THE MASTIFFS. 217 



other, it is most certainly that which includes mas- 

 tiffs and bull-dogs. The particular arch of their 

 skulls and structure of their lower jaws have already 

 been noticed, and with animals so well known it is 

 scarcely necessary to dilate upon their massive form, 

 powerful legs, strong neck, and muscular back ; nor 

 to advert to the frequency of a fifth toe, truncated 

 tail, and semi-pendulous small ears.t To recal them 

 to the mind of the reader serves our purpose only 

 that we may point out their corresponding charac- 

 ters of taciturnity, phlegm, and sense of power, 

 which disdains excitement, faces danger with the 

 coolest resolution, and show that they stand in 

 some measure isolated from the whole family in all 

 these particulars, and still more in their indifference 

 to form cross breeds with other races. Although 

 the mastiff race is found at a remote period spread 

 asunder at a vast distance, it never was any where 

 very abimdant, and though nowhere in a wild state, 

 it is, as a domestic animal, more an independent as- 

 sociate than a servant. "When we look for the ori- 

 ginal type, and assume that we must search for it 

 in the localities where the race is most numerous, 

 and in the fullest perfection of form, we find that a 



canes feroei nostros crudelitate superans, vel aspectus torvitate 

 terribilis, in pugna aeris et vehemens, tantaque mordacitate, ut 

 citius discerpat, quam dissolvas, nee lupum nee taurum ursem 

 aut leonem reformidat," &e. Caius. Having shown the Mo- 

 lossian dogs not to be mastiffs, the distinctive name first given 

 by Caius is here restored. 



+ In Frederick Cuvier's works, and in the Penny Cyclo- 

 psedia, the structure of the skull is fully described, under the 

 word Dog. 



