Is it from descending to the plain that the mountain dogs have lost their long hair and have become short haired dogs like the English dog or mastiff and the German or large Danish dogs?  It is very probable.  At all events, it is by this character of having short hair that mastiffs are distinguished from the mountain dogs.  Again, the large breed of dogs are distinguished from each other by the following characters:  The mastiff is not very high at the shoulders (30 inches), but he is very heavy and thick set, with powerful limbs, large head, short and wide muzzle and of a yellowish or cafe-au-lait color accompanying a black face; that is to say, the ears, the circumference of the eyes and the muzzle are of a very dark color.  The German or large Danish dogs constitute but one breed, but of three varieties, according to the coat:  (1) those whose coat is of a uniform color, say a slaty gray or isobelline of varying depth, without any white spots; (2) those having a fawn colored coat striped transversely with black like the zebra, but much less distinctly; (3) those having a spotted coat, that is to say, a coat with a white ground strewed with irregular black spots of varying size.  These, like those of the first variety are generally small-eyed.  Whatever be the variety to which they belong, the German or large Danish dogs are slimmer than, and not so heavy as, the mastiffs.  Some, even, are so light that it might be supposed that they had some heavier blood in their veins.  They have also a longer muzzle, although square, and are quicker in gait and motions.

The largest dogs are to be met with in this breed, and the beautiful Danish dog belonging to Prof.  Charcot (Fig. 2) is certainly the largest dog in France and perhaps in Europe.  It measures 36 inches at the shoulders and has an osseous and muscular development perfectly in keeping with its large stature, and at the same time has admirable proportions and lightness, and its motions are comparable to those of the finest horse.

[Illustration:  FIG. 2—­DR. CHARCOT’S LARGE DANISH DOG.]

Among the English dogs or mastiffs, we very frequently meet with individuals in which the upper incisors and canines are placed back of the corresponding ones in the lower jaw, this being due to a slight shortening of the bones of the upper jaw, not visible externally.  This is the first degree of an artist of teratological development, which, since the middle ages, has become very marked in certain subjects, and has given rise to a variety in which this defect has become hereditary.  Such is the origin of the breed of bulldogs.  The latter were originally as large as the mastiffs.  Carried to Spain under Philip II., they have there preserved their primitive characters, but the bulldogs remaining in England have continued to degenerate, so that now the largest are scarcely half the size of the Spanish bulldog, and the small ones attain hardly the size of the pug, although they preserve considerable width of chest and muscular strength.