A DOG'S RELAPSE.
What everyone chiefly noticed about the dog (who is an invariable companion of his distinguished and easily dis- tinguishable owner) is the extreme woolliness of his coat. His eyes are invisible as the eyes of an old English sheepdog, but he is certainly no sheepdog. Unkindlier critics will not believe that he is any particular sort of dog at all ; and some go so far as to deny that they can find a plausible name for any one of his ancestors. The dog, nevertheless, is purely bred and in essentials a good specimen of his breed. He spent his puppyhood in South Africa, when he was obvious to all beholders as an aristocratic Airedale with the form as well as the moral and artistic virtues of his race. When brought back to England he suddenly blossomed forth, like the wild clematis which we call " old man's beard," into this woolly covering that utterly disguises his quality from all but the most skilful experts. One of these has met his form of metamorphosis before. TheM is in the ancestry of the Airedales a sheepdog strain, and now and again a dog of the very best family will relapse to the ancestral points. Cold, of course, has a surprising effect on the growth of hair (for example on the rat), and it seems possible that the shock of a transference from the heat of the Transvaal to the, chills of Bedfordshire may have -stimulated this tendency. The blue - and biscuit colours of- sheepdog and Airedale have, of course, a certain resemblance; even in normal specimens:
W. BEACH THOMAS.
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