{alopekides}, i.e. vulpocanine, hybrid between fox and dog.

[2] Or, "get their appellation from the fact that Castor took delight
in the business of the chase, and kept this breed specially for
the purpose." Al. {diephulaxen}, "propagated and preserved the
breed which we now have." See Darwin, "Animals and Plants under
Domestication," ii. 202, 209.

[3] Or, "and through lapse of time the twofold characteristics of
their progenitors have become blent." See Timoth. Gaz. ap.
Schneid. ad loc. for an ancient superstition as to breeds.

Both species present a large proportion of defective animals[4] which
fall short of the type, as being under-sized, or crook-nosed,[5] or
gray-eyed,[6] or near-sighted, or ungainly, or stiff-jointed, or
deficient in strength, thin-haired, lanky, disproportioned, devoid of
pluck or of nose, or unsound of foot. To particularise: an under-sized
dog will, ten to one, break off from the chase[7] faint and flagging
in the performance of his duty owing to mere diminutiveness. An
aquiline nose means no mouth, and consequently an inability to hold
the hare fast.[8] A blinking bluish eye implies defect of vision;[9]
just as want of shape means ugliness.[10] The stiff-limbed dog will
come home limping from the hunting-field;[11] just as want of strength
and thinness of coat go hand in hand with incapacity for toil.[12] The
lanky-legged, unsymmetrical dog, with his shambling gait and ill-
compacted frame, ranges heavily; while the spiritless animal will
leave his work to skulk off out of the sun into shade and lie down.
Want of nose means scenting the hare with difficulty, or only once in
a way; and however courageous he may be, a hound with unsound feet
cannot stand the work, but through foot-soreness will eventually give