134 KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMAL STRUCTURE. 



of fox-hounds, if handed over to the management 

 of an unskilled person, would in a very feAV years 

 degenerate into an inferior class of animals. 



To breed successfully, a thorough knowledge of 

 the essential points of animal structure is absolutely 

 necessary to begin with, then the consideration 

 how certain deficiencies in one form may be sup- 

 plied or counteracted by the exuberance of the 

 same in another ; exemjjU gratia : — for the purpose 

 of elucidation, let us take for our subject a lengthy, 

 roomy, though loosely made fox-hound bitch, slack 

 behind the shoulders, deficient in muscle in the 

 loins, and a little too high on the legs. The mate 

 to be selected must of course be short on the leg, 

 particularly good in the loins, with muscle strongly 

 developed through his whole frame, and with 

 plenty of bone also. Now with these requisites, 

 it is very probable the dog may be a trifle too 

 short in the back, or not over-clean in his neck ; 

 still, as possessing the points which require de- 

 velopment in the other, any such little drawbacks 

 may be disregarded, and from the union of the 

 two a progeny may be fairly calculated upon as 

 near perfection as possible. 



But if, on the other hand, a dog of similar pro- 

 portions to the bitch be made use of, the whelps 

 will be in all probability long, loose-made, leggy 



