338 Modern Dogs. 



continually to the greyhound until little more than 

 greyhound remains. However, the whippet is still 

 known in many localities as an " Italian," which he 

 assuredly is not, although, as I have said, the blood 

 of the fragile race runs in his veins. 



At our early shows classes were, as a rule, pro- 

 vided for Italian greyhounds, but even in those days 

 of large entries, not more than a dozen or so- 

 appeared on the benches, and these were mostly in 

 the hands of the dealers. The first volume of the 

 " Kennel Club Stud Book " had forty-one entries of 

 Italian greyhounds, the last published, that of 1893, 

 had but three new entries. Their delicacy is, of 

 course, the cause of their rarity, and this, I fancy, 

 has been emphasised by the mischievous custom 

 prevalent thirty years or so ago of producing them 

 as small as possible. Mere mites some of them 

 were, not more than 4lb. or 5lb. weight, with legs 

 thinner than the shank of a Broseley straw pipe, 

 skull round or apple-headed, and a mouth or jaw 

 very much overshot. Most of the smallest speci- 

 mens were so, and even that extraordinary little 

 creature Molly, so successfully shown by the late 

 Mr. W. McDonald, was very much overshot. 

 Still she was one of the choicest specimens ever 

 produced, and, I believe, did not live to be beaten. 

 She was just under 5lb. in weight. But she, like all 



