THE MOLOS8IAN GROUP. 725 



greatly valued, that functionaries were employed to collect 

 them, that they might be transmitted to Rome, and employed 

 in the cruel combats of the amphitheatre. 



The Mastiff, although he retains with considerable con- 

 stancy the form and habitudes distinctive of his race, yet, 

 like all the Canidse, varies greatly under the influences to 

 which he is exposed. Hence we find the mastiffs of different 

 countries diverging so much from the normal type, that their 

 affinity with it can with difficulty be traced ; and further, 

 the Mastiff has been, in a remarkable degree, subjected 

 to mixture with other races, either that his properties of 

 strength, daring, and vigilance, might be communicated to 

 them, or else that the properties of these races, such as their 

 powers of speed, might be communicated to the Mastiff. In 

 England, where mastiffs were once very numerous, they are 

 now scarcely to be found, the larger dogs, generally termed 

 Watch-dogs, being almost in all cases of mixed blood. 



The true Mastiff is wonderfully fitted to be impressed with 

 the temper and habitudes which we seek to communicate to 

 him. Although a fierce dog, he possesses docility and saga- 

 city in a high degree ; and, although solitary in his habits 

 with relation to his own species, he is fond of the companion- 

 ship of man. When chained to a post as a sentinel to our 

 dwellings, from day to day, and from night to night, he 

 knows, indeed, and fulfils the duties imposed upon him. He 

 maintains unwearied vigilance, giving warning of danger by 

 his loud and threatening voice, and manifesting the fierceness 

 of a tiger to the stranger who approaches the limits of his 

 chain. But, under such circumstances, he has no scope af- 

 forded him for the exercise of his faculties and powers, and 

 becomes sullen, fretful, and savage, with the cruel captivity 

 to which he is doomed. But let the same animal be brought 

 up in the state of liberty, and treated with kindness by those 

 to whom he owes obedience, and he will fulfil all his duties 

 without sullenness or rage. When the shades of night be- 

 gin to fall, he will walk around the premises he has to de- 



