Note 422 — CANES VENATICI. Class III.

It is worthy of notice that, whereas the earlier Greek and Latin Cynegetica recommend heterogeneous commixture in breeding for the chase—crossing the canine families of different countries with each other, under the hope of improving the pure indigenæ—Nemesian contends for parity of sort, and purity of blood, to supply the greyhound kennel, (“huic parilem submitte parem,” &c.); as if aware, with the modern courser, that the essential attributes of the Celtic type would necessarily be impaired, if not annihilated, by the admixture of alien blood. Arrian’s silence too, on the subject of omnifarious copulation, indicates a conviction of its inapplicability to breeding for the leash.