even then is evident from the 

 fact that there appears to be some confusion as 

 from whence he came. There are two islands bear- 

 ing the name of Melita, from either of which this 

 dog may have been originally introduced. 



The one island was Melita in the Adriatic, near 

 Dalmatia ; the other Melita in the Mediterranean, 

 near Sicily, and the Malta of to-day. Callimachus, 

 already alluded to, and who was undoubtedly an 

 authority on dogs in his day, says the little animal 

 originally came from the Melita in the Adriatic, and 



