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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Variation of Animals and Plants Under
+Domestication, Vol. I., by Charles Darwin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I.
+
+Author: Charles Darwin
+
+Release Date: March 27, 2008 [EBook #24923]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven Gibbs, Keith Edkins and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
+are listed at the end of the text.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE VARIATION
+
+OF
+
+ANIMALS AND PLANTS
+
+UNDER DOMESTICATION.
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S., &c.
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I.
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+LONDON:
+
+JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
+
+1868.
+
+_The right of Translation is reserved._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION; or The PRESERVATION
+of FAVOURED RACES in the STRUGGLE for LIFE. Fourth Edition (_Eighth
+Thousand_), with Additions and Corrections. 1866. ... MURRAY.
+
+A NATURALIST'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD; or, A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES into the
+NATURAL HISTORY and GEOLOGY of the COUNTRIES visited during the Voyage of
+H.M.S. Beagle, under the Command of Capt. FITZ-ROY, R.N. _Tenth Thousand_.
+... MURRAY.
+
+ON THE STRUCTURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL REEFS. ... SMITH, ELDER, & Co.
+
+GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON VOLCANIC ISLANDS. ... SMITH, ELDER, & Co.
+
+GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON SOUTH AMERICA. ... SMITH, ELDER, & Co.
+
+A MONOGRAPH OF THE CIRRIPEDIA. With numerous Illustrations. 2 vols. 8vo.
+... HARDWICKE.
+
+ON THE VARIOUS CONTRIVANCES BY WHICH BRITISH AND FOREIGN ORCHIDS ARE
+FERTILISED BY INSECTS; and on the GOOD EFFECTS of CROSSING. With numerous
+Woodcuts. ... MURRAY.
+
+ON THE MOVEMENTS and HABITS of CLIMBING PLANTS. With Woodcuts. ... WILLIAMS
+& NORGATE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING
+CROSS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{iii}
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
+
+INTRODUCTION ... Page 1
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+DOMESTIC DOGS AND CATS.
+
+ANCIENT VARIETIES OF THE DOG--RESEMBLANCE OF DOMESTIC DOGS IN VARIOUS
+COUNTRIES TO NATIVE CANINE SPECIES--ANIMALS NOT ACQUAINTED WITH MAN AT
+FIRST FEARLESS--DOGS RESEMBLING WOLVES AND JACKALS--HABIT OF BARKING
+ACQUIRED AND LOST--FERAL DOGS--TAN-COLOURED EYE-SPOTS--PERIOD OF
+GESTATION--OFFENSIVE ODOUR--FERTILITY OF THE RACES WHEN
+CROSSED--DIFFERENCES IN THE SEVERAL RACES IN PART DUE TO DESCENT FROM
+DISTINCT SPECIES--DIFFERENCES IN THE SKULL AND TEETH--DIFFERENCES IN THE
+BODY, IN CONSTITUTION--FEW IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES HAVE BEEN FIXED BY
+SELECTION--DIRECT ACTION OF CLIMATE--WATER-DOGS WITH PALMATED FEET--HISTORY
+OF THE CHANGES WHICH CERTAIN ENGLISH RACES OF THE DOG HAVE GRADUALLY
+UNDERGONE THROUGH SELECTION--EXTINCTION OF THE LESS IMPROVED SUB-BREEDS.
+
+CATS, CROSSED WITH SEVERAL SPECIES--DIFFERENT BREEDS FOUND ONLY IN
+SEPARATED COUNTRIES--DIRECT EFFECTS OF THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE--FERAL
+CATS--INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY ... Page 15
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+HORSES AND ASSES.
+
+HORSE.--DIFFERENCES IN THE BREEDS--INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY OF--DIRECT
+EFFECTS OF THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE--CAN WITHSTAND MUCH COLD--BREEDS MUCH
+MODIFIED BY SELECTION--COLOURS OF THE HORSE--DAPPLING--DARK STRIPES ON THE
+SPINE, LEGS, SHOULDERS, AND FOREHEAD--DUN-COLOURED HORSES MOST FREQUENTLY
+STRIPED--STRIPES PROBABLY DUE TO REVERSION TO THE PRIMITIVE STATE OF THE
+HORSE.
+
+ASSES.--BREEDS OF--COLOUR OF--LEG- AND SHOULDER-STRIPES--SHOULDER-STRIPES
+SOMETIMES ABSENT, SOMETIMES FORKED ... Page 49
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+PIGS--CATTLE--SHEEP--GOATS.
+
+PIGS BELONG TO TWO DISTINCT TYPES, SUS SCROFA AND
+INDICA--TORF-SCHWEIN--JAPAN PIG--FERTILITY OF CROSSED PIGS--CHANGES IN THE
+SKULL OF THE HIGHLY CULTIVATED RACES--CONVERGENCE OF
+CHARACTER--GESTATION--SOLID-HOOFED SWINE--CURIOUS APPENDAGES TO THE
+JAWS--DECREASE IN SIZE OF THE TUSKS--YOUNG PIGS LONGITUDINALLY
+STRIPED--FERAL PIGS--CROSSED BREEDS.
+
+CATTLE.--ZEBU A DISTINCT SPECIES--EUROPEAN CATTLE PROBABLY DESCENDED FROM
+THREE WILD FORMS--ALL THE RACES NOW FERTILE TOGETHER--BRITISH PARK
+CATTLE--ON THE COLOUR OF THE ABORIGINAL SPECIES--CONSTITUTIONAL
+DIFFERENCES--SOUTH AFRICAN RACES--SOUTH AMERICAN RACES--NIATA
+CATTLE--ORIGIN OF THE VARIOUS RACES OF CATTLE. {iv}
+
+SHEEP.--REMARKABLE RACES OF--VARIATIONS ATTACHED TO THE MALE
+SEX--ADAPTATIONS TO VARIOUS CONDITIONS--GESTATION OF--CHANGES IN THE
+WOOL--SEMI-MONSTROUS BREEDS.
+
+GOATS.--REMARKABLE VARIATIONS OF ... Page 65
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DOMESTIC RABBITS.
+
+DOMESTIC RABBITS DESCENDED FROM THE COMMON WILD RABBIT--ANCIENT
+DOMESTICATION--ANCIENT SELECTION--LARGE LOP-EARED RABBITS--VARIOUS
+BREEDS--FLUCTUATING CHARACTERS--ORIGIN OF THE HIMALAYAN BREED--CURIOUS CASE
+OF INHERITANCE--FERAL RABBITS IN JAMAICA AND THE FALKLAND ISLANDS--PORTO
+SANTO FERAL RABBITS--OSTEOLOGICAL CHARACTERS--SKULL--SKULL OF HALF-LOP
+RABBITS--VARIATIONS IN THE SKULL ANALOGOUS TO DIFFERENCES IN DIFFERENT
+SPECIES OF HARES--VERTEBRAE--STERNUM--SCAPULA--EFFECTS OF USE AND DISUSE ON
+THE PROPORTIONS OF THE LIMBS AND BODY--CAPACITY OF THE SKULL AND REDUCED
+SIZE OF THE BRAIN--SUMMARY ON THE MODIFICATIONS OF DOMESTICATED RABBITS ...
+Page 103
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DOMESTIC PIGEONS.
+
+ENUMERATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL BREEDS--INDIVIDUAL
+VARIABILITY--VARIATIONS OF A REMARKABLE NATURE--OSTEOLOGICAL CHARACTERS:
+SKULL, LOWER JAW, NUMBER OF VERTEBRAE--CORRELATION OF GROWTH: TONGUE WITH
+BEAK; EYELIDS AND NOSTRILS WITH WATTLED SKIN--NUMBER OF WING-FEATHERS, AND
+LENGTH OF WING--COLOUR AND DOWN--WEBBED AND FEATHERED FEET--ON THE EFFECTS
+OF DISUSE--LENGTH OF FEET IN CORRELATION WITH LENGTH OF BEAK--LENGTH OF
+STERNUM, SCAPULA, AND FURCULA--LENGTH OF WINGS--SUMMARY ON THE POINTS OF
+DIFFERENCE IN THE SEVERAL BREEDS ... Page 131
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+PIGEONS--_continued_.
+
+ON THE ABORIGINAL PARENT-STOCK OF THE SEVERAL DOMESTIC RACES--HABITS OF
+LIFE--WILD RACES OF THE ROCK-PIGEON--DOVECOT-PIGEONS--PROOFS OF THE DESCENT
+OF THE SEVERAL RACES FROM COLUMBA LIVIA--FERTILITY OF THE RACES WHEN
+CROSSED--REVERSION TO THE PLUMAGE OF THE WILD ROCK-PIGEON--CIRCUMSTANCES
+FAVOURABLE TO THE FORMATION OF THE RACES--ANTIQUITY AND HISTORY OF THE
+PRINCIPAL RACES--MANNER OF THEIR FORMATION--SELECTION--UNCONSCIOUS
+SELECTION--CARE TAKEN BY FANCIERS IN SELECTING THEIR BIRDS--SLIGHTLY
+DIFFERENT STRAINS GRADUALLY CHANGE INTO WELL-MARKED BREEDS--EXTINCTION OF
+INTERMEDIATE FORMS--CERTAIN BREEDS REMAIN PERMANENT, WHILST OTHERS
+CHANGE--SUMMARY ... Page 180
+
+{v}
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+FOWLS.
+
+BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CHIEF BREEDS--ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF THEIR
+DESCENT FROM SEVERAL SPECIES--ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF ALL THE BREEDS HAVING
+DESCENDED FROM GALLUS BANKIVA---REVERSION TO THE PARENT-STOCK IN
+COLOUR--ANALOGOUS VARIATIONS--ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE FOWL--EXTERNAL
+DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SEVERAL BREEDS--EGGS--CHICKENS--SECONDARY SEXUAL
+CHARACTERS--WING- AND TAIL-FEATHERS, VOICE, DISPOSITION, ETC.--OSTEOLOGICAL
+DIFFERENCES IN THE SKULL, VERTEBRAE, ETC.--EFFECTS OF USE AND DISUSE ON
+CERTAIN PARTS--CORRELATION OF GROWTH ... Page 225
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+DUCKS--GOOSE--PEACOCK--TURKEY--GUINEA-FOWL--CANARY-BIRD--GOLD-FISH--
+HIVE-BEES--SILK-MOTHS.
+
+DUCKS, SEVERAL BREEDS OF--PROGRESS OF DOMESTICATION--ORIGIN OF, FROM THE
+COMMON WILD-DUCK--DIFFERENCES IN THE DIFFERENT BREEDS--OSTEOLOGICAL
+DIFFERENCES--EFFECTS OF USE AND DISUSE ON THE LIMB-BONES.
+
+GOOSE, ANCIENTLY DOMESTICATED--LITTLE VARIATION OF--SEBASTOPOL BREED.
+
+PEACOCK, ORIGIN OF BLACK-SHOULDERED BREED.
+
+TURKEY, BREEDS OF--CROSSED WITH THE UNITED STATES SPECIES--EFFECTS OF
+CLIMATE ON.
+
+GUINEA-FOWL, CANARY-BIRD, GOLD-FISH, HIVE-BEES.
+
+SILK-MOTHS, SPECIES AND BREEDS OF--ANCIENTLY DOMESTICATED--CARE IN THEIR
+SELECTION--DIFFERENCES IN THE DIFFERENT RACES--IN THE EGG, CATERPILLAR, AND
+COCOON STATES--INHERITANCE OF CHARACTERS--IMPERFECT WINGS--LOST
+INSTINCTS--CORRELATED CHARACTERS ... Page 276
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+CULTIVATED PLANTS: CEREAL AND CULINARY PLANTS.
+
+PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE NUMBER AND PARENTAGE OF CULTIVATED PLANTS--FIRST
+STEPS IN CULTIVATION--GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF CULTIVATED PLANTS.
+
+CEREALIA.--DOUBTS ON THE NUMBER OF SPECIES.--WHEAT: VARIETIES
+OF--INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY--CHANGED HABITS--SELECTION--ANCIENT HISTORY OF
+THE VARIETIES.--MAIZE: GREAT VARIATION OF--DIRECT ACTION OF CLIMATE ON.
+
+CULINARY PLANTS.--CABBAGES: VARIETIES OF, IN FOLIAGE AND STEMS, BUT NOT IN
+OTHER PARTS--PARENTAGE OF--OTHER SPECIES OF BRASSICA.--PEAS: AMOUNT OF
+DIFFERENCE IN THE SEVERAL KINDS, CHIEFLY IN THE PODS AND SEED--SOME
+VARIETIES CONSTANT, SOME HIGHLY VARIABLE--DO NOT
+INTERCROSS.--BEANS.--POTATOES: NUMEROUS VARIETIES OF--DIFFERING LITTLE,
+EXCEPT IN THE TUBERS--CHARACTERS INHERITED ... Page 305
+
+{vi}
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+PLANTS _continued_--FRUITS--ORNAMENTAL TREES--FLOWERS.
+
+FRUITS.--GRAPES--VARY IN ODD AND TRIFLING PARTICULARS.--MULBERRY.--THE
+ORANGE GROUP--SINGULAR RESULTS FROM CROSSING.--PEACH AND
+NECTARINE--BUD-VARIATION--ANALOGOUS VARIATION--RELATION TO THE
+ALMOND.--APRICOT.--PLUMS--VARIATION IN THEIR STONES.--CHERRIES--SINGULAR
+VARIETIES OF.--APPLE.--PEAR.--STRAWBERRY--INTERBLENDING OF THE ORIGINAL
+FORMS.--GOOSEBERRY--STEADY INCREASE IN SIZE OF THE FRUIT--VARIETIES
+OF.--WALNUT.--NUT.--CUCURBITACEOUS PLANTS--WONDERFUL VARIATION OF.
+
+ORNAMENTAL TREES--THEIR VARIATION IN DEGREE AND
+KIND--ASH-TREE--SCOTCH-FIR--HAWTHORN.
+
+FLOWERS--MULTIPLE ORIGIN OF MANY KINDS--VARIATION IN CONSTITUTIONAL
+PECULIARITIES--KIND OF VARIATION.--ROSES--SEVERAL SPECIES
+CULTIVATED.--PANSY.--DAHLIA.--HYACINTH, HISTORY AND VARIATION OF ... Page
+332
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+ON BUD-VARIATION, AND ON CERTAIN ANOMALOUS MODES OF REPRODUCTION AND
+VARIATION.
+
+BUD-VARIATIONS IN THE PEACH, PLUM, CHERRY, VINE, GOOSEBERRY, CURRANT, AND
+BANANA, AS SHOWN BY THE MODIFIED FRUIT--IN FLOWERS: CAMELLIAS, AZALEAS,
+CHRYSANTHEMUMS, ROSES, ETC.--ON THE RUNNING OF THE COLOUR IN
+CARNATIONS--BUD-VARIATIONS IN LEAVES--VARIATIONS BY SUCKERS, TUBERS, AND
+BULBS--ON THE BREAKING OF TULIPS--BUD-VARIATIONS GRADUATE INTO CHANGES
+CONSEQUENT ON CHANGED CONDITIONS OF LIFE--CYTISUS ADAMI, ITS ORIGIN AND
+TRANSFORMATION--ON THE UNION OF TWO DIFFERENT EMBRYOS IN ONE SEED--THE
+TRIFACIAL ORANGE--ON REVERSION BY BUDS IN HYBRIDS AND MONGRELS--ON THE
+PRODUCTION OF MODIFIED BUDS BY THE GRAFTING OF ONE VARIETY OR SPECIES ON
+ANOTHER--ON THE DIRECT OR IMMEDIATE ACTION OF FOREIGN POLLEN ON THE
+MOTHER-PLANT--ON THE EFFECTS IN FEMALE ANIMALS OF A FIRST IMPREGNATION ON
+THE SUBSEQUENT OFFSPRING--CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY ... Page 373
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{vii}
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+  1. DUN DEVONSHIRE PONY, WITH SHOULDER, SPINAL, AND LEG STRIPES ... PAGE
+      56
+  2. HEAD OF JAPAN OR MASKED PIG ... 69
+  3. HEAD OF WILD BOAR, AND OF "GOLDEN DAYS," A PIG OF THE YORKSHIRE LARGE
+      BREED ... 72
+  4. OLD IRISH PIG, WITH JAW-APPENDAGES ... 75
+  5. HALF-LOP RABBIT ... 108
+  6. SKULL OF WILD RABBIT ... 117
+  7. SKULL OF LARGE LOP-EARED RABBIT ... 117
+  8. PART OF ZYGOMATIC ARCH, SHOWING THE PROJECTING END OF THE MALAR-BONE,
+      AND THE AUDITORY MEATUS, OF RABBITS ... 118
+  9. POSTERIOR END OF SKULL, SHOWING THE INTER-PARIETAL BONE, OF RABBITS
+      ... 118
+  10. OCCIPITAL FORAMEN OF RABBITS ... 118
+  11. SKULL OF HALF-LOP RABBIT ... 119
+  12. ATLAS VERTEBRAE OF RABBITS ... 121
+  13. THIRD CERVICAL VERTEBRAE OF RABBITS ... 121
+  14. DORSAL VERTEBRAE, FROM SIXTH TO TENTH INCLUSIVE, OF RABBITS ... 122
+  15. TERMINAL BONE OF STERNUM OF RABBITS ... 123
+  16. ACROMION OF SCAPULA OF RABBITS ... 123
+  17. THE ROCK-PIGEON, OR COLUMBIA LIVIA ... 135
+  18. ENGLISH POUTER ... 137
+  19. ENGLISH CARRIER ... 140
+  20. ENGLISH BARB ... 145
+  21. ENGLISH FANTAIL ... 147
+  22. AFRICAN OWL ... 149
+  23. SHORT-FACED ENGLISH TUMBLER ... 152
+  24. SKULLS OF PIGEONS, VIEWED LATERALLY ... 163
+  25. LOWER JAWS OF PIGEONS, SEEN FROM ABOVE ... 164
+  26. SKULL OF RUNT, SEEN FROM ABOVE ... 165
+  27. LATERAL VIEW OF JAWS OF PIGEONS ... 165
+  28. SCAPULAE OF PIGEONS ... 167
+  29. FURCULAE OF PIGEONS ... 167
+  30. SPANISH FOWL ... 226
+  31. HAMBURGH FOWL ... 228
+  32. POLISH FOWL ... 229
+  33. OCCIPITAL FORAMEN OF THE SKULLS OF FOWLS ... 261
+  {viii}
+  34. SKULLS OF FOWLS, VIEWED FROM ABOVE, A LITTLE OBLIQUELY ... 262
+  35. LONGITUDINAL SECTIONS OF SKULLS OF FOWLS, VIEWED LATERALLY ... 263
+  36. SKULL OF HORNED FOWL, VIEWED FROM ABOVE, A LITTLE OBLIQUELY ... 265
+  37. SIXTH CERVICAL VERTEBRAE OF FOWLS, VIEWED LATERALLY ... 267
+  38. EXTREMITY OF THE FURCULA OF FOWLS, VIEWED LATERALLY ... 268
+  39. SKULLS OF DUCKS, VIEWED LATERALLY, REDUCED TO TWO-THIRDS OF THE
+      NATURAL SIZE ... 282
+  40. CERVICAL VERTEBRAE OF DUCKS, OF NATURAL SIZE ... 283
+  41. PODS OF THE COMMON PEA ... 328
+  42. PEACH AND ALMOND STONES, OF NATURAL SIZE, VIEWED EDGEWAYS ... 337
+  43. PLUM STONES, OF NATURAL SIZE, VIEWED LATERALLY ... 345
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{1}
+
+THE
+
+VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS
+
+UNDER DOMESTICATION.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+The object of this work is not to describe all the many races of animals
+which have been domesticated by man, and of the plants which have been
+cultivated by him; even if I possessed the requisite knowledge, so gigantic
+an undertaking would be here superfluous. It is my intention to give under
+the head of each species only such facts as I have been able to collect or
+observe, showing the amount and nature of the changes which animals and
+plants have undergone whilst under man's dominion, or which bear on the
+general principles of variation. In one case alone, namely in that of the
+domestic pigeon, I will describe fully all the chief races, their history,
+the amount and nature of their differences, and the probable steps by which
+they have been formed. I have selected this case, because, as we shall
+hereafter see, the materials are better than in any other; and one case
+fully described will in fact illustrate all others. But I shall also
+describe domesticated rabbits, fowls, and ducks, with considerable
+fullness.
+
+The subjects discussed in this volume are so connected that it is not a
+little difficult to decide how they can be best arranged. I have determined
+in the first part to give, under the heads of the various animals and
+plants, a large body of facts, some of which may at first appear but little
+related to our subject, and to devote the latter part to general
+discussions. Whenever I have found it necessary to give numerous details,
+in support of any proposition or conclusion, small type has been used. The
+reader {2} will, I think, find this plan a convenience, for, if he does not
+doubt the conclusion or care about the details, he can easily pass them
+over; yet I may be permitted to say that some of the discussions thus
+printed deserve attention, at least from the professed naturalist.
+
+It may be useful to those who have read nothing about Natural Selection, if
+I here give a brief sketch of the whole subject and of its bearing on the
+origin of species.[1] This is the more desirable, as it is impossible in
+the present work to avoid many allusions to questions which will be fully
+discussed in future volumes.
+
+From a remote period, in all parts of the world, man has subjected many
+animals and plants to domestication or culture. Man has no power of
+altering the absolute conditions of life; he cannot change the climate of
+any country; he adds no new element to the soil; but he can remove an
+animal or plant from one climate or soil to another, and give it food on
+which it did not subsist in its natural state. It is an error to speak of
+man "tampering with nature" and causing variability. If organic beings had
+not possessed an inherent tendency to vary, man could have done nothing.[2]
+He unintentionally exposes his animals and plants to various conditions of
+life, and variability supervenes, which he cannot even prevent or check.
+Consider the simple case of a plant which has been cultivated during a long
+time in its native country, and which consequently has not been subjected
+to any change of climate. It has been protected to a certain extent from
+the competing roots of plants of other kinds; it has generally been grown
+in manured soil, but probably not richer than that of many an alluvial
+flat; and lastly, it has been exposed to changes in its conditions, being
+grown sometimes in one district and sometimes in another, in different
+soils. Under such circumstances, {3} scarcely a plant can be named, though
+cultivated in the rudest manner, which has not given birth to several
+varieties. It can hardly be maintained that during the many changes which
+this earth has undergone, and during the natural migrations of plants from
+one land or island to another, tenanted by different species, that such
+plants will not often have been subjected to changes in their conditions
+analogous to those which almost inevitably cause cultivated plants to vary.
+No doubt man selects varying individuals, sows their seeds, and again
+selects their varying offspring. But the initial variation on which man
+works, and without which he can do nothing, is caused by slight changes in
+the conditions of life, which must often have occurred under nature. Man,
+therefore, may be said to have been trying an experiment on a gigantic
+scale; and it is an experiment which nature during the long lapse of time
+has incessantly tried. Hence it follows that the principles of
+domestication are important for us. The main result is that organic beings
+thus treated have varied largely, and the variations have been inherited.
+This has apparently been one chief cause of the belief long held by some
+few naturalists that species in a state of nature undergo change.
+
+I shall in this volume treat, as fully as my materials permit, the whole
+subject of variation under domestication. We may thus hope to obtain some
+light, little though it be, on the causes of variability,--on the laws
+which govern it, such as the direct action of climate and food, the effects
+of use and disuse, and of correlation of growth,--and on the amount of
+change to which domesticated organisms are liable. We shall learn something
+on the laws of inheritance, on the effects of crossing different breeds,
+and on that sterility which often supervenes when organic beings are
+removed from their natural conditions of life, and likewise when they are
+too closely interbred. During this investigation we shall see that the
+principle of Selection is all important. Although man does not cause
+variability and cannot even prevent it, he can select, preserve, and
+accumulate the variations given to him by the hand of nature in any way
+which he chooses; and thus he can certainly produce a great result.
+Selection may be followed either methodically and intentionally, or
+unconsciously and unintentionally. Man {4} may select and preserve each
+successive variation, with the distinct intention of improving and altering
+a breed, in accordance with a preconceived idea; and by thus adding up
+variations, often so slight as to be imperceptible by an uneducated eye, he
+has effected wonderful changes and improvements. It can, also, be clearly
+shown that man, without any intention or thought of improving the breed, by
+preserving in each successive generation the individuals which he prizes
+most, and by destroying the worthless individuals, slowly, though surely,
+induces great changes. As the will of man thus comes into play, we can
+understand how it is that domesticated breeds show adaptation to his wants
+and pleasures. We can further understand how it is that domestic races of
+animals and cultivated races of plants often exhibit an abnormal character,
+as compared with natural species; for they have been modified not for their
+own benefit, but for that of man.
+
+In a second work I shall discuss the variability of organic beings in a
+state of nature; namely, the individual differences presented by animals
+and plants, and those slightly greater and generally inherited differences
+which are ranked by naturalists as varieties or geographical races. We
+shall see how difficult, or rather how impossible it often is, to
+distinguish between races and sub-species, as the less well-marked forms
+have sometimes been denominated; and again between sub-species and true
+species. I shall further attempt to show that it is the common and widely
+ranging, or, as they may be called, the dominant species, which most
+frequently vary; and that it is the large and flourishing genera which
+include the greatest number of varying species. Varieties, as we shall see,
+may justly be called incipient species.
+
+But it may be urged, granting that organic beings in a state of nature
+present some varieties,--that their organization is in some slight degree
+plastic; granting that many animals and plants have varied greatly under
+domestication, and that man by his power of selection has gone on
+accumulating such variations until he has made strongly marked and firmly
+inherited races; granting all this, how, it may be asked, have species
+arisen in a state of nature? The differences between natural varieties are
+slight; whereas the differences are {5} considerable between the species of
+the same genus, and great between the species of distinct genera. How do
+these lesser differences become augmented into the greater difference? How
+do varieties, or as I have called them incipient species, become converted
+into true and well-defined species? How has each new species been adapted
+to the surrounding physical conditions, and to the other forms of life on
+which it in any way depends? We see on every side of us innumerable
+adaptations and contrivances, which have justly excited in the mind of
+every observer the highest admiration. There is, for instance, a fly
+(Cecidomyia)[3] which deposits its eggs within the stamens of a
+Scrophularia, and secretes a poison which produces a gall, on which the
+larva feeds; but there is another insect (Misocampus) which deposits its
+eggs within the body of the larva within the gall, and is thus nourished by
+its living prey; so that here a hymenopterous insect depends on a dipterous
+insect, and this depends on its power of producing a monstrous growth in a
+particular organ of a particular plant. So it is, in a more or less plainly
+marked manner, in thousands and tens of thousands of cases, with the lowest
+as well as with the highest productions of nature.
+
+This problem of the conversion of varieties into species,--that is, the
+augmentation of the slight differences characteristic of varieties into the
+greater differences characteristic of species and genera, including the
+admirable adaptations of each being to its complex organic and inorganic
+conditions of life,--will form the main subject of my second work. We shall
+therein see that all organic beings, without exception, tend to increase at
+so high a ratio, that no district, no station, not even the whole surface
+of the land or the whole ocean, would hold the progeny of a single pair
+after a certain number of generations. The inevitable result is an
+ever-recurrent Struggle for Existence. It has truly been said that all
+nature is at war; the strongest ultimately prevail, the weakest fail; and
+we well know that myriads of forms have disappeared from the face of the
+earth. If then organic beings in a state of nature vary even in a slight
+degree, owing to changes in the surrounding {6} conditions, of which we
+have abundant geological evidence, or from any other cause; if, in the long
+course of ages, inheritable variations ever arise in any way advantageous
+to any being under its excessively complex and changing relations of life;
+and it would be a strange fact if beneficial variations did never arise,
+seeing how many have arisen which man has taken advantage of for his own
+profit or pleasure; if then these contingencies ever occur, and I do not
+see how the probability of their occurrence can be doubted, then the severe
+and often-recurrent struggle for existence will determine that those
+variations, however slight, which are favourable shall be preserved or
+selected, and those which are unfavourable shall be destroyed.
+
+This preservation, during the battle for life, of varieties which possess
+any advantage in structure, constitution, or instinct, I have called
+Natural Selection; and Mr. Herbert Spencer has well expressed the same idea
+by the Survival of the Fittest. The term "natural selection" is in some
+respects a bad one, as it seems to imply conscious choice; but this will be
+disregarded after a little familiarity. No one objects to chemists speaking
+of "elective affinity;" and certainly an acid has no more choice in
+combining with a base, than the conditions of life have in determining
+whether or not a new form be selected or preserved. The term is so far a
+good one as it brings into connection the production of domestic races by
+man's power of selection, and the natural preservation of varieties and
+species in a state of nature. For brevity sake I sometimes speak of natural
+selection as an intelligent power;--in the same way as astronomers speak of
+the attraction of gravity as ruling the movements of the planets, or as
+agriculturists speak of man making domestic races by his power of
+selection. In the one case, as in the other, selection does nothing without
+variability, and this depends in some manner on the action of the
+surrounding circumstances on the organism. I have, also, often personified
+the word Nature; for I have found it difficult to avoid this ambiguity; but
+I mean by nature only the aggregate action and product of many natural
+laws,--and by laws only the ascertained sequence of events. {7}
+
+In the chapter devoted to natural selection I shall show from experiment
+and from a multitude of facts, that the greatest amount of life can be
+supported on each spot by great diversification or divergence in the
+structure and constitution of its inhabitants. We shall, also, see that the
+continued production of new forms through natural selection, which implies
+that each new variety has some advantage over others, almost inevitably
+leads to the extermination of the older and less improved forms. These
+latter are almost necessarily intermediate in structure as well as in
+descent between the last-produced forms and their original parent-species.
+Now, if we suppose a species to produce two or more varieties, and these in
+the course of time to produce other varieties, the principle of good being
+derived from diversification of structure will generally lead to the
+preservation of the most divergent varieties; thus the lesser differences
+characteristic of varieties come to be augmented into the greater
+differences characteristic of species, and, by the extermination of the
+older intermediate forms, new species come to be distinctly defined
+objects. Thus, also, we shall see how it is that organic beings can be
+classed by what is called a natural method in distinct groups--species
+under genera, and genera under families.
+
+As all the inhabitants of each country may be said, owing to their high
+rate of reproduction, to be striving to increase in numbers; as each form
+is related to many other forms in the struggle for life,--for destroy any
+one and its place will be seized by others; as every part of the
+organization occasionally varies in some slight degree, and as natural
+selection acts exclusively by the preservation of variations which are
+advantageous under the excessively complex conditions to which each being
+is exposed, no limit exists to the number, singularity, and perfection of
+the contrivances and co-adaptations which may thus be produced. An animal
+or a plant may thus slowly become related in its structure and habits in
+the most intricate manner to many other animals and plants, and to the
+physical conditions of its home. Variations in the organization will in
+some cases be aided by habit, or by the use and disuse of parts, and they
+will be governed by the direct action {8} of the surrounding physical
+conditions and by correlation of growth.
+
+On the principles here briefly sketched out, there is no innate or
+necessary tendency in each being to its own advancement in the scale of
+organization. We are almost compelled to look at the specialization or
+differentiation of parts or organs for different functions as the best or
+even sole standard of advancement; for by such division of labour each
+function of body and mind is better performed. And, as natural selection
+acts exclusively through the preservation of profitable modifications of
+structure, and as the conditions of life in each area generally become more
+and more complex, from the increasing number of different forms which
+inhabit it and from most of these forms acquiring a more and more perfect
+structure, we may confidently believe, that, on the whole, organization
+advances. Nevertheless a very simple form fitted for very simple conditions
+of life might remain for indefinite ages unaltered or unimproved; for what
+would it profit an infusorial animalcule, for instance, or an intestinal
+worm, to become highly organized? Members of a high group might even
+become, and this apparently has occurred, fitted for simpler conditions of
+life; and in this case natural selection would tend to simplify or degrade
+the organization, for complicated mechanism for simple actions would be
+useless or even disadvantageous.
+
+In a second work, after treating of the Variation of organisms in a state
+of nature, of the Struggle for Existence and the principle of Natural
+Selection, I shall discuss the difficulties which are opposed to the
+theory. These difficulties may be classed under the following heads:--the
+apparent impossibility in some cases of a very simple organ graduating by
+small steps into a highly perfect organ; the marvellous facts of Instinct;
+the whole question of Hybridity; and, lastly, the absence, at the present
+time and in our geological formations, of innumerable links connecting all
+allied species. Although some of these difficulties are of great weight, we
+shall see that many of them are explicable on the theory of natural
+selection, and are otherwise inexplicable.
+
+In scientific investigations it is permitted to invent any hypothesis, and
+if it explains various large and independent classes of facts it rises to
+the rank of a well-grounded theory. The {9} undulations of the ether and
+even its existence are hypothetical, yet every one now admits the
+undulatory theory of light. The principle of natural selection may be
+looked at as a mere hypothesis, but rendered in some degree probable by
+what we positively know of the variability of organic beings in a state of
+nature,--by what we positively know of the struggle for existence, and the
+consequent almost inevitable preservation of favourable variations,--and
+from the analogical formation of domestic races. Now this hypothesis may be
+tested,--and this seems to me the only fair and legitimate manner of
+considering the whole question,--by trying whether it explains several
+large and independent classes of facts; such as the geological succession
+of organic beings, their distribution in past and present times, and their
+mutual affinities and homologies. If the principle of natural selection
+does explain these and other large bodies of facts, it ought to be
+received. On the ordinary view of each species having been independently
+created, we gain no scientific explanation of any one of these facts. We
+can only say that it has so pleased the Creator to command that the past
+and present inhabitants of the world should appear in a certain order and
+in certain areas; that He has impressed on them the most extraordinary
+resemblances, and has classed them in groups subordinate to groups. But by
+such statements we gain no new knowledge; we do not connect together facts
+and laws; we explain nothing.
+
+In a third work I shall try the principle of natural selection by seeing
+how far it will give a fair explanation of the several classes of facts
+just alluded to. It was the consideration of these facts which first led me
+to take up the present subject. When I visited, during the voyage of H.M.S.
+_Beagle_, the Galapagos Archipelago, situated in the Pacific Ocean about
+500 miles from the shore of South America, I found myself surrounded by
+peculiar species of birds, reptiles, and plants, existing nowhere else in
+the world. Yet they nearly all bore an American stamp. In the song of the
+mocking-thrush, in the harsh cry of the carrion-hawk, in the great
+candlestick-like opuntias, I clearly perceived the neighbourhood of
+America, though the islands were separated by so many miles of ocean from
+the mainland, and differed much from it in their geological {10}
+constitution and climate. Still more surprising was the fact that most of
+the inhabitants of each separate island in this small archipelago were
+specifically different, though most closely related to each other. The
+archipelago, with its innumerable craters and bare streams of lava,
+appeared to be of recent origin; and thus I fancied myself brought near to
+the very act of creation. I often asked myself how these many peculiar
+animals and plants had been produced: the simplest answer seemed to be that
+the inhabitants of the several islands had descended from each other,
+undergoing modification in the course of their descent; and that all the
+inhabitants of the archipelago had descended from those of the nearest
+land, namely America, whence colonists would naturally have been derived.
+But it long remained to me an inexplicable problem how the necessary degree
+of modification could have been effected, and it would have thus remained
+for ever, had I not studied domestic productions, and thus acquired a just
+idea of the power of Selection. As soon as I had fully realized this idea,
+I saw, on reading Malthus on Population, that Natural Selection was the
+inevitable result of the rapid increase of all organic beings; for I was
+prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence by having long studied
+the habits of animals.
+
+Before visiting the Galapagos I had collected many animals whilst
+travelling from north to south on both sides of America, and everywhere,
+under conditions of life as different as it is possible to conceive,
+American forms were met with--species replacing species of the same
+peculiar genera. Thus it was when the Cordilleras were ascended, or the
+thick tropical forests penetrated, or the fresh waters of America searched.
+Subsequently I visited other countries, which in all the conditions of life
+were incomparably more like to parts of South America, than the different
+parts of that continent were to each other; yet in these countries, as in
+Australia or Southern Africa, the traveller cannot fail to be struck with
+the entire difference of their productions. Again the reflection was forced
+on me that community of descent from the early inhabitants or colonists of
+South America would alone explain the wide prevalence of American types of
+structure throughout that immense area.
+
+To exhume with one's own hands the bones of extinct and {11} gigantic
+quadrupeds brings the whole question of the succession of species vividly
+before one's mind; and I had found in South America great pieces of
+tesselated armour exactly like, but on a magnificent scale, that covering
+the pigmy armadillo; I had found great teeth like those of the living
+sloth, and bones like those of the cavy. An analogous succession of allied
+forms had been previously observed in Australia. Here then we see the
+prevalence, as if by descent, in time as in space, of the same types in the
+same areas; and in neither case does the similarity of the conditions by
+any means seem sufficient to account for the similarity of the forms of
+life. It is notorious that the fossil remains of closely consecutive
+formations are closely allied in structure, and we can at once understand
+the fact if they are likewise closely allied by descent. The succession of
+the many distinct species of the same genus throughout the long series of
+geological formations seems to have been unbroken or continuous. New
+species come in gradually one by one. Ancient and extinct forms of life
+often show combined or intermediate characters, like the words of a dead
+language with respect to its several offshoots or living tongues. All these
+and other such facts seemed to me to point to descent with modification as
+the method of production of new groups of species.
+
+The innumerable past and present inhabitants of the world are connected
+together by the most singular and complex affinities, and can be classed in
+groups under groups, in the same manner as varieties can be classed under
+species and sub-varieties under varieties, but with much higher grades of
+difference. It will be seen in my third work that these complex affinities
+and the rules for classification receive a rational explanation on the
+principle of descent, together with modifications acquired through natural
+selection, entailing divergence of character and the extinction of
+intermediate forms. How inexplicable is the similar pattern of the hand of
+a man, the foot of a dog, the wing of a bat, the flipper of a seal, on the
+doctrine of independent acts of creation! how simply explained on the
+principle of the natural selection of successive slight variations in the
+diverging descendants from {12} a single progenitor! So it is, if we look
+to the structure of an individual animal or plant, when we see the fore and
+hind limbs, the skull and vertebrae, the jaws and legs of a crab, the
+petals, stamens, and pistils of a flower, built on the same type or
+pattern. During the many changes to which in the course of time all organic
+beings have been subjected, certain organs or parts have occasionally
+become at first of little use and ultimately superfluous; and the retention
+of such parts in a rudimentary and utterly useless condition can, on the
+descent-theory, be simply understood. On the principle of modifications
+being inherited at the same age in the child, at which each successive
+variation first appeared in the parent, we shall see why rudimentary parts
+and organs are generally well developed in the individual at a very early
+age. On the same principle of inheritance at corresponding ages, and on the
+principle of variations not generally supervening at a very early period of
+embryonic growth (and both these principles can be shown to be probable
+from direct evidence), that most wonderful fact in the whole round of
+natural history, namely, the similarity of members of the same great class
+in their embryonic condition,--the embryo, for instance, of a mammal, bird,
+reptile, and fish being barely distinguishable,--becomes simply
+intelligible.
+
+It is the consideration and explanation of such facts as these which has
+convinced me that the theory of descent with modification by means of
+natural selection is in the main true. These facts have as yet received no
+explanation on the theory of independent Creations; they cannot be grouped
+together under one point of view, but each has to be considered as an
+ultimate fact. As the first origin of life on this earth, as well as the
+continued life of each individual, is at present quite beyond the scope of
+science, I do not wish to lay much stress on the greater simplicity of the
+view of a few forms, or of only one form, having been originally created,
+instead of innumerable miraculous creations having been necessary at
+innumerable periods; though this more simple view accords well with
+Maupertuis's philosophical axiom "of least action."
+
+In considering how far the theory of natural selection may be {13}
+extended,--that is, in determining from how many progenitors the
+inhabitants of the world have descended,--we may conclude that at least all
+the members of the same class have descended from a single ancestor. A
+number of organic beings are included in the same class, because they
+present, independently of their habits of life, the same fundamental type
+of structure, and because they graduate into each other. Moreover, members
+of the same class can in most cases be shown to be closely alike at an
+early embryonic age. These facts can be explained on the belief of their
+descent from a common form; therefore it may be safely admitted that all
+the members of the same class have descended from one progenitor. But as
+the members of quite distinct classes have something in common in structure
+and much in common in constitution, analogy and the simplicity of the view
+would lead us one step further, and to infer as probable that all living
+creatures have descended from a single prototype.
+
+I hope that the reader will pause before coming to any final and hostile
+conclusion on the theory of natural selection. It is the facts and views to
+be hereafter given which have convinced me of the truth of the theory. The
+reader may consult my 'Origin of Species,' for a general sketch of the
+whole subject; but in that work he has to take many statements on trust. In
+considering the theory of natural selection, he will assuredly meet with
+weighty difficulties, but these difficulties relate chiefly to
+subjects--such as the degree of perfection of the geological record, the
+means of distribution, the possibility of transitions in organs, &c.--on
+which we are confessedly ignorant; nor do we know how ignorant we are. If
+we are much more ignorant than is generally supposed, most of these
+difficulties wholly disappear. Let the reader reflect on the difficulty of
+looking at whole classes of facts from a new point of view. Let him observe
+how slowly, but surely, the noble views of Lyell on the gradual changes now
+in progress on the earth's surface have been accepted as sufficient to
+account for all that we see in its past history. The present action of
+natural selection may seem more or less probable; but I believe in the
+truth of the theory, {14} because it collects under one point of view, and
+gives a rational explanation of, many apparently independent classes of
+facts.[4]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{15}
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+DOMESTIC DOGS AND CATS.
+
+    ANCIENT VARIETIES OF THE DOG--RESEMBLANCE OF DOMESTIC DOGS IN VARIOUS
+    COUNTRIES TO NATIVE CANINE SPECIES--ANIMALS NOT ACQUAINTED WITH MAN AT
+    FIRST FEARLESS--DOGS RESEMBLING WOLVES AND JACKALS--HABIT OF BARKING
+    ACQUIRED AND LOST--FERAL DOGS--TAN-COLOURED EYE-SPOTS PERIOD OF
+    GESTATION--OFFENSIVE ODOUR--FERTILITY OF THE RACES WHEN
+    CROSSED--DIFFERENCES IN THE SEVERAL RACES IN PART DUE TO DESCENT FROM
+    DISTINCT SPECIES--DIFFERENCES IN THE SKULL AND TEETH--DIFFERENCES IN
+    THE BODY, IN CONSTITUTION--FEW IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES HAVE BEEN FIXED BY
+    SELECTION--DIRECT ACTION OF CLIMATE--WATER-DOGS WITH PALMATED
+    FEET--HISTORY OF THE CHANGES WHICH CERTAIN ENGLISH RACES OF THE DOG
+    HAVE GRADUALLY UNDERGONE THROUGH SELECTION--EXTINCTION OF THE LESS
+    IMPROVED SUB-BREEDS.
+
+    CATS, CROSSED WITH SEVERAL SPECIES--DIFFERENT BREEDS FOUND ONLY IN
+    SEPARATED COUNTRIES--DIRECT EFFECTS OF THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE--FERAL
+    CATS--INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY.
+
+The first and chief point of interest in this chapter is, whether the
+numerous domesticated varieties of the dog have descended from a single
+wild species, or from several. Some authors believe that all have descended
+from the wolf, or from the jackal, or from an unknown and extinct species.
+Others again believe, and this of late has been the favourite tenet, that
+they have descended from several species, extinct and recent, more or less
+commingled together. We shall probably never be able to ascertain their
+origin with certainty. Palaeontology[5] does not throw much light on the
+question, owing, on the one hand, to the close similarity of the skulls of
+extinct as well as living wolves and jackals, and owing on the other hand
+to the great dissimilarity of the skulls of the several breeds of the
+domestic dogs. It seems, however, that remains have been found in the {16}
+later tertiary deposits more like those of a large dog than of a wolf,
+which favours the belief of De Blainville that our dogs are the descendants
+of a single extinct species. On the other hand, some authors go so far as
+to assert that every chief domestic breed must have had its wild prototype.
+This latter view is extremely improbable; it allows nothing for variation;
+it passes over the almost monstrous character of some of the breeds; and it
+almost necessarily assumes, that a large number of species have become
+extinct since man domesticated the dog; whereas we plainly see that the
+members of the dog-family are extirpated by human agency with much
+difficulty; even so recently as 1710 the wolf existed in so small an island
+as Ireland.
+
+The reasons which have led various authors to infer that our dogs have
+descended from more than one wild species are as follows.[6] Firstly, the
+great difference between the several breeds; but this will appear of
+comparatively little weight, after we shall have seen how great are the
+differences between the several races of various domesticated animals which
+certainly have descended from a single parent-form. Secondly, the more
+important fact that, at the most anciently known historical periods,
+several breeds of the dog existed, very unlike each other, and closely
+resembling or identical with breeds still alive.
+
+We will briefly run back through the historical records. The materials are
+remarkably deficient between the fourteenth century and the Roman classical
+period.[7] At this earlier period {17} various breeds, namely hounds,
+house-dogs, lapdogs, &c., existed; but as Dr. Walther has remarked it is
+impossible to recognise the greater number with any certainty. Youatt,
+however, gives a drawing of a beautiful sculpture of two greyhound puppies
+from the Villa of Antoninus. On an Assyrian monument, about 640 B.C., an
+enormous mastiff[8] is figured; and according to Sir H. Rawlinson (as I was
+informed at the British Museum), similar dogs are still imported into this
+same country. I have looked through the magnificent works of Lepsius and
+Rosellini, and on the monuments from the fourth to the twelfth dynasties
+(_i.e._ from about 3400 B.C. to 2100 B.C.) several varieties of the dog are
+represented; most of them are allied to greyhounds; at the later of these
+periods a dog resembling a hound is figured, with drooping ears, but with a
+longer back and more pointed head than in our hounds. There is, also, a
+turnspit, with short and crooked legs, closely resembling the existing
+variety; but this kind of monstrosity is so common with various animals, as
+with the ancon sheep, and even, according to Rengger, with jaguars in
+Paraguay, that it would be rash to look at the monumental animal as the
+parent of all our turnspits: Colonel Sykes[9] also has described an Indian
+Pariah dog as presenting the same monstrous character. The most ancient dog
+represented on the Egyptian monuments is one of the most singular; it
+resembles a greyhound, but has long pointed ears and a short curled tail: a
+closely allied variety still exists in Northern Africa; for Mr. E. Vernon
+Harcourt[10] states that the Arab boar-hound is "an eccentric hieroglyphic
+animal, such as Cheops once hunted with, somewhat resembling the rough
+Scotch deer-hound; their tails are curled tight round on their backs, {18}
+and their ears stick out at right angles." With this most ancient variety a
+pariah-like dog coexisted.
+
+We thus see that, at a period between four and five thousand years ago,
+various breeds, viz. pariah dogs, greyhounds, common hounds, mastiffs,
+house-dogs, lapdogs, and turnspits, existed, more or less closely
+resembling our present breeds. But there is not sufficient evidence that
+any of these ancient dogs belonged to the same identical sub-varieties with
+our present dogs.[11] As long as man was believed to have existed on this
+earth only about 6000 years, this fact of the great diversity of the breeds
+at so early a period was an argument of much weight that they had proceeded
+from several wild sources, for there would not have been sufficient time
+for their divergence and modification. But now that we know, from the
+discovery of flint tools embedded with the remains of extinct animals in
+districts which have since undergone great geographical changes, that man
+has existed for an incomparably longer period, and bearing in mind that the
+most barbarous nations possess domestic dogs, the argument from
+insufficient time falls away greatly in value.
+
+Long before the period of any historical record the dog was domesticated in
+Europe. In the Danish Middens of the Neolithic or Newer Stone period, bones
+of a canine animal are imbedded, and Steenstrup ingeniously argues that
+these belonged to a domestic dog; for a very large proportion of the bones
+of birds preserved in the refuse, consists of long bones, which it was
+found on trial dogs cannot devour.[12] This ancient dog was succeeded in
+Denmark during the Bronze period by a larger kind, presenting certain
+differences, and this again during the Iron period, by a still larger kind.
+In Switzerland, we hear {19} from Prof. Ruetimeyer,[13] that during the
+Neolithic period a domesticated dog of middle size existed, which in its
+skull was about equally remote from the wolf and jackal, and partook of the
+characters of our hounds and setters or spaniels (Jagdhund und
+Wachtelhund). Ruetimeyer insists strongly on the constancy of form during a
+very long period of time of this the most ancient known dog. During the
+Bronze period a larger dog appeared, and this closely resembled in its jaw
+a dog of the same age in Denmark. Remains of two notably distinct varieties
+of the dog were found by Schmerling in a cave;[14] but their age cannot be
+positively determined.
+
+The existence of a single race, remarkably constant in form during the
+whole Neolithic period, is an interesting fact in contrast with what we see
+of the changes which the races underwent during the period of the
+successive Egyptian monuments, and in contrast with our existing dogs. The
+character of this animal during the Neolithic period, as given by
+Ruetimeyer, supports De Blainville's view that our varieties have descended
+from an unknown and extinct form. But we should not forget that we know
+nothing with respect to the antiquity of man in the warmer parts of the
+world. The succession of the different kinds of dogs in Switzerland and
+Denmark is thought to be due to the immigration of conquering tribes
+bringing with them their dogs; and this view accords with the belief that
+different wild canine animals were domesticated in different regions.
+Independently of the immigration of new races of man, we know from the
+wide-spread presence of bronze, composed of an alloy of tin, how much
+commerce there must have been throughout Europe at an extremely remote
+period, and dogs would then probably have been bartered. At the present
+time, amongst the savages of the interior of Guiana, the Taruma Indians are
+considered the best trainers of dogs, and possess a large breed, which they
+barter at a high price with other tribes.[15]
+
+The main argument in favour of the several breeds of the {20} dog being the
+descendants of distinct wild stocks, is their resemblance in various
+countries to distinct species still existing there. It must, however, be
+admitted that the comparison between the wild and domesticated animal has
+been made but in few cases with sufficient exactness. Before entering on
+details, it will be well to show that there is no a priori difficulty in
+the belief that several canine species have been domesticated; for there is
+much difficulty in this respect with some other domestic quadrupeds and
+birds. Members of the dog family inhabit nearly the whole world; and
+several species agree pretty closely in habits and structure with our
+several domesticated dogs. Mr. Galton has shown[16] how fond savages are of
+keeping and taming animals of all kinds. Social animals are the most easily
+subjugated by man, and several species of Canidae hunt in packs. It deserves
+notice, as bearing on other animals as well as on the dog, that at an
+extremely ancient period, when man first entered any country, the animals
+living there would have felt no instinctive or inherited fear of him, and
+would consequently have been tamed far more easily than at present. For
+instance, when the Falkland Islands were first visited by man, the large
+wolf-like dog (_Canis antarcticus_) fearlessly came to meet Byron's
+sailors, who, mistaking this ignorant curiosity for ferocity, ran into the
+water to avoid them: even recently a man, by holding a piece of meat in one
+hand and a knife in the other, could sometimes stick them at night. On an
+island in the Sea of Aral, when first discovered by Butakoff, the saigak
+antelopes, which are "generally very timid and watchful, did not fly from
+us, but on the contrary looked at us with a sort of curiosity." So, again,
+on the shores of the Mauritius, the manatee was not at first in the least
+afraid of man, and thus it has been in several quarters of the world with
+seals and the morse. I have elsewhere shown[17] how slowly the native birds
+of several islands have acquired and inherited a salutary dread of man: at
+the Galapagos Archipelago I pushed with the muzzle of my gun hawks from a
+branch, and {21} held out a pitcher of water for other birds to alight on
+and drink. Quadrupeds and birds which have seldom been disturbed by man,
+dread him no more than do our English birds the cows or horses grazing in
+the fields.
+
+It is a more important consideration that several canine species evince (as
+will be shown in a future chapter) no strong repugnance or inability to
+breed under confinement; and the incapacity to breed under confinement is
+one of the commonest bars to domestication. Lastly, savages set the highest
+value, as we shall see in the chapter on Selection, on dogs: even
+half-tamed animals are highly useful to them: the Indians of North America
+cross their half-wild dogs with wolves, and thus render them even wilder
+than before, but bolder: the savages of Guiana catch and partially tame and
+use the whelps of two wild species of _Canis_, as do the savages of
+Australia those of the wild Dingo. Mr. Philip King informs me that he once
+trained a wild Dingo puppy to drive cattle, and found it very useful. From
+these several considerations we see that there is no difficulty in
+believing that man might have domesticated various canine species in
+different countries. It would indeed have been a strange fact if one
+species alone had been domesticated throughout the world.
+
+We will now enter into details. The accurate and sagacious Richardson says,
+"The resemblance between the Northern American wolves (_Canis lupus, var.
+occidentalis_) and the domestic dogs of the Indians is so great that the
+size and strength of the wolf seems to be the only difference. I have more
+than once mistaken a band of wolves for the dogs of a party of Indians; and
+the howl of the animals of both species is prolonged so exactly in the same
+key that even the practised ear of the Indian fails at times to
+discriminate them." He adds that the more northern Esquimaux dogs are not
+only extremely like the grey wolves of the Arctic circle in form and
+colour, but also nearly equal them in size. Dr. Kane has often seen in his
+teams of sledge-dogs the oblique eye (a character on which some naturalists
+lay great stress), the drooping tail, and scared look of the wolf. In
+disposition the Esquimaux dogs differ little from wolves, and, according to
+Dr. Hayes, they are capable of no attachment to man, and are so savage,
+that {22} when hungry they will attack even their masters. According to
+Kane they readily become feral. Their affinity is so close with wolves that
+they frequently cross with them, and the Indians take the whelps of wolves
+"to improve the breed of their dogs." The half-bred wolves sometimes
+(Lamare-Picquot) cannot be tamed, "though this case is rare;" but they do
+not become thoroughly well broken in till the second or third generation.
+These facts show that there can be but little, if any, sterility between
+the Esquimaux dog and the wolf, for otherwise they would not be used to
+improve the breed. As Dr. Hayes says of these dogs, "reclaimed wolves they
+doubtless are."[18]
+
+North America is inhabited by a second kind of wolf, the prairie-wolf
+(_Canis latrans_), which is now looked at by all naturalists as
+specifically distinct from the common wolf; and is, according to Mr. J. K.
+Lord, in some respects intermediate in habits between a wolf and a fox. Sir
+J. Richardson, after describing the Hare Indian dog, which differs in many
+respects from the Esquimaux dog, says, "It bears the same relation to the
+prairie wolf that the Esquimaux dog does to the great grey wolf." He could,
+in fact, detect no marked difference between them; and Messrs. Nott and
+Gliddon give additional details showing their close resemblance. The dogs
+derived from the above two aboriginal sources cross together and with the
+wild wolves, at least with the _C. occidentalis_, and with European dogs.
+In Florida, according to Bartram, the black wolf-dog of the Indians differs
+in nothing from the wolves of that country except in barking.[19]
+
+{23}
+
+Turning to the southern parts of the New World, Columbus found two kinds of
+dogs in the West Indies; and Fernandez[20] describes three in Mexico: some
+of these native dogs were dumb--that is, did not bark. In Guiana it has
+been known since the time of Buffon that the natives cross their dogs with
+an aboriginal species, apparently the _Canis cancrivorus_. Sir R.
+Schomburgk, who has so carefully explored these regions, writes to me, "I
+have been repeatedly told by the Arawaak Indians, who reside near the
+coast, that they cross their dogs with a wild species to improve the breed,
+and individual dogs have been shown to me which certainly resembled the _C.
+cancrivorus_ much more than the common breed. It is but seldom that the
+Indians keep the _C. cancrivorus_ for domestic purposes, nor is the Ai,
+another species of wild dog, and which I consider to be identical with the
+_Dusicyon silvestris_ of H. Smith, now much used by the Arecunas for the
+purpose of hunting. The dogs of the Taruma Indians are quite distinct, and
+resemble Buffon's St. Domingo greyhound." It thus appears that the natives
+of Guiana have partially domesticated two aboriginal species, and still
+cross their dogs with them; these two species belong to a quite different
+type from the North American and European wolves. A careful observer,
+Rengger,[21] gives reasons for believing that a hairless dog was
+domesticated when America was first visited by Europeans: some of these
+dogs in Paraguay are still dumb, and Tschudi[22] states that they suffer
+from cold in the Cordillera. This naked dog is, however, quite distinct
+from that found preserved in the ancient Peruvian burial-places, and
+described by Tschudi, under the name of _Canis Ingae_, as withstanding cold
+well and as barking. It is not known whether these two distinct kinds of
+dog are the descendants of native species, and it might be argued that when
+man first migrated into America he brought with him from the Asiatic
+continent dogs {24} which had not learned to bark; but this view does not
+seem probable, as the natives along the line of their march from the north
+reclaimed, as we have seen, at least two N. American species of Canidae.
+
+Turning to the Old World, some European dogs closely resemble the wolf;
+thus the shepherd dog of the plains of Hungary is white or reddish-brown,
+has a sharp nose, short, erect ears, shaggy coat, and bushy tail, and so
+much resembles a wolf that Mr. Paget, who gives this description, says he
+has known a Hungarian mistake a wolf for one of his own dogs. Jeitteles,
+also, remarks on the close similarity of the Hungarian dog and wolf.
+Shepherd dogs in Italy must anciently have closely resembled wolves, for
+Columella (vii. 12) advises that white dogs be kept, adding, "pastor album
+probat, ne pro lupo canem feriat." Several accounts have been given of dogs
+and wolves crossing naturally; and Pliny asserts that the Gauls tied their
+female dogs in the woods that they might cross with wolves.[23] The
+European wolf differs slightly from that of North America, and has been
+ranked by many naturalists as a distinct species. The common wolf of India
+is also by some esteemed as a third species, and here again we find a
+marked resemblance between the pariah dogs of certain districts of India
+and the Indian wolf.[24]
+
+With respect to Jackals, Isidore Geoffroy Saint Hilaire[25] says that not
+one constant difference can be pointed out between their structure and that
+of the smaller races of dogs. They agree closely in habits: jackals, when
+tamed and called by their {25} master, wag their tails, crouch, and throw
+themselves on their backs; they smell at the tails of dogs, and void their
+urine sideways.[26] A number of excellent naturalists, from the time of
+Gueldenstaedt to that of Ehrenberg, Hemprich, and Cretzschmar, have expressed
+themselves in the strongest terms with respect to the resemblance of the
+half-domestic dogs of Asia and Egypt to jackals. M. Nordmann, for instance,
+says, "Les chiens d'Awhasie ressemblent etonnamment a des chacals."
+Ehrenberg[27] asserts that the domestic dogs of Lower Egypt, and certain
+mummied dogs, have for their wild type a species of wolf (_C. lupaster_) of
+the country; whereas the domestic dogs of Nubia and certain other mummied
+dogs have the closest relation to a wild species of the same country, viz.
+_C. sabbar_, which is only a form of the common jackal. Pallas asserts that
+jackals and dogs sometimes naturally cross in the East; and a case is on
+record in Algeria.[28] The greater number of naturalists divide the jackals
+of Asia and Africa into several species, but some few rank them all as one.
+
+I may add that the domestic dogs on the coast of Guinea are fox-like
+animals, and are dumb.[29] On the east coast of Africa, between lat. 4 deg. and
+6 deg. south, and about ten days' journey in the interior, a semi-domestic dog,
+as the Rev. S. Erhardt informs me, is kept, which the natives assert is
+derived from a similar wild animal. Lichtenstein[30] says that the dogs of
+the Bosjemans present a striking resemblance even in colour (excepting the
+black stripe down the back) with the _C. mesomelas_ of South Africa. Mr. E.
+Layard informs me that he has seen a Caffre dog which closely resembled an
+Esquimaux dog. In Australia the Dingo is both domesticated and wild; though
+this animal may have been introduced aboriginally by man, yet it must be
+considered as almost an endemic form, for its remains have been found in a
+similar state of preservation and associated with {26} extinct mammals, so
+that its introduction must have been ancient.[31]
+
+From this resemblance in several countries of the half-domesticated dogs to
+the wild species still living there,--from the facility with which they can
+often be crossed together,--from even half-tamed animals being so much
+valued by savages,--and from the other circumstances previously remarked on
+which favour their domestication, it is highly probable that the domestic
+dogs of the world have descended from two good species of wolf (viz. _C.
+lupus_ and _C. latrans_), and from two or three other doubtful species of
+wolves (namely, the European, Indian, and North African forms); from at
+least one or two South American canine species; from several races or
+species of the jackal; and perhaps from one or more extinct species. Those
+authors who attribute great influence to the action of climate by itself
+may thus account for the resemblance of the domesticated dogs and native
+animals in the same countries; but I know of no facts supporting the belief
+in so powerful an action of climate.
+
+It cannot be objected to the view of several canine species having been
+anciently domesticated, that these animals are tamed with difficulty: facts
+have been already given on this head, but I may add that the young of the
+_Canis primaevus_ of India were tamed by Mr. Hodgson,[32] and became as
+sensible to caresses, and manifested as much intelligence, as any sporting
+dog of the same age. There is not much difference, as we have already shown
+and shall immediately further see, in habits between the domestic dogs of
+the North American Indians and the wolves of that country, or between the
+Eastern pariah dogs and jackals, or between the dogs which have run wild in
+various countries and the several natural species of the family. The habit
+of barking, however, which is almost universal with domesticated {27} dogs,
+and which does not characterise a single natural species of the family,
+seems an exception; but this habit is soon lost and soon reacquired. The
+case of the wild dogs on the island of Juan Fernandez having become dumb
+has often been quoted, and there is reason to believe[33] that the dumbness
+ensued in the course of thirty-three years; on the other hand, dogs taken
+from this island by Ulloa slowly reacquired the habit of barking. The
+Mackenzie-river dogs, of the _Canis latrans_ type, when brought to England,
+never learned to bark properly; but one born in the Zoological Gardens[34]
+"made his voice sound as loudly as any other dog of the same age and size."
+According to Professor Nillson,[35] a wolf-whelp reared by a bitch barks.
+I. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire exhibited a jackal which barked with the same
+tone as any common dog.[36] An interesting account has been given by Mr. G.
+Clarke[37] of some dogs run wild on Juan de Nova, in the Indian Ocean;
+"they had entirely lost the faculty of barking; they had no inclination for
+the company of other dogs, nor did they acquire their voice," during a
+captivity of several months. On the island they "congregate in vast packs,
+and catch sea-birds with as much address as foxes could display." The feral
+dogs of La Plata have not become dumb; they are of large size, hunt single
+or in packs, and burrow holes for their young.[38] In these habits the
+feral dogs of La Plata resemble wolves and jackals; both of which hunt
+either singly or in packs, and burrow holes.[39] These feral dogs have not
+become uniform in colour on Juan Fernandez, Juan de Nova, or La Plata.[40]
+In Cuba the feral dogs are described by Poeppig as nearly all
+mouse-coloured, with short ears and light-blue eyes. {28} In St. Domingo,
+Col. Ham. Smith says[41] that the feral dogs are very large, like
+greyhounds, of a uniform pale blue-ash, with small ears, and large
+light-brown eyes. Even the wild Dingo, though so anciently naturalised in
+Australia, "varies considerably in colour," as I am informed by Mr. P. P.
+King: a half-bred Dingo reared in England[42] showed signs of wishing to
+burrow.
+
+    From the several foregoing facts we see that reversion in the feral
+    state gives no indication of the colour or size of the aboriginal
+    parent-species. One fact, however, with respect to the colouring of
+    domestic dogs, I at one time hoped might have thrown some light on
+    their origin; and it is worth giving, as showing how colouring follows
+    laws, even in so anciently and thoroughly domesticated an animal as the
+    dog. Black dogs with tan-coloured feet, whatever breed they may belong
+    to, almost invariably have a tan-coloured spot on the upper and inner
+    corners of each eye, and their lips are generally thus coloured. I have
+    seen only two exceptions to this rule, namely, in a spaniel and
+    terrier. Dogs of a light-brown colour often have a lighter,
+    yellowish-brown spot over the eyes; sometimes the spot is white, and in
+    a mongrel terrier the spot was black. Mr. Waring kindly examined for me
+    a stud of fifteen greyhounds in Suffolk: eleven of them were black, or
+    black and white, or brindled, and these had no eye-spots; but three
+    were red and one slaty-blue, and these four had dark-coloured spots
+    over their eyes. Although the spots thus sometimes differ in colour,
+    they strongly tend to be tan-coloured; this is proved by my having seen
+    four spaniels, a setter, two Yorkshire shepherd dogs, a large mongrel,
+    and some fox-hounds, coloured black and white, with not a trace of
+    tan-colour, excepting the spots over the eyes, and sometimes a little
+    on the feet. These latter cases, and many others, show plainly that the
+    colour of the feet and the eye-spots are in some way correlated. I have
+    noticed, in various breeds, every gradation, from the whole face being
+    tan-coloured, to a complete ring round the eyes, to a minute spot over
+    the inner and upper corners. The spots occur in various sub-breeds of
+    terriers and spaniels; in setters; in hounds of various kinds,
+    including the turnspit-like German badger-hound; in shepherd dogs; in a
+    mongrel, of which neither parent had the spots; in one pure bulldog,
+    though the spots were in this case almost white; and in
+    greyhounds,--but true black-and-tan greyhounds are excessively rare;
+    nevertheless I have been assured by Mr. Warwick, that one ran at the
+    Caledonian Champion meeting of April, 1860, and was "marked precisely
+    like a black-and-tan terrier." Mr. Swinhoe at my request looked at the
+    dogs in China, at Amoy, and he soon noticed a brown dog with yellow
+    spots over the eyes. Colonel H. Smith[43] figures the magnificent black
+    mastiff of Thibet with a {29} tan-coloured stripe over the eyes, feet,
+    and chaps; and what is more singular, he figures the Alco, or native
+    domestic dog of Mexico, as black and white, with narrow tan-coloured
+    rings round the eyes; at the Exhibition of dogs in London, May, 1863, a
+    so-called forest-dog from North-West Mexico was shown, which had pale
+    tan-coloured spots over the eyes. The occurrence of these tan-coloured
+    spots in dogs of such extremely different breeds, living in various
+    parts of the world, makes the fact highly remarkable.
+
+    We shall hereafter see, especially in the chapter on Pigeons, that
+    coloured marks are strongly inherited, and that they often aid us in
+    discovering the primitive forms of our domestic races. Hence, if any
+    wild canine species had distinctly exhibited the tan-coloured spots
+    over the eyes, it might have been argued that this was the parent-form
+    of nearly all our domestic races. But after looking at many coloured
+    plates, and through the whole collection of skins in the British
+    Museum, I can find no species thus marked. It is no doubt possible that
+    some extinct species was thus coloured. On the other hand, in looking
+    at the various species, there seems to be a tolerably plain correlation
+    between tan-coloured legs and face; and less frequently between black
+    legs and a black face; and this general rule of colouring explains to a
+    certain extent the above-given cases of correlation between the
+    eye-spots and the colour of the feet. Moreover, some jackals and foxes
+    have a trace of a white ring round their eyes, as in _C. mesomelas_,
+    _C. aureus_, and (judging from Colonel Ham. Smith's drawing) in _C.
+    alopex_ and _C. thaleb_. Other species have a trace of a black line
+    over the corners of the eyes, as in _C. variegatus_,
+    _cinereo-variegatus_, and _fulvus_, and the wild Dingo. Hence I am
+    inclined to conclude that a tendency for tan-coloured spots to appear
+    over the eyes in the various breeds of dogs, is analogous to the case
+    observed by Desmarest, namely, that when any white appears on a dog the
+    tip of the tail is always white, "de maniere a rappeler la tacho
+    terminale de meme couleur, qui caracterise la plupart des Canidees
+    sauvages."[44]
+
+It has been objected that our domestic dogs cannot be descended from wolves
+or jackals, because their periods of gestation are different. The supposed
+difference rests on statements made by Buffon, Gilibert, Bechstein, and
+others; but these are now known to be erroneous; and the period is found to
+agree in the wolf, jackal, and dog, as closely as could be expected, for it
+is often in some degree variable.[45] Tessier, who {30} has closely
+attended to this subject, allows a difference of four days in the gestation
+of the dog. The Rev. W. D. Fox has given me three carefully recorded cases
+of retrievers, in which the bitch was put only once to the dog; and not
+counting this day, but counting that of parturition, the periods were
+fifty-nine, sixty-two, and sixty-seven days. The average period is
+sixty-three days; but Bellingeri states that this holds good only with
+large dogs; and that for small races it is from sixty to sixty-three days;
+Mr. Eyton of Eyton, who has had much experience with dogs, also informs me
+that the time is apt to be longer with large than with small dogs.
+
+F. Cuvier has objected that the jackal would not have been domesticated on
+account of its offensive smell; but savages are not sensitive in this
+respect. The degree of odour, also, differs in the different kinds of
+jackal;[46] and Colonel H. Smith makes a sectional division of the group
+with one character dependent on not being offensive. On the other hand,
+dogs--for instance, rough and smooth terriers--differ much in this respect;
+and M. Godron states that the hairless so-called Turkish dog is more
+odoriferous than other dogs. Isidore Geoffroy[47] gave to a dog the same
+odour as that from a jackal by feeding it on raw flesh.
+
+The belief that our dogs are descended from wolves, jackals, South American
+Canidae, and other species, suggests a far more important difficulty. These
+animals in their undomesticated state, judging from a widely-spread
+analogy, would have been in some degree sterile if intercrossed; and such
+sterility will be admitted as almost certain by all those who believe that
+the lessened fertility of crossed forms is an infallible criterion of
+specific distinctness. Anyhow these animals keep distinct in the countries
+which they inhabit in common. On the other hand, all domestic dogs, which
+are here supposed to be descended {31} from several distinct species, are,
+as far as is known, mutually fertile together. But, as Broca has well
+remarked,[48] the fertility of successive generations of mongrel dogs has
+never been scrutinised with that care which is thought indispensable when
+species are crossed. The few facts leading to the conclusion that the
+sexual feelings and reproductive powers differ in the several races of the
+dog when crossed are (passing over mere size as rendering propagation
+difficult) as follows: the Mexican Alco[49] apparently dislikes dogs of
+other kinds, but this perhaps is not strictly a sexual feeling; the
+hairless endemic dog of Paraguay, according to Rengger, mixes less with the
+European races than these do with each other; the Spitz-dog in Germany is
+said to receive the fox more readily than do other breeds; and Dr. Hodgkin
+states that a female Dingo in England attracted the male wild foxes. If
+these latter statements can be trusted, they prove some degree of sexual
+difference in the breeds of the dog. But the fact remains that our domestic
+dogs, differing so widely as they do in external structure, are far more
+fertile together than we have reason to believe their supposed wild parents
+would have been. Pallas assumes[50] that a long course of domestication
+eliminates that sterility which the parent-species would have exhibited if
+only lately captured; no distinct facts are recorded in support of this
+hypothesis; but the evidence seems to me so strong (independently of the
+evidence derived from other domesticated animals) in favour of our domestic
+dogs having descended from several wild stocks, that I am led to admit the
+truth of this hypothesis.
+
+There is another and closely allied difficulty consequent on the doctrine
+of the descent of our domestic dogs from several wild species, namely, that
+they do not seem to be perfectly fertile with their supposed parents. But
+the experiment has not been quite fairly tried; the Hungarian dog, for
+instance, {32} which in external appearance so closely resembles the
+European wolf, ought to be crossed with this wolf; and the pariah-dogs of
+India with Indian wolves and jackals; and so in other cases. That the
+sterility is very slight between certain dogs and wolves and other Canidae
+is shown by savages taking the trouble to cross them. Buffon got four
+successive generations from the wolf and dog, and the mongrels were
+perfectly fertile together.[51] But more lately M. Flourens states
+positively as the result of his numerous experiments that hybrids from the
+wolf and dog, crossed _inter se_, become sterile at the third generation,
+and those from the jackal and dog at the fourth generation.[52] But these
+animals were closely confined; and many wild animals, as we shall see in a
+future chapter, are rendered by confinement in some degree or even utterly
+sterile. The Dingo, which breeds freely in Australia with our imported
+dogs, would not breed though repeatedly crossed in the Jardin des
+Plantes.[53] Some hounds from Central Africa, brought home by Major Denham,
+never bred in the Tower of London;[54] and a similar tendency to sterility
+might be transmitted to the hybrid offspring of a wild animal. Moreover, it
+appears that in M. Flourens' experiments the hybrids were closely bred in
+and in for three or four generations; but this circumstance, although it
+would almost certainly increase the tendency to sterility, would hardly
+account for the final result, even though aided by close confinement,
+unless there had been some original tendency to lessened fertility. Several
+years ago I saw confined in the Zoological Gardens of London a female
+hybrid from an English dog and jackal, which even in this the first
+generation was so sterile that, as I was assured by {33} her keeper, she
+did not fully exhibit her proper periods; but this case, from the numerous
+instances of fertile hybrids from these two animals, was certainly
+exceptional. In almost all experiments on the crossing of animals there are
+so many causes of doubt, that it is extremely difficult to come to any
+positive conclusion. It would, however, appear, that those who believe that
+our dogs are descended from several species will have not only to admit
+that their offspring after a long course of domestication generally lose
+all tendency to sterility when crossed together; but that between certain
+breeds of dogs and some of their supposed aboriginal parents a certain
+degree of sterility has been retained or possibly even acquired.
+
+Notwithstanding the difficulties in regard to fertility given in the last
+two paragraphs, when we reflect on the inherent improbability of man having
+domesticated throughout the world one single species alone of so widely
+distributed, so easily tamed, and so useful a group as the Canidae; when we
+reflect on the extreme antiquity of the different breeds; and especially
+when we reflect on the close similarity, both in external structure and
+habits, between the domestic dogs of various countries and the wild species
+still inhabiting these same countries, the balance of evidence is strongly
+in favour of the multiple origin of our dogs.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Differences between the several Breeds of the Dog._--If the several breeds
+have descended from several wild stocks, their difference can obviously in
+part be explained by that of their parent-species. For instance, the form
+of the greyhound may be partly accounted for by descent from some such
+animal as the slim Abyssinian _Canis simensis_,[55] with its elongated
+muzzle; that of the larger dogs from the larger wolves, and the smaller and
+slighter dogs from jackals: and thus perhaps we may account for certain
+constitutional and climatal differences. But it would be a great error to
+suppose that there has not been in addition[56] a large amount of
+variation. The intercrossing of the several aboriginal wild stocks, and of
+the subsequently formed {34} races, has probably increased the total number
+of breeds, and, as we shall presently see, has greatly modified some of
+them. But we cannot explain by crossing the origin of such extreme forms as
+thoroughbred greyhounds, bloodhounds, bulldogs, Blenheim spaniels,
+terriers, pugs, &c., unless we believe that forms equally or more strongly
+characterised in these different respects once existed in nature. But
+hardly any one has been bold enough to suppose that such unnatural forms
+ever did or could exist in a wild state. When compared with all known
+members of the family of Canidae they betray a distinct and abnormal origin.
+No instance is on record of such dogs as bloodhounds, spaniels, true
+greyhounds having been kept by savages: they are the product of
+long-continued civilization.
+
+    The number of breeds and sub-breeds of the dog is great: Youatt, for
+    instance, describes twelve kinds of greyhounds. I will not attempt to
+    enumerate or describe the varieties, for we cannot discriminate how
+    much of their difference is due to variation, and how much to descent
+    from different aboriginal stocks. But it may be worth while briefly to
+    mention some points. Commencing with the skull, Cuvier has admitted[57]
+    that in form the differences are "plus fortes que celles d'aucunes
+    especes sauvages d'un meme genre naturel." The proportions of the
+    different bones; the curvature of the lower jaw, the position of the
+    condyles with respect to the plane of the teeth (on which F. Cuvier
+    founded his classification), and in mastiffs the shape of its posterior
+    branch; the shape of the zygomatic arch, and of the temporal fossae; the
+    position of the occiput--all vary considerably.[58] The dog has
+    properly six pairs of molar teeth in the upper jaw, and seven in the
+    lower; but several naturalists have seen not rarely an additional pair
+    in the upper jaw;[59] and Professor Gervais says that there are dogs
+    "qui ont sept paires de dents superieures et huit inferieures.". De
+    Blainville[60] has given full particulars on the frequency of these
+    deviations in the number of the teeth, and has shown that it is not
+    always the same tooth which is supernumerary. In short-muzzled races,
+    according to H. Mueller,[61] the molar teeth stand obliquely, whilst in
+    long-muzzled races they are placed longitudinally, with open spaces
+    between them. The naked, so-called Egyptian or Turkish dog is extremely
+    deficient in its {35} teeth,[62]--sometimes having none except one
+    molar on each side; but this, though characteristic of the breed, must
+    be considered as a monstrosity. M. Girard,[63] who seems to have
+    attended closely to the subject, says that the period of the appearance
+    of the permanent teeth differs in different dogs, being earlier in
+    large dogs; thus the mastiff assumes its adult teeth in four or five
+    months, whilst in the spaniel the period is sometimes more than seven
+    or eight months.
+
+    With respect to minor differences little need be said. Isidore Geoffroy
+    has shown[64] that in size some dogs are six times as long (the tail
+    being excluded) as others; and that the height relatively to the length
+    of the body varies from between one to two, and one to nearly four. In
+    the Scotch deer-hound there is a striking and remarkable difference in
+    the size of the male and female.[65] Every one knows how the ears vary
+    in size in different breeds, and with their great development their
+    muscles become atrophied. Certain breeds of dogs are described as
+    having a deep furrow between the nostrils and lips. The caudal
+    vertebrae, according to F. Cuvier, on whose authority the two last
+    statements rest, vary in number; and the tail in shepherd dogs is
+    almost absent. The mammae vary from seven to ten in number; Daubenton,
+    having examined twenty-one dogs, found eight with five mammae on each
+    side; eight with four on each side; and the others with an unequal
+    number on the two sides.[66] Dogs have properly five toes in front and
+    four behind, but a fifth toe is often added; and F. Cuvier states that,
+    when a fifth toe is present, a fourth cuneiform bone is developed; and,
+    in this case, sometimes the great cuneiform bone is raised, and gives
+    on its inner side a large articular surface to the astragalus; so that
+    even the relative connection of the bones, the most constant of all
+    characters, varies. These modifications, however, in the feet of dogs
+    are not important, because they ought to be ranked, as De Blainville
+    has shown,[67] as monstrosities. Nevertheless they are interesting from
+    being correlated with the size of the body, for they occur much more
+    frequently with mastiffs and other large breeds than with small dogs.
+    Closely allied varieties, however, sometimes differ in this respect;
+    thus Mr. Hodgson states that the black-and-tan Lassa variety of the
+    Thibet mastiff has the fifth digit, whilst the Mustang sub-variety is
+    not thus characterised. The extent to which the skin is developed
+    between the toes varies much; but we shall return to this point. The
+    degree to which the various breeds differ in the perfection of their
+    senses, dispositions, and inherited habits is notorious to every one.
+    The breeds present some constitutional differences: the pulse, says
+    Youatt,[68] "varies materially according to the breed, as well {36} as
+    to the size of the animal." Different breeds of dogs are subject in
+    different degrees to various diseases. They certainly become adapted to
+    different climates under which they have long existed. It is notorious
+    that most of our best European breeds deteriorate in India.[69] The
+    Rev. R. Everest[70] believes that no one has succeeded in keeping the
+    Newfoundland dog long alive in India; so it is, according to
+    Lichtenstein,[71] even at the Cape of Good Hope. The Thibet mastiff
+    degenerates on the plains of India, and can live only on the
+    mountains.[72] Lloyd[73] asserts that our bloodhounds and bulldogs have
+    been tried, and cannot withstand the cold of the northern European
+    forests.
+
+Seeing in how many characters the races of the dog differ from each other,
+and remembering Cuvier's admission that their skulls differ more than do
+those of the species of any natural genus, and bearing in mind how closely
+the bones of wolves, jackals, foxes, and other Canidae agree, it is
+remarkable that we meet with the statement, repeated over and over again,
+that the races of the dog differ in no important characters. A highly
+competent judge, Prof. Gervais,[74] admits, "si l'on prenait sans controle
+les alterations dont chacun de ces organes est susceptible, on pourrait
+croire qu'il y a entre les chiens domestiques des differences plus grandes
+que celles qui separent ailleurs les especes, quelquefois meme les genres."
+Some of the differences above enumerated are in one respect of
+comparatively little value, for they are not characteristic of distinct
+breeds: no one pretends that such is the case with the additional molar
+teeth or with the number of mammae; the additional digit is generally
+present with mastiffs, and some of the more important differences in the
+skull and lower jaw are more or less characteristic of various breeds. But
+we must not forget that the predominant power of selection has not been
+applied in any of these cases; we have variability in important parts, but
+the differences have not been fixed by selection. Man {37} cares for the
+form and fleetness of his greyhounds, for the size of his mastiffs, for the
+strength of the jaw in his bulldogs, &c.; but he cares nothing about the
+number of their molar teeth or mammae or digits; nor do we know that
+differences in these organs are correlated with, or owe their development
+to, differences in other parts of the body about which man does care. Those
+who have attended to the subject of selection will admit that, nature
+having given variability, man, if he so chose, could fix five toes to the
+hinder feet of certain breeds of dogs, as certainly as to the feet of his
+Dorking-fowls: he could probably fix, but with much more difficulty, an
+additional pair of molar teeth in either jaw, in the same way as he has
+given additional horns to certain breeds of sheep; if he wished to produce
+a toothless breed of dogs, having the so-called Turkish dog with its
+imperfect teeth to work on, he could probably do so, for he has succeeded
+in making hornless breeds of cattle and sheep.
+
+With respect to the precise causes and steps by which the several races of
+dogs have come to differ so greatly from each other, we are, as in most
+other cases, profoundly ignorant. We may attribute part of the difference
+in external form and constitution to inheritance from distinct wild stocks,
+that is to changes effected under nature before domestication. We must
+attribute something to the crossing of the several domestic and natural
+races. I shall, however, soon recur to the crossing of races. We have
+already seen how often savages cross their dogs with wild native species;
+and Pennant gives a curious account[75] of the manner in which Fochabers,
+in Scotland, was stocked "with a multitude of curs of a most wolfish
+aspect" from a single hybrid-wolf brought into that district.
+
+It would appear that climate to a certain extent directly modifies the
+forms of dogs. We have lately seen that several of our English breeds
+cannot live in India, and it is positively asserted that when bred there
+for a few generations they degenerate not only in their mental faculties,
+but in form. Captain Williamson,[76] who carefully attended to this
+subject, states that "hounds are the most rapid in their decline;"
+"greyhounds and {38} pointers, also, rapidly decline." But spaniels, after
+eight or nine generations, and without a cross from Europe, are as good as
+their ancestors. Dr. Falconer informs me that bulldogs, which have been
+known, when first brought into the country, to pin down even an elephant by
+its trunk, not only fall off after two of three generations in pluck and
+ferocity, but lose the under-hung character of their lower jaws; their
+muzzles become finer and their bodies lighter. English dogs imported into
+India are so valuable that probably due care has been taken to prevent
+their crossing with native dogs; so that the deterioration cannot be thus
+accounted for. The Rev. R. Everest informs me that he obtained a pair of
+setters, born in India, which perfectly resembled their Scotch parents: he
+raised several litters from them in Delhi, taking the most stringent
+precautions to prevent a cross, but he never succeeded, though this was
+only the second generation in India, in obtaining a single young dog like
+its parents in size or make; their nostrils were more contracted, their
+noses more pointed, their size inferior, and their limbs more slender. This
+remarkable tendency to rapid deterioration in European dogs subjected to
+the climate of India, may perhaps partly be accounted for by the tendency
+to reversion to a primordial condition which many animals exhibit, as we
+shall see in a future chapter, when exposed to new conditions of life.
+
+Some of the peculiarities characteristic of the several breeds of the dog
+have probably arisen suddenly, and, though strictly inherited, may be
+called monstrosities; for instance, the shape of the legs and body in the
+turnspit of Europe and India; the shape of the head and the under-hanging
+jaw in the bull and pug-dog, so alike in this one respect and so unlike in
+all others. A peculiarity suddenly arising, and therefore in one sense
+deserving to be called a monstrosity, may, however, be increased and fixed
+by man's selection. We can hardly doubt that long-continued training, as
+with the greyhound in coursing hares, as with water-dogs in swimming--and
+the want of exercise, in the case of lapdogs--must have produced some
+direct effect on their structure and instincts. But we shall immediately
+see that the most potent cause of change has probably been the selection,
+both methodical and unconscious, of slight individual differences,--the
+{39} latter kind of selection resulting from the occasional preservation,
+during hundreds of generations, of those individual dogs which were the
+most useful to man for certain purposes and under certain conditions of
+life. In a future chapter on Selection I shall show that even barbarians
+attend closely to the qualities of their dogs. This unconscious selection
+by man would lie aided by a kind of natural selection; for the dogs of
+savages have partly to gain their own subsistence; for instance, in
+Australia, as we hear from Mr. Nind,[77] the dogs are sometimes compelled
+by want to leave their masters and provide for themselves; but in a few
+days they generally return. And we may infer that dogs of different shapes,
+sizes, and habits, would have best chance of surviving under different
+circumstances,--on open, sterile plains, where they have to run down their
+own prey,--on rocky coasts, where they have to feed on crabs and fish left
+in the tidal pools, as in the case of New Guinea and Tierra del Fuego. In
+this latter country, as I am informed by Mr. Bridges, the Catechist to the
+Mission, the dogs turn over the stones on the shore to catch the
+crustaceans which lie beneath, and they "are clever enough to knock off the
+shell-fish at a first blow;" for if this be not done, shell-fish are well
+known to have an almost invincible power of adhesion.
+
+It has already been remarked that dogs differ in the degree to which their
+feet are webbed. In dogs of the Newfoundland breed, which are eminently
+aquatic in their habits, the skin, according to Isidore Geoffroy,[78]
+extends to the third phalanges, whilst in ordinary dogs it extends only to
+the second. In two Newfoundland dogs which I examined, when the toes were
+stretched apart and viewed on the under side, the skin extended in a nearly
+straight line between the outer margins of the balls of the toes; whereas,
+in two terriers of distinct sub-breeds, the skin viewed in the same manner
+was deeply scooped out. In Canada there is a dog which is peculiar to the
+country and common there, and this has "half-webbed feet and is fond of the
+water."[79] English otter-hounds are said to have webbed feet: a friend
+examined for me the feet of two, in comparison {40} with the feet of some
+harriers and bloodhounds; he found the skin variable in extent in all, but
+more developed in the otter than in the other hounds.[80] As aquatic
+animals which belong to quite different orders have webbed feet, there can
+be no doubt that this structure would be serviceable to dogs that frequent
+the water. We may confidently infer that no man ever selected his
+water-dogs by the extent to which the skin was developed between their
+toes; but what he does, is to preserve and breed from those individuals
+which hunt best in the water, or best retrieve wounded game, and thus he
+unconsciously selects dogs with feet slightly better webbed. Man thus
+closely imitates Natural Selection. We have an excellent illustration of
+this same process in North America, where, according to Sir J.
+Richardson,[81] all the wolves, foxes, and aboriginal domestic dogs have
+their feet broader than in the corresponding species of the Old World, and
+"well calculated for running on the snow." Now, in these Arctic regions,
+the life or death of every animal will often depend on its success in
+hunting over the snow when softened; and this will in part depend on the
+feet being broad; yet they must not be so broad as to interfere with the
+activity of the animal when the ground is sticky, or with its power of
+burrowing holes, or with other habits of life.
+
+As changes in domestic breeds which take place so slowly as not to be
+noticed at any one period, whether due to the selection of individual
+variations or of differences resulting from crosses, are most important in
+understanding the origin of our domestic productions, and likewise in
+throwing indirect light on the changes effected under nature, I will give
+in detail such cases as I have been able to collect. Lawrence,[82] who paid
+particular attention to the history of the foxhound, writing in 1829, says
+that between eighty and ninety years before "an entirely new foxhound was
+raised through the breeder's art," the ears of the old southern hound being
+reduced, the bone and bulk lightened, the waist increased in length, and
+the stature {41} somewhat added to. It is believed that this was effected
+by a cross with the greyhound. With respect to this latter dog, Youatt,[83]
+who is generally cautious in his statements, says that the greyhound within
+the last fifty years, that is before the commencement of the present
+century, "assumed a somewhat different character from that which he once
+possessed. He is now distinguished by a beautiful symmetry of form, of
+which he could not once boast, and he has even superior speed to that which
+he formerly exhibited. He is no longer used to struggle with deer, but
+contends with his fellows over a shorter and speedier course." An able
+writer[84] believes that our English greyhounds are the descendants,
+_progressively improved_, of the large rough greyhounds which existed in
+Scotland so early as the third century. A cross at some former period with
+the Italian greyhound has been suspected; but this seems hardly probable,
+considering the feebleness of this latter breed. Lord Orford, as is well
+known, crossed his famous greyhounds, which failed in courage, with a
+bulldog--this breed being-chosen from being deficient in the power of
+scent; "after the sixth or seventh generation," says Youatt, "there was not
+a vestige left of the form of the bulldog, but his courage and indomitable
+perseverance remained."
+
+Youatt infers, from a comparison of an old picture of King Charles's
+spaniels with the living dog, that "the breed of the present day is
+materially altered for the worse:" the muzzle has become shorter, the
+forehead more prominent, and the eyes larger: the changes in this case have
+probably been due to simple selection. The setter, as this author remarks
+in another place, "is evidently the large spaniel improved to his present
+peculiar size and beauty, and taught another way of marking his game. If
+the form of the dog were not sufficiently satisfactory on this point, we
+might have recourse to history:" he then refers to a document dated 1685
+bearing on this subject, and adds that the pure Irish setter shows no signs
+of a cross with the pointer, which some authors suspect has been the case
+with the English setter. Another writer[85] remarks {42} that, if the
+mastiff and English bulldog had formerly been as distinct as they are at
+the present time (_i.e._ 1828), so accurate an observer as the poet Gay
+(who was the author of 'Rural Sports' in 1711) would have spoken in his
+Fable of the _Bull and the Bulldog_, and not of the _Bull and the Mastiff_.
+There can be no doubt that the fancy bulldogs of the present day, now that
+they are not used for bull-baiting, have become greatly reduced in size,
+without any express intention on the part of the breeder. Our pointers are
+certainly descended from a Spanish breed, as even their names, Don, Ponto,
+Carlos, &c., would show: it is said that they were not known in England
+before the Revolution in 1688;[86] but the breed since its introduction has
+been much modified, for Mr. Borrow, who is a sportsman and knows Spain
+intimately well, informs me that he has not seen in that country any breed
+"corresponding in figure with the English pointer; but there are genuine
+pointers near Xeres which have been imported by English gentlemen." A
+nearly parallel case is offered by the Newfoundland dog, which was
+certainly brought into England from that country, but which has since been
+so much modified that, as several writers have observed, it does not now
+closely resemble any existing native dog in Newfoundland.[87]
+
+These several cases of slow and gradual changes in our English dogs possess
+some interest; for though the changes have generally, but not invariably,
+been caused by one or two crosses with a distinct breed, yet we may feel
+sure, from the well-known extreme variability of crossed breeds, that
+rigorous and long-continued selection must have been practised, in order to
+improve them in a definite manner. As soon as any strain or family became
+slightly improved or better adapted to altered circumstances, it would tend
+to supplant the older and less improved strains. For instance, as soon as
+the old foxhound was improved by a cross with the greyhound, or by simple
+selection, and assumed its present character--and the change was probably
+required by {43} the increased fleetness of our hunters--it rapidly spread
+throughout the country, and is now everywhere nearly uniform. But the
+process of improvement is still going on, for every one tries to improve
+his strain by occasionally procuring dogs from the best kennels. Through
+this process of gradual substitution the old English hound has been lost;
+and so it has been with the old Irish greyhound and apparently with the old
+English bulldog. But the extinction of former breeds is apparently aided by
+another cause; for whenever a breed is kept in scanty numbers, as at
+present with the bloodhound, it is reared with difficulty, and this
+apparently is due to the evil effects of long-continued close
+interbreeding. As several breeds of the dog have been slightly but sensibly
+modified within so short a period as the last one or two centuries, by the
+selection of the best individual dogs, modified in many cases by crosses
+with other breeds; and as we shall hereafter see that the breeding of dogs
+was attended to in ancient times, as it still is by savages, we may
+conclude that we have in selection, even if only occasionally practised, a
+potent means of modification.
+
+DOMESTIC CATS.
+
+Cats have been domesticated in the East from an ancient period; Mr. Blyth
+informs me that they are mentioned in a Sanskrit writing 2000 years old,
+and in Egypt their antiquity is known to be even greater, as shown by
+monumental drawings and their mummied bodies. These mummies, according to
+De Blainville[88] who has particularly studied the subject, belong to no
+less than three species, namely, _F. caligulata_, _bubastes_, and _chaus_.
+The two former species are said to be still found, both wild and
+domesticated, in parts of Egypt. _F. caligulata_ presents a difference in
+the first inferior milk molar tooth, as compared with the domestic cats of
+Europe, which makes De Blainville conclude that it is not one of the
+parent-forms of our cats. Several naturalists, as Pallas, Temminck, Blyth,
+believe that domestic cats are the descendants of several species {44}
+commingled: it is certain that cats cross readily with various wild
+species, and it would appear that the character of the domestic breeds has,
+at least in some cases, been thus affected. Sir W. Jardine has no doubt
+that, "in the north of Scotland, there has been occasional crossing with
+our native species (_F. sylvestris_), and that the result of these crosses
+has been kept in our houses. I have seen," he adds, "many cats very closely
+resembling the wild cat, and one or two that could scarcely be
+distinguished from it." Mr. Blyth[89] remarks on this passage, "but such
+cats are never seen in the southern parts of England; still, as compared
+with any Indian tame cat, the affinity of the ordinary British cat to _F.
+sylvestris_ is manifest; and due I suspect to frequent intermixture at a
+time when the tame cat was first introduced into Britain and continued
+rare, while the wild species was far more abundant than at present." In
+Hungary, Jeitteles[90] was assured on trustworthy authority that a wild
+male cat crossed with a female domestic cat, and that the hybrids long
+lived in a domesticated state. In Algiers the domestic cat has crossed with
+the wild cat (_F. Lybica_) of that country.[91] In South Africa, as Mr. E.
+Layard informs me, the domestic cat intermingles freely with the wild _F.
+caffra_; he has seen a pair of hybrids which were quite tame and
+particularly attached to the lady who brought them up; and Mr. Fry has
+found that these hybrids are fertile. In India the domestic cat, according
+to Mr. Blyth, has crossed with four Indian species. With respect to one of
+these species, _F. chaus_, an excellent observer, Sir W. Elliot, informs me
+that he once killed, near Madras, a wild brood, which were evidently
+hybrids from the domestic cat; these young animals had a thick lynx-like
+tail and the broad brown bar on the inside of the forearm characteristic of
+_F. chaus_. Sir W. Elliot adds that he has often observed this same mark on
+the forearms of domestic cats in India. Mr. Blyth states that domestic cats
+coloured nearly like _F. chaus_, but not resembling that species in shape,
+abound in {45} Bengal; he adds, "such a colouration is utterly unknown in
+European cats, and the proper tabby markings (pale streaks on a black
+ground, peculiarly and symmetrically disposed), so common in English cats,
+are never seen in those of India." Dr. D. Short has assured Mr. Blyth[92]
+that at Hansi hybrids between the common cat and _F. ornata_ (or
+_torquata_) occur, "and that many of the domestic cats of that part of
+India were undistinguishable from the wild _F. ornata_." Azara states, but
+only on the authority of the inhabitants, that in Paraguay the cat has
+crossed with two native species. From these several cases we see that in
+Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, the common cat, which lives a freer life
+than most other domesticated animals, has crossed with various wild
+species; and that in some instances the crossing has been sufficiently
+frequent to affect the character of the breed.
+
+Whether domestic cats have descended from several distinct species, or have
+only been modified by occasional crosses, their fertility, as far as is
+known, is unimpaired. The large Angora or Persian cat is the most distinct
+in structure and habits of all the domestic breeds; and is believed by
+Pallas, but on no distinct evidence, to be descended from the _F. manul_ of
+middle Asia; but I am assured by Mr. Blyth that this cat breeds freely with
+Indian cats, which, as we have already seen, have apparently been much
+crossed with _F. chaus_. In England half-bred Angora cats are perfectly
+fertile with the common cat; I do not know whether the half-breeds are
+fertile one with another; but as they are common in some parts of Europe,
+any marked degree of sterility could hardly fail to have been noticed.
+
+Within the same country we do not meet with distinct races of the cat, as
+we do of dogs and of most other domestic animals; though the cats of the
+same country present a considerable amount of fluctuating variability. The
+explanation obviously is that, from their nocturnal and rambling habits,
+indiscriminate crossing cannot without much trouble be prevented. Selection
+cannot be brought into play to produce distinct breeds, or to keep those
+distinct which have been imported from foreign lands. On the other hand, in
+islands and {46} in countries completely separated from each other, we meet
+with breeds more or less distinct; and these cases are worth giving as
+showing that the scarcity of distinct races in the same country is not
+caused by a deficiency of variability in the animal. The tail-less cats of
+the Isle of Man are said to differ from common cats not only in the want of
+a tail, but in the greater length of their hind legs, in the size of their
+heads, and in habits. The Creole cat of Antigua, as I am informed by Mr.
+Nicholson, is smaller, and has a more elongated head, than the British cat.
+In Ceylon, as Mr. Thwaites writes to me, every one at first notices the
+different appearance of the native cat from the English animal; it is of
+small size, with closely lying hairs; its head is small, with a receding
+forehead; but the ears are large and sharp; altogether it has what is there
+called a "low-caste" appearance. Rengger[93] says that the domestic cat,
+which has been bred for 300 years in Paraguay, presents a striking
+difference from the European cat; it is smaller by a fourth, has a more
+lanky body, its hair is short, shining, scanty, and lies close, especially
+on the tail: he adds that the change has been less at Ascension, the
+capital of Paraguay, owing to the continual crossing with newly imported
+cats; and this fact well illustrates the importance of separation. The
+conditions of life in Paraguay appear not to be highly favourable to the
+cat, for, though they have run half-wild, they do not become thoroughly
+feral, like so many other European animals. In another part of South
+America, according to Roulin,[94] the introduced cat has lost the habit of
+uttering its hideous nocturnal howl. The Rev. W. D. Fox purchased a cat in
+Portsmouth, which he was told came from the coast of Guinea; its skin was
+black and wrinkled, fur bluish-grey and short, its ears rather bare, legs
+long, and whole aspect peculiar. This "negro" cat was fertile with common
+cats. On the opposite coast of Africa, at Mombas, Captain Owen, R.N.,[95]
+states that all the cats are covered with short stiff hair instead of fur:
+he gives a curious account of a cat from Algoa Bay, which had been kept for
+some time on board and could be identified with certainty; this {47} animal
+was left for only eight weeks at Mombas, but during that short period it
+"underwent a complete metamorphosis, having parted with its sandy-coloured
+fur." A cat from the Cape of Good Hope has been described by Desmarest as
+remarkable from a red stripe extending along the whole length of its back.
+Throughout an immense area, namely, the Malayan archipelago, Siam, Pegu,
+and Burmah, all the cats have truncated tails about half the proper
+length,[96] often with a sort of knot at the end. In the Caroline
+archipelago the cats have very long legs, and are of a reddish-yellow
+colour.[97] In China a breed has drooping ears. At Tobolsk, according to
+Gmelin, there is a red-coloured breed. In Asia, also, we find the
+well-known Angora or Persian breed.
+
+The domestic cat has run wild in several countries, and everywhere assumes,
+as far as can be judged by the short recorded descriptions, a uniform
+character. Near Maldonado, in La Plata, I shot one which seemed perfectly
+wild; it was carefully examined by Mr. Waterhouse,[98] who found nothing
+remarkable in it, excepting its great size. In New Zealand, according to
+Dieffenbach, the feral cats assume a streaky grey colour like that of wild
+cats; and this is the case with the half-wild cats of the Scotch Highlands.
+
+We have seen that distant countries possess distinct domestic races of the
+cat. The differences may be in part due to descent from several aboriginal
+species, or at least to crosses with them. In some cases, as in Paraguay,
+Mombas, and Antigua, the differences seem due to the direct action of
+different conditions of life. In other cases some slight effect may
+possibly be attributed to natural selection, as cats in many cases have
+largely to support themselves and to escape diverse dangers. But man, owing
+to the difficulty of pairing cats, has done nothing by methodical
+selection; and probably very little by unintentional selection; though in
+each litter he generally saves the prettiest, {48} and values most a good
+breed of mouse or rat-catchers. Those cats which have a strong tendency to
+prowl after game, generally get destroyed by traps. As cats are so much
+petted, a breed bearing the same relation to other cats, that lapdogs bear
+to larger dogs, would have been much valued; and if selection could have
+been applied, we should certainly have had many breeds in each
+long-civilized country, for there is plenty of variability to work upon.
+
+We see in this country considerable diversity in size, some in the
+proportions of the body, and extreme variability in colouring. I have only
+lately attended to this subject, but have already heard of some singular
+cases of variation; one of a cat born in the West Indies toothless, and
+remaining so all its life. Mr. Tegetmeier has shown me the skull of a
+female cat with its canines so much developed that they protruded uncovered
+beyond the lips; the tooth with the fang being .95, and the part projecting
+from the gum .6 of an inch in length. I have heard of a family of six-toed
+cats. The tail varies greatly in length; I have seen a cat which always
+carried its tail flat on its back when pleased. The ears vary in shape, and
+certain strains, in England, inherit a pencil-like tuft of hairs, above a
+quarter of an inch in length, on the tips of their ears; and this same
+peculiarity, according to Mr. Blyth, characterises some cats in India. The
+great variability in the length of the tail and the lynx-like tufts of
+hairs on the ears are apparently analogous to differences in certain wild
+species of the genus. A much more important difference, according to
+Daubenton,[99] is that the intestines of domestic cats are wider, and a
+third longer, than in wild cats of the same size; and this apparently has
+been caused by their less strictly carnivorous diet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{49}
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+HORSES AND ASSES.
+
+    HORSE.--DIFFERENCES IN THE BREEDS--INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY OF--DIRECT
+    EFFECTS OF THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE--CAN WITHSTAND MUCH COLD--BREEDS MUCH
+    MODIFIED BY SELECTION--COLOURS OF THE HORSE--DAPPLING--DARK STRIPES ON
+    THE SPINE, LEGS, SHOULDERS, AND FOREHEAD--DUN-COLOURED HORSES MOST
+    FREQUENTLY STRIPED--STRIPES PROBABLY DUE TO REVERSION TO THE PRIMITIVE
+    STATE OF THE HORSE.
+
+    ASSES.--BREEDS OF--COLOUR OF--LEG- AND SHOULDER-
+    STRIPES--SHOULDER-STRIPES SOMETIMES ABSENT, SOMETIMES FORKED.
+
+The history of the Horse is lost in antiquity. Remains of this animal in a
+domesticated condition have been found in the Swiss lake-dwellings,
+belonging to the latter part of the Stone period.[100] At the present time
+the number of breeds is great, as may be seen by consulting any treatise on
+the Horse.[101] Looking only to the native ponies of Great Britain, those
+of the Shetland Isles, Wales, the New Forest, and Devonshire are
+distinguishable; and so it is with each separate island in the great Malay
+archipelago.[102] Some of the breeds present great differences in size,
+shape of ears, length of mane, proportions of the body, form of the withers
+and hind quarters, and especially in the head. Compare the race-horse,
+dray-horse, and a Shetland pony in size, configuration, and disposition;
+and see how much greater the difference is than between the six or seven
+other living species of the genus Equus.
+
+{50}
+
+Of individual variations not known to characterise particular breeds, and
+not great or injurious enough to be called monstrosities, I have not
+collected many cases. Mr. G. Brown, of the Cirencester Agricultural
+College, who has particularly attended to the dentition of our domestic
+animals, writes to me that he has "several times noticed eight permanent
+incisors instead of six in the jaw." Male horses alone properly have
+canines, but they are occasionally found in the mare, though of small
+size.[103] The number of ribs is properly eighteen, but Youatt[104] asserts
+that not unfrequently there are nineteen on each side, the additional one
+being always the posterior rib. I have seen several notices of variations
+in the bones of the leg; thus Mr. Price[105] speaks of an additional bone
+in the hock, and of certain abnormal appearances between the tibia and
+astragalus, as quite common in Irish horses, and not due to disease. Horses
+have often been observed, according to M. Gaudry,[106] to possess a
+trapezium and a rudiment of a fifth metacarpal bone, so that "one sees
+appearing by monstrosity, in the foot of the horse, structures which
+normally exist in the foot of the Hipparion,"--an allied and extinct
+animal. In various countries horn-like projections have been observed on
+the frontal bones of the horse: in one case described by Mr. Percival they
+arose about two inches above the orbital processes, and were "very like
+those in a calf from five to six months old," being from half to
+three-quarters of an inch in length.[107] Azara has described two cases in
+South America in which the projections were between three and four inches
+in length: other instances have occurred in Spain.
+
+That there has been much inherited variation in the horse cannot be
+doubted, when we reflect on the number of the breeds existing throughout
+the world or even within the same country, and when we know that they have
+largely increased in number {51} since the earliest known records.[108]
+Even in so fleeting a character as colour, Hofacker[109] found that, out of
+two hundred and sixteen cases in which horses of the same colour were
+paired, only eleven pairs produced foals of a quite different colour. As
+Professor Low[110] has remarked, the English race-horse offers the best
+possible evidence of inheritance. The pedigree of a race-horse is of more
+value in judging of its probable success than its appearance: "King Herod"
+gained in prizes 201,505l. sterling, and begot 497 winners; "Eclipse" begot
+334 winners.
+
+Whether the whole amount of difference between the various breeds be due to
+variation is doubtful. From the fertility of the most distinct breeds[111]
+when crossed, naturalists have generally looked at all the breeds as having
+descended from a single species. Few will agree with Colonel H. Smith, who
+believes that they have descended from no less than five primitive and
+differently coloured stocks.[112] But as several species and varieties of
+the horse existed[113] during the later tertiary periods, and as Ruetimeyer
+found differences in the size and form of the skull in the earliest known
+domesticated horses,[114] we ought not to feel sure that all our breeds
+have descended from a single species. As we see that the savages of North
+and South America easily reclaim the feral horses, there is no
+improbability in savages in various quarters of the world having
+domesticated more than one native species or natural race. No aboriginal or
+truly wild horse is positively known now to exist; for it is thought by
+some authors that the wild horses of the East are escaped domestic
+animals.[115] If our domestic breeds have descended from several {52}
+species or natural races, these apparently have all become extinct in the
+wild state. With our present knowledge, the common view that all have
+descended from a single species is, perhaps, the most probable.
+
+With respect to the causes of the modifications which horses have
+undergone, the conditions of life seem to produce a considerable direct
+effect. Mr. D. Forbes, who has had excellent opportunities of comparing the
+horses of Spain with those of South America, informs me that the horses of
+Chile, which have lived under nearly the same conditions as their
+progenitors in Andalusia, remain unaltered, whilst the Pampas horses and
+the Puno ponies are considerably modified. There can be no doubt that
+horses become greatly reduced in size and altered in appearance by living
+on mountains and islands; and this apparently is due to want of nutritious
+or varied food. Every one knows how small and rugged the ponies are on the
+Northern islands and on the mountains of Europe. Corsica and Sardinia have
+their native ponies; and there were,[116] or still are, on some islands on
+the coast of Virginia, ponies like those of the Shetland Islands, which are
+believed to have originated through exposure to unfavourable conditions.
+The Puno ponies, which inhabit the lofty regions of the Cordillera, are, as
+I hear from Mr. D. Forbes, strange little creatures, very unlike their
+Spanish progenitors. Further south, in the Falkland Islands, the offspring
+of the horses imported in 1764 have already so much deteriorated in
+size[117] and strength that they are unfitted for catching wild cattle with
+the lasso; so that fresh horses have to be brought for this purpose from La
+Plata at a great expense. The reduced size of the horses bred on both
+southern and northern islands, and on several mountain-chains, can hardly
+have been caused by the cold, as a similar reduction has occurred on the
+Virginian and Mediterranean islands. The horse can withstand intense cold,
+for wild troops live on the plains of Siberia under lat. 56 deg.,[118] and
+aboriginally the horse must {53} have inhabited countries annually covered
+with snow, for he long retains the instinct of scraping it away to get at
+the herbage beneath. The wild tarpans in the East have this instinct; and,
+as I am informed by Admiral Sulivan, this is likewise the case with the
+horses which have run wild on the Falkland Islands; now this is the more
+remarkable as the progenitors of these horses could not have followed this
+instinct during many generations in La Plata: the wild cattle of the
+Falklands never scrape away the snow, and perish when the ground is long
+covered. In the northern parts of America the horses, descended from those
+introduced by the Spanish conquerors of Mexico, have the same habit, as
+have the native bisons, but not so the cattle introduced from Europe.[119]
+
+The horse can flourish under intense heat as well as under intense cold,
+for he is known to come to the highest perfection, though not attaining a
+large size, in Arabia and northern Africa. Much humidity is apparently more
+injurious to the horse than heat or cold. In the Falkland Islands, horses
+suffer much from the dampness; and this same circumstance may perhaps
+partly account for the singular fact that to the eastward of the Bay of
+Bengal,[120] over an enormous and humid area, in Ava, Pegu, Siam, the
+Malayan archipelago, the Loo Choo Islands, and a large part of China, no
+full-sized horse is found. When we advance as far eastward as Japan, the
+horse reacquires his full size.[121]
+
+With most of our domesticated animals, some breeds are kept on account of
+their curiosity or beauty; but the horse is valued almost solely for its
+utility. Hence semi-monstrous breeds are not preserved; and probably all
+the existing breeds have been slowly formed either by the direct action of
+the conditions of life, or through the selection of individual differences.
+No doubt semi-monstrous breeds might have been formed: thus Mr. Waterton
+records[122] the case of a mare which produced {54} successively three
+foals without tails; so that a tailless race might have been formed like
+the tailless races of dogs and cats. A Russian breed of horses is said to
+have frizzled hair, and Azara[123] relates that in Paraguay horses are
+occasionally born, but are generally destroyed, with hair like that on the
+head of a negro; and this peculiarity is transmitted even to half-breeds:
+it is a curious case of correlation that such horses have short manes and
+tails, and their hoofs are of a peculiar shape like those of a mule.
+
+It is scarcely possible to doubt that the long-continued selection of
+qualities serviceable to man has been the chief agent in the formation of
+the several breeds of the horse. Look at a dray-horse, and see how well
+adapted he is to draw heavy weights, and how unlike in appearance to any
+allied wild animal. The English race-horse is known to have proceeded from
+the commingled blood of Arabs, Turks, and Barbs; but selection and training
+have together made him a very different animal from his parent-stocks. As a
+writer in India, who evidently knows the pure Arab well, asks, who now,
+"looking at our present breed of race-horses, could have conceived that
+they were the result of the union of the Arab horse and African mare?" The
+improvement is so marked that in running for the Goodwood Cup "the first
+descendants of Arabian, Turkish, and Persian horses, are allowed a discount
+of 18 lbs. weight; and when both parents are of these countries a discount
+of 36 lbs."[124] It is notorious that the Arabs have long been as careful
+about the pedigree of their horses as we are, and this implies great and
+continued care in breeding. Seeing what has been done in England by careful
+breeding, can we doubt that the Arabs must likewise have produced during
+the course of centuries a marked effect on the qualities of their horses?
+But we may go much farther back in time, for in the most ancient known
+book, the Bible, we hear of studs carefully kept for breeding, {55} and of
+horses imported at high prices from various countries.[125] We may
+therefore conclude that, whether or not the various existing breeds of the
+horse have proceeded from one or more aboriginal stocks, yet that a great
+amount of change has resulted from the direct action of the conditions of
+life, and probably a still greater amount from the long-continued selection
+by man of slight individual differences.
+
+With several domesticated quadrupeds and birds, certain coloured marks are
+either strongly inherited or tend to reappear after having long been lost.
+As this subject will hereafter be seen to be of importance, I will give a
+full account of the colouring of horses. All English breeds, however unlike
+in size and appearance, and several of those in India and the Malay
+archipelago, present a similar range and diversity of colour. The English
+race-horse, however, is said[126] never to be dun-coloured; but as dun and
+cream-coloured horses are considered by the Arabs as worthless, "and fit
+only for Jews to ride,"[127] these tints may have been removed by
+long-continued selection. Horses of every colour, and of such widely
+different kinds as dray-horses, cobs, and ponies, are all occasionally
+dappled,[128] in the same manner as is so conspicuous with grey horses.
+This fact does not throw any clear light on the colouring of the aboriginal
+horse, but is a case of analogous variation, for even asses are sometimes
+dappled, and I have seen, in the British Museum, a hybrid from the ass and
+zebra dappled on its hinder quarters. By the expression analogous variation
+(and it is one that I shall often have occasion to use) I mean a variation
+occurring in a species or variety which resembles a normal character in
+another and distinct species or variety. Analogous variations may arise, as
+will be explained in a future chapter, {56} from two or more forms with a
+similar constitution having been exposed to similar conditions,--or from
+one of two forms having reacquired through reversion a character inherited
+by the other form from their common progenitor,--or from both forms having
+reverted to the same ancestral character. We shall immediately see that
+horses occasionally exhibit a tendency to become striped over a large part
+of their bodies; and as we know that stripes readily pass into spots and
+cloudy marks in the varieties of the domestic cat and in several feline
+species--even the cubs of the uniformly-coloured lion being spotted with
+dark marks on a lighter ground--we may suspect that the dappling of the
+horse, which has been noticed by some authors with surprise, is a
+modification or vestige of a tendency to become striped.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Dun Devonshire Pony, with shoulder, spinal, and leg
+stripes.]
+
+    This tendency in the horse to become striped is in several respects an
+    interesting feet. Horses of all colours, of the most diverse breeds, in
+    various parts of the world, often have a dark stripe extending along
+    the spine, from the mane to the tail; but this is so common that I need
+    enter into no particulars.[129] Occasionally horses are transversely
+    barred on the legs, chiefly on the under side; and more rarely they
+    have a distinct stripe on the shoulder, like that on the shoulder of
+    the ass, or a broad dark patch representing a stripe. Before entering
+    on any details I must premise that {57} the term dun-coloured is vague,
+    and includes three groups of colour, viz. that between cream-colour and
+    reddish-brown, which graduates into light-bay or light-chesnut--this, I
+    believe, is often called fallow-dun; secondly, leaden or slate-colour
+    or mouse-dun, which graduates into an ash-colour; and, lastly,
+    dark-dun, between brown and black. In England I have examined a rather
+    large, lightly-built, fallow-dun Devonshire pony (fig. 1), with a
+    conspicuous stripe along the back, with light transverse stripes on the
+    under sides of its front legs, and with four parallel stripes on each
+    shoulder. Of these four stripes the posterior one was very minute and
+    faint; the anterior one, on the other hand, was long and broad, but
+    interrupted in the middle, and truncated at its lower extremity, with
+    the anterior angle produced into a long tapering point. I mention this
+    latter fact because the shoulder-stripe of the ass occasionally
+    presents exactly the same appearance. I have had an outline and
+    description sent to me of a small, purely-bred, light fallow-dun Welch
+    pony, with a spinal stripe, a single transverse stripe on each leg, and
+    three shoulder-stripes; the posterior stripe corresponding with that on
+    the shoulder of the ass was the longest, whilst the two anterior
+    parallel stripes, arising from the mane, decreased in length, in a
+    reversed manner as compared with the shoulder-stripes on the
+    above-described Devonshire pony. I have seen a bright fallow-dun,
+    strong cob, with its front legs transversely barred on the under sides
+    in the most conspicuous manner; also a dark-leaden mouse-coloured pony
+    with similar leg stripes, but much less conspicuous; also a bright
+    fallow-dun colt, fully three-parts thoroughbred, with very plain
+    transverse stripes on the legs; also a chesnut-dun cart-horse with a
+    conspicuous spinal stripe, with distinct traces of shoulder-stripes,
+    but none on the legs; I could add other cases. My son made a sketch for
+    me of a large, heavy, Belgian cart-horse, of a fallow-dun, with a
+    conspicuous spinal stripe, traces of leg-stripes, and with two parallel
+    (three inches apart) stripes about seven or eight inches in length on
+    both shoulders. I have seen another rather light cart-horse, of a dirty
+    dark cream-colour, with striped legs, and on one shoulder a large
+    ill-defined dark cloudy patch, and on the opposite shoulder two
+    parallel faint stripes. All the cases yet mentioned are duns of various
+    tints; but Mr. W. W. Edwards has seen a nearly thoroughbred chesnut
+    horse which had the spinal stripe, and distinct bars on the legs; and I
+    have seen two bay carriage-horses with black spinal stripes; one of
+    these horses had on each shoulder a light shoulder-stripe, and the
+    other had a broad black ill-defined stripe, running obliquely half-way
+    down each shoulder; neither had leg-stripes.
+
+    The most interesting case which I have met with occurred in a colt of
+    my own breeding. A bay mare (descended from a dark-brown Flemish mare
+    by a light grey Turcoman horse) was put to Hercules, a thoroughbred
+    dark bay, whose sire (Kingston) and dam were both bays. The colt
+    ultimately turned out brown; but when only a fortnight old it was a
+    dirty bay, shaded with mouse-grey, and in parts with a yellowish tint:
+    it had only a trace of the spinal stripe, with a few obscure transverse
+    bars on the legs; but almost the whole body was marked with very narrow
+    dark stripes, in most parts so obscure as to be visible only in certain
+    lights, like the {58} stripes which may be seen on black kittens. These
+    stripes were distinct on the hind-quarters, where they diverged from
+    the spine, and pointed a little forwards; many of them as they diverged
+    from the spine became a little branched, exactly in the same manner as
+    in some zebrine species. The stripes were plainest on the forehead
+    between the ears, where they formed a set of pointed arches, one under
+    the other, decreasing in size downwards towards the muzzle; exactly
+    similar marks may be seen on the forehead of the quagga and Burchell's
+    zebra. When this foal was two or three months old all the stripes
+    entirely disappeared. I have seen similar marks on the forehead of a
+    fully grown, fallow-dun, cob-like horse, having a conspicuous spinal
+    stripe, and with its front legs well barred.
+
+    In Norway the colour of the native horse or pony is dun, varying from
+    almost cream-colour to dark mouse-dun; and an animal is not considered
+    purely bred unless it has the spinal and leg stripes.[130] In one part
+    of the country my son estimated that about a third of the ponies had
+    striped legs; he counted seven stripes on the fore-legs and two on the
+    hind-legs of one pony; only a few of them exhibited traces of
+    shoulder-stripes; but I have heard of a cob imported from Norway which
+    had the shoulder as well as the other stripes well developed. Colonel
+    Ham. Smith[131] alludes to dun-horses with the spinal stripe in the
+    Sierras of Spain; and the horses originally derived from Spain, in some
+    parts of South America, are now duns. Sir W. Elliot informs me that he
+    inspected a herd of 300 South American horses imported into Madras, and
+    many of these had transverse stripes on the legs and short
+    shoulder-stripes; the most strongly marked individual, of which a
+    coloured drawing was sent me, was a mouse-dun, with the
+    shoulder-stripes slightly forked.
+
+    In the North-Western parts of India striped horses of more than one
+    breed are apparently commoner than in any other part of the world; and
+    I have received information respecting them from several officers,
+    especially from Colonel Poole, Colonel Curtis, Major Campbell,
+    Brigadier St. John, and others. The Kattywar horses are often fifteen
+    or sixteen hands in height, and are well but lightly built. They are of
+    all colours, but the several kinds of duns prevail; and these are so
+    generally striped, that a horse without stripes is not considered pure.
+    Colonel Poole believes that all the duns have the spinal stripe, the
+    leg-stripes are generally present, and he thinks that about half the
+    horses have the shoulder-stripe; this stripe is sometimes double or
+    treble on both shoulders. Colonel Poole has often seen stripes on the
+    cheeks and sides of the nose. He has seen stripes on the grey and bay
+    Kattywars when first foaled, but they soon faded away. I have received
+    other accounts of cream-coloured, bay, brown, and grey Kattywar horses
+    being striped. Eastward of India, the Shan (north of Burmah) ponies, as
+    I am informed by Mr. Blyth, have spinal, leg, and shoulder stripes. Sir
+    W. Elliot informs me that he saw two bay Pegu ponies with {59}
+    leg-stripes. Burmese and Javanese ponies are frequently dun-coloured,
+    and have the three kinds of stripes, "in the same degree as in
+    England."[132] Mr. Swinhoe informs me that he examined two light-dun
+    ponies of two Chinese breeds, viz. those of Shangai and Amoy; both had
+    the spinal stripe, and the latter an indistinct shoulder-stripe.
+
+    We thus see that in all parts of the world breeds of the horse as
+    different as possible, when of a dun-colour (including under this term
+    a wide range of tint from cream to dusky black), and rarely when of
+    bay, grey, and chesnut shades, have the several above-specified
+    stripes. Horses which are of a yellow colour with white mane and tail,
+    and which are sometimes called duns, I have never seen with
+    stripes.[133]
+
+    From reasons which will be apparent in the chapter on Reversion, I have
+    endeavoured, but with poor success, to discover whether duns, which are
+    so much oftener striped than other coloured horses, are ever produced
+    from the crossing of two horses, neither of which are duns. Most
+    persons to whom I have applied believe that one parent must be a dun;
+    and it is generally asserted, that, when this is the case, the
+    dun-colour and the stripes are strongly inherited.[134] One case has
+    fallen under my own observation of a foal from a black mare by a bay
+    horse, which when fully grown was a dark fallow-dun and had a narrow
+    but plain spinal stripe. Hofacker[135] gives two instances of
+    mouse-duns (Mausrapp) being produced from two parents of different
+    colours and neither duns.
+
+    I have also endeavoured with little success to find out whether the
+    stripes are generally plainer or less plain in the foal than in the
+    adult horse. Colonel Poole informs me that, as he believes, "the
+    stripes are plainest when the colt is first foaled; they then become
+    less and less distinct till after the first coat is shed, when they
+    come out as strongly as before; but certainly often fade away as the
+    age of the horse increases." Two other accounts confirm this fading of
+    the stripes in old horses in India. One writer, on the other hand,
+    states that colts are often born without stripes, but that they appear
+    as the colt grows older. Three authorities affirm that in Norway the
+    stripes are less plain in the foal than in the adult. Perhaps there is
+    no fixed rule. In the case described by me of the young foal which was
+    narrowly striped over nearly all its body, there was no doubt about the
+    the early and complete disappearance of the stripes. Mr. W. W. Edwards
+    examined for me twenty-two foals of race-horses, and twelve had the
+    spinal stripe more or less plain; this fact, and some other accounts
+    which I have received, lead me to believe that the spinal stripe often
+    disappears in the English race-horse when old. On the whole I infer
+    that the stripes are generally plainest in the foal, and tend to
+    disappear in old age.
+
+The stripes are variable in colour, but are always darker than the rest of
+the body. They do not by any means always {60} coexist on the different
+parts of the body: the legs may be striped without any shoulder-stripe, or
+the converse case, which is rarer, may occur; but I have never heard of
+either shoulder or leg-stripes without the spinal stripe. The latter is by
+far the commonest of all the stripes, as might have been expected, as it
+characterises the other seven or eight species of the genus. It is
+remarkable that so trifling a character as the shoulder-stripe being double
+or triple should occur in such different breeds as Welch and Devonshire
+ponies, the Shan pony, heavy cart-horses, light South American horses, and
+the lanky Kattywar breed. Colonel Hamilton Smith believes that one of his
+five supposed primitive stocks was dun-coloured and striped; and that the
+stripes in all the other breeds result from ancient crosses with this one
+primitive dun; but it is extremely improbable that different breeds living
+in such distant quarters of the world should all have been crossed with any
+one aboriginally distinct stock. Nor have we any reason to believe that the
+effects of a cross at a very remote period could be propagated for so many
+generations as is implied on this view.
+
+With respect to the primitive colour of the horse having been dun, Colonel
+Hamilton Smith[136] has collected a large body of evidence showing that
+this tint was common in the East as far back as the time of Alexander, and
+that the wild horses of Western Asia and Eastern Europe now are, or
+recently were, of various shades of dun. It seems that not very long ago a
+wild breed of dun-coloured horses with a spinal stripe was preserved in the
+royal parks in Prussia. I hear from Hungary that the inhabitants of that
+country look at the duns with a spinal stripe as the aboriginal stock, and
+so it is in Norway. Dun-coloured ponies are not rare in the mountainous
+parts of Devonshire, Wales, and Scotland, where the aboriginal breed would
+have had the best chance of being preserved. In South America in the time
+of Azara, when the horse had been feral for about 250 years, 90 out of 100
+horses were "bai-chatains," and the remaining ten were "zains," and not
+more than one in 2000 {61} black. Zain is generally translated as dark
+without any white; but as Azara speaks of mules being "zain-clair," I
+suspect that zain must have meant dun-coloured. In some parts of the world
+feral horses show a strong tendency to become roans.[137]
+
+In the following chapters on the Pigeon we shall see that in pure breeds of
+various colours, when a blue bird is occasionally produced, certain black
+marks invariably appear on the wings and tail; so again, when variously
+coloured breeds are crossed, blue birds with the same black marks are
+frequently produced. We shall further see that these facts are explained
+by, and afford strong evidence in favour of, the view that all the breeds
+are descended from the rock-pigeon, or _Columba livia_, which is thus
+coloured and marked. But the appearance of the stripes on the various
+breeds of the horse, when of a dun-colour, does not afford nearly such good
+evidence of their descent from a single primitive stock as in the case of
+the pigeon; because no certainly wild horse is known as a standard of
+comparison; because the stripes when they do appear are variable in
+character; because there is far from sufficient evidence of the appearance
+of the stripes from the crossing of distinct breeds; and lastly, because
+all the species of the genus Equus have the spinal stripe, and several have
+shoulder and leg stripes. Nevertheless the similarity in the most distinct
+breeds in their general range of colour, in their dappling, and in the
+occasional appearance, especially in duns, of leg-stripes and of double or
+triple shoulder-stripes, taken together, indicate the probability of the
+descent of all the existing races from a single, dun-coloured, more or less
+striped, primitive stock, to which our horses still occasionally revert.
+
+{62}
+
+THE ASS.
+
+Four species of Asses, besides three of zebras, have been described by
+naturalists; but there can now be little doubt that our domesticated animal
+is descended from one alone, namely, the _Asinus taeniopus_ of
+Abyssinia.[138] The ass is sometimes advanced as an instance of an animal
+domesticated, as we know by the Old Testament, from an ancient period,
+which has varied only in a very slight degree. But this is by no means
+strictly true; for in Syria alone there are four breeds;[139] first, a
+light and graceful animal, with an agreeable gait, used by ladies;
+secondly, an Arab breed reserved exclusively for the saddle; thirdly, a
+stouter animal used for ploughing and various purposes; and lastly, the
+large Damascus breed, with a peculiarly long body and ears. In this
+country, and generally in Central Europe, though the ass is by no means
+uniform in appearance, it has not given rise to distinct breeds like those
+of the horse. This may probably be accounted for by the animal being kept
+chiefly by poor persons, who do not rear large numbers, nor carefully match
+and select the young. For, as we shall see in a future chapter, the ass can
+with ease be greatly improved in size and strength by careful selection,
+combined no doubt with good food; and we may infer that all its other
+characters would be equally amenable to selection. The small size of the
+ass in England and Northern Europe is apparently due far more to want of
+care in breeding than to cold; for in Western India, where the ass is used
+as a beast of burden by some of the lower castes, it is not much larger
+than a Newfoundland dog, "being generally not more than from twenty to
+thirty inches high."[140]
+
+The ass varies greatly in colour; and its legs, especially the fore-legs,
+both in England and other countries--for instance, in China--are
+occasionally barred transversely more plainly than those of dun-coloured
+horses. With the horse the occasional appearance of leg-stripes was
+accounted for, through the principle of reversion, by the supposition that
+the primitive horse was {63} thus striped; with the ass we may confidently
+advance this explanation, for the parent-form, the _A. taeniopus_, is known
+to be barred, though only in a slight degree, across the legs. The stripes
+are believed to occur most frequently and to be plainest on the legs of the
+domestic ass during early youth,[141] as is apparently likewise the case
+with the horse. The shoulder-stripe, which is so eminently characteristic
+of the species, is nevertheless variable in breadth, length, and manner of
+termination. I have measured a shoulder-stripe four times as broad as
+another; and some more than twice as long as others. In one light-grey ass
+the shoulder-stripe was only six inches in length, and as thin as a piece
+of string; and in another animal of the same colour there was only a dusky
+shade representing a stripe. I have heard of three white asses, not
+albinoes, with no trace of shoulder or spinal stripes;[142] and I have seen
+nine other asses with no shoulder-stripe, and some of them had no spinal
+stripe. Three of the nine were light-greys, one a dark-grey, another grey
+passing into reddish-roan, and the others were brown, two being tinted on
+parts of their bodies with a reddish or bay shade. Hence we may conclude
+that, if grey and reddish-brown asses had been steadily selected and bred
+from, the shoulder-stripe would have been almost as generally and as
+completely lost as in the case of the horse.
+
+The shoulder-stripe on the ass is sometimes double, and Mr. Blyth has seen
+even three or four parallel stripes.[143] I have observed in ten cases
+shoulder-stripes abruptly truncated at the lower end, with the anterior
+angle produced into a tapering point, precisely as has been figured in the
+dun Devonshire pony. I have seen three cases of the terminal portion
+abruptly and angularly bent; and two cases of a distinct though slight
+forking. In Syria, Dr. Hooker and his party observed for me no less than
+five instances of the shoulder-stripe being plainly forked over the fore
+leg. In the common mule it is likewise sometimes forked. When I first
+noticed the forking and angular bending of the shoulder-stripe, I had seen
+enough of the stripes {64} in the various equine species to feel convinced
+that even a character so unimportant as this had a distinct meaning, and
+was thus led to attend to the subject. I now find that in the _Asinus
+Burchellii_ and _quagga_, the stripe which corresponds with the
+shoulder-stripe of the ass, as well as some of the stripes on the neck,
+bifurcate, and that some of those near the shoulder have their extremities
+angularly bent backwards. The forking and angular bending of the stripes on
+the shoulders apparently stand in relation with the changed direction of
+the nearly upright stripes on the sides of the body and neck to the
+transverse bars on the legs. Finally we see that the presence of shoulder,
+leg, and spinal stripes in the horse,--their occasional absence in the
+ass,--the occurrence of double and triple shoulder-stripes in both animals,
+and the similar manner in which these stripes terminate at their lower
+extremities,--are all cases of analogous variation in the horse and ass.
+These cases are probably not due to similar conditions acting on similar
+constitutions, but to a partial reversion in colour to the common
+progenitor of these two species, as well as of the other species of the
+genus. We shall hereafter have to return to this subject, and discuss it
+more fully.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{65}
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+PIGS--CATTLE--SHEEP--GOATS.
+
+    PIGS BELONG TO TWO DISTINCT TYPES, SUS SCROFA AND
+    INDICA--TORF-SCHWEIN--JAPAN PIG--FERTILITY OF CROSSED PIGS--CHANGES IN
+    THE SKULL OF THE HIGHLY CULTIVATED RACES--CONVERGENCE OF
+    CHARACTER--GESTATION--SOLID-HOOFED SWINE--CURIOUS APPENDAGES TO THE
+    JAWS--DECREASE IN SIZE OF THE TUSKS--YOUNG PIGS LONGITUDINALLY
+    STRIPED--FERAL PIGS--CROSSED BREEDS.
+
+    CATTLE.--ZEBU A DISTINCT SPECIES--EUROPEAN CATTLE PROBABLY DESCENDED
+    FROM THREE WILD FORMS--ALL THE RACES NOW FERTILE TOGETHER--BRITISH PARK
+    CATTLE--ON THE COLOUR OF THE ABORIGINAL SPECIES--CONSTITUTIONAL
+    DIFFERENCES--SOUTH AFRICAN RACES--SOUTH AMERICAN RACES--NIATA
+    CATTLE--ORIGIN OF THE VARIOUS RACES OF CATTLE.
+
+    SHEEP.--REMARKABLE RACES OF--VARIATIONS ATTACHED TO THE MALE
+    SEX--ADAPTATIONS TO VARIOUS CONDITIONS--GESTATION OF--CHANGES IN THE
+    WOOL--SEMI-MONSTROUS BREEDS.
+
+    GOATS.--REMARKABLE VARIATIONS OF.
+
+The breeds of the pig have recently been more closely studied, though much
+still remains to be done, than those of almost any other domesticated
+animal. This has been effected by Hermann von Nathusius in two admirable
+works, especially in the later one on the Skulls of the several races, and
+by Ruetimeyer in his celebrated Fauna of the ancient Swiss
+lake-dwellings.[144] Nathusius has shown that all the known breeds may be
+divided in two great groups: one resembling in all important respects and
+no doubt descended from the common wild boar; so that this may be called
+the _Sus scrofa_ group. The other group differs in several important and
+constant osteological characters; its wild parent-form is unknown; the name
+given to it by Nathusius, according to the law of priority, is _Sus Indica_
+of Pallas. This name must now be followed, though an unfortunate one, as
+the wild aboriginal does not inhabit India, and the best-known domesticated
+breeds have been imported from Siam and China.
+
+{66}
+
+Firstly, the _Sus scrofa_ breeds, or those resembling the common wild boar.
+These still exist, according to Nathusius (Schweineschaedel, s. 75), in
+various parts of central and northern Europe; formerly every kingdom,[145]
+and almost every province in Britain, possessed its own native breed; but
+these are now everywhere rapidly disappearing, being replaced by improved
+breeds crossed with the _S. Indica_ form. The skull in the breeds of the
+_S. scrofa_ type resembles, in all important respects, that of the European
+wild boar; but it has become (Schweineschaedel, s. 63-68) higher and broader
+relatively to its length; and the hinder part is more upright. The
+differences, however, are all variable in degree. The breeds which thus
+resemble _S. scrofa_ in their essential skull-characters differ
+conspicuously from each other in other respects, as in the length of the
+ears and legs, curvature of the ribs, colour, hairiness, size and
+proportions of the body.
+
+The wild _Sus scrofa_ has a wide range, namely, Europe, North Africa, as
+identified by osteological characters by Ruetimeyer, and Hindostan, as
+similarly identified by Nathusius. But the wild boars inhabiting these
+several countries differ so much from each other in external characters,
+that they have been ranked by some naturalists as specifically distinct.
+Even within Hindostan these animals, according to Mr. Blyth, form very
+distinct races in the different districts; in the N. Western provinces, as
+I am informed by the Rev. R. Everest, the boar never exceeds 36 inches in
+height, whilst in Bengal one has been measured 44 inches in height. In
+Europe, Northern Africa, and Hindostan, domestic pigs have been known to
+cross with the wild native species;[146] and in Hindostan an accurate
+observer,[147] Sir Walter Elliot, after describing the differences between
+wild Indian and wild German boars, remarks that "the same differences are
+perceptible in the domesticated {67} individuals of the two countries." We
+may therefore conclude that the breeds of the _Sus scrofa_ type have either
+descended from, or been modified by crossing with, forms which may be
+ranked as geographical races, but which are, according to some naturalists,
+distinct species.
+
+Pigs of the _Sus Indica_ type are best known to Englishmen under the form
+of the Chinese breed. The skull of _S. Indica_, as described by Nathusius,
+differs from that of _S. scrofa_ in several minor respects, as in its
+greater breadth and in some details in the teeth; but chiefly in the
+shortness of the lachrymal bones, in the greater width of the fore part of
+the palate-bones, and in the divergence of the premolar teeth. It deserves
+especial notice that these latter characters are not gained, even in the
+least degree, by the domesticated forms of _S. scrofa_. After reading the
+remarks and descriptions given by Nathusius, it seems to me to be merely
+playing with words to doubt whether _S. Indica_ ought to be ranked as a
+species; for the above-specified differences are more strongly marked than
+any that can be pointed out between, for instance, the fox and the wolf, or
+the ass and the horse. As already stated, _S. Indica_ is not known in a
+wild state; but its domesticated forms, according to Nathusius, come near
+to _S. vittatus_ of Java and some allied species. A pig found wild in the
+Aru islands (Schweineschaedel, s. 169) is apparently identical with _S.
+Indica_; but it is doubtful whether this is a truly native animal. The
+domesticated breeds of China, Cochin-China, and Siam belong to this type.
+The Roman or Neapolitan breed, the Andalusian, the Hungarian, and the
+"Krause" swine of Nathusius, inhabiting south-eastern Europe and Turkey,
+and having fine curly hair, and the small Swiss "Buendtnerschwein" of
+Ruetimeyer, all agree in their more important skull characters with _S.
+Indica_, and, as is supposed, have all been largely crossed with this form.
+Pigs of this type have existed during a long period on the shores of the
+Mediterranean, for a figure (Schweineschaedel, s. 142) closely resembling
+the existing Neapolitan pig has been found in the buried city of
+Herculaneum.
+
+Ruetimeyer has made the remarkable discovery that there lived
+contemporaneously in Switzerland, during the later Stone or Neolithic
+period, two domesticated forms, the _S. scrofa_, and {68} the _S. scrofa
+palustris_ or Torfschwein. Ruetimeyer perceived that the latter approached
+the Eastern breeds, and, according to Nathusius, it certainly belongs to
+the _S. Indica_ group; but Ruetimeyer has subsequently shown that it differs
+in some well-marked characters. This author was formerly convinced that his
+Torfschwein existed as a wild animal during the first part of the Stone
+period, and was domesticated during a later part of the same period.[148]
+Nathusius, whilst he fully admits the curious fact first observed by
+Ruetimeyer, that the bones of domesticated and wild animals can be
+distinguished by their different aspect, yet, from special difficulties in
+the case of the bones of the pig (Schweineschaedel, s. 147), is not
+convinced of the truth of this conclusion; and Ruetimeyer himself seems now
+to feel some doubt. As the Torfschwein was domesticated at so early a
+period, and as its remains have been found in several parts of Europe,
+belonging to various historic and prehistoric ages,[149] and as closely
+allied forms still exist in Hungary and on the shores of the Mediterranean,
+one is led to suspect that the wild _S. Indica_ formerly ranged from Europe
+to China, in the same manner as _S. scrofa_ now ranges from Europe to
+Hindostan. Or, as Ruetimeyer apparently suspects, a third allied species may
+formerly have lived in Europe and Eastern Asia.
+
+Several breeds, differing in the proportions of the body, in the length of
+the ears, in the nature of the hair, in colour, &c., come under the _S.
+Indica_ type. Nor is this surprising, considering how ancient the
+domestication of this form has been both in Europe and in China. In this
+latter country the date is believed by an eminent Chinese scholar[150] to
+go back at least 4900 years from the present time. This same scholar
+alludes to the existence of many local varieties of the pig in China; and
+at the present time the Chinese take extraordinary pains in feeding and
+tending their pigs, not even allowing them to walk from place to
+place.[151] Hence the Chinese breed, as Nathusius has remarked,[152]
+displays in an eminent degree the characters of a highly-cultivated race,
+and hence, no doubt, its {69} high value in the improvement of our European
+breeds. Nathusius makes a remarkable statement (Schweineschaedel, s. 138),
+that the infusion of the 1/32nd, or even of the 1/64th, part of the blood
+of _S. Indica_ into a breed of _S. scrofa_, is sufficient plainly to modify
+the skull of the latter species. This singular fact may perhaps be
+accounted for by several of the chief distinctive characters of _S.
+Indica_, such as the shortness of the lachrymal bones, &c., being common to
+several of the species of the genus; for in crosses the characters which
+are common to many species apparently tend to be prepotent over those
+appertaining to only a few species.
+
+The Japan pig (_S. pliciceps_ of Gray), which has been recently exhibited
+in the Zoological Gardens, has an extraordinary appearance from its short
+head, broad forehead and nose, great fleshy ears, and deeply furrowed skin.
+The following woodcut is copied from that given by Mr. Bartlett.[153] Not
+only {70} is the face furrowed, but thick folds of skin, which are harder
+than the other parts, almost like the plates on the Indian rhinoceros, hang
+about the shoulders and rump. It is coloured black, with white feet, and
+breeds true. That it has long been domesticated there can be little doubt;
+and this might have been inferred even from the fact that its young are not
+longitudinally striped; for this is a character common to all the species
+included within the genus _Sus_ and the allied genera whilst in their
+natural state.[154] Dr. Gray[155] has described the skull of this animal,
+which he ranks not only as a distinct species, but places it in a distinct
+section of the genus. Nathusius, however, after his careful study of the
+whole group, states positively (Schweineschaedel, s. 153-158) that the skull
+in all essential characters closely resembles that of the short-eared
+Chinese breed of the _S. Indica_ type. Hence Nathusius considers the Japan
+pig as only a domesticated variety of _S. Indica_: if this really be the
+case, it is a wonderful instance of the amount of modification which can be
+effected under domestication.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Head of Japan or Masked Pig. (Copied from Mr.
+Bartlett's paper in Proc. Zoolog. Soc. 1861, p. 263.)]
+
+Formerly there existed in the central islands of the Pacific Ocean a
+singular breed of pigs. These are described by the Rev. D. Tyerman and G.
+Bennett[156] as of small size, hump-backed, with a disproportionately long
+head, with short ears turned backwards, with a bushy tail not more than two
+inches in length, placed as if it grew from the back. Within half a century
+after the introduction into these islands of European and Chinese pigs, the
+native breed, according to the above authors, became almost completely lost
+by being repeatedly crossed with them. Secluded islands, as might have been
+expected, seem favourable for the production or retention of peculiar
+breeds; thus, in the Orkney Islands, the hogs have been described as very
+small, with erect and sharp ears, and "with an appearance altogether
+different from the hogs brought from the south."[157]
+
+Seeing how different the Chinese pigs, belonging to the _Sus Indica_ type,
+are in their osteological characters and in external {71} appearance from
+the pigs of the _S. scrofa_ type, so that they must be considered
+specifically distinct, it is a fact well deserving attention, that Chinese
+and common pigs have been repeatedly crossed in various manners, with
+unimpaired fertility. One great breeder who had used pure Chinese pigs
+assured me that the fertility of the half-breeds _inter se_ and of their
+recrossed progeny was actually increased; and this is the general belief of
+agriculturists. Again, the Japan pig or _S. pliciceps_ of Gray is so
+distinct in appearance from all common pigs, that it stretches one's belief
+to the utmost to admit that it is simply a domestic variety; yet this breed
+has been found perfectly fertile with the Berkshire breed; and Mr. Eyton
+informs me that he paired a half-bred brother and sister and found them
+quite fertile together.
+
+The modifications of the skull in the most highly cultivated races are
+wonderful. To appreciate the amount of change, Nathusius' work, with its
+excellent figures, should be studied. The whole of the exterior of the
+skull in all its parts has been altered; the hinder surface, instead of
+sloping backwards, is directed forwards, entailing many changes in other
+parts; the front of the head is deeply concave; the orbits have a different
+shape; the auditory meatus has a different direction and shape; the
+incisors of the upper and lower jaws do not touch each other, and they
+stand in both jaws above the plane of the molars; the canines of the upper
+jaw stand in front of those of the lower jaw, and this is a remarkable
+anomaly: the articular surfaces of the occipital condyles are so greatly
+changed in shape, that, as Nathusius remarks (s. 133), no naturalist,
+seeing this important part of the skull by itself, would suppose that it
+belonged to the genus Sus. These and various other modifications, as
+Nathusius observes, can hardly be considered as monstrosities, for they are
+not injurious, and are strictly inherited. The whole head is much
+shortened; thus, whilst in common breeds its length to that of the body is
+as 1 to 6, in the "cultur-races" the proportion is as 1 to 9, and even
+recently as 1 to 11.[158] The following woodcut[159] {72} of the head of a
+wild boar and of a sow from a photograph of the Yorkshire Large Breed, may
+aid in showing how greatly the head in a highly cultivated race has been
+modified and shortened.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Head of Wild Boar, and of "Golden Days," a pig of
+the Yorkshire Large Breed; the latter from a photograph. (Copied from
+Sidney's edit. of 'The Pig,' by Youatt.)]
+
+Nathusius has well discussed the causes of the remarkable changes in the
+skull and shape of the body which the highly cultivated races have
+undergone. These modifications occur chiefly in the pure and crossed races
+of the _S. Indica_ type; but their commencement may be clearly detected in
+the slightly improved breeds of the _S. scrofa_ type.[160] Nathusius states
+positively (s. 99, 103), as the result of common experience and of his
+experiments, that rich and abundant food, given during youth, tends by some
+direct action to make the head broader and shorter; and that poor food
+works a contrary result. He lays much stress on the fact that all wild and
+semi-domesticated pigs, in ploughing up the ground with their muzzles,
+have; whilst young, to exert the powerful muscles fixed to the hinder part
+of the head. In highly cultivated races this habit is no longer followed,
+and consequently the back of the skull becomes modified in shape, entailing
+other changes in other parts. There can hardly be a doubt that so great a
+change in habits would {73} affect the skull; but it seems rather doubtful
+how far this will account for the greatly reduced length of the skull and
+for its concave front. It is well known (Nathusius himself advancing many
+cases, s. 104) that there is a strong tendency in many domestic animals--in
+bull- and pug-dogs, in the niata cattle, in sheep, in Polish fowls,
+short-faced tumbler pigeons, and in one variety of the carp--for the bones
+of the face to become greatly shortened. In the case of the dog, as H.
+Mueller has shown, this seems caused by an abnormal state of the primordial
+cartilage. We may, however, readily admit that abundant and rich food
+supplied during many generations would give an inherited tendency to
+increased size of body, and that, from disuse, the limbs would become finer
+and shorter.[161] We shall in a future chapter also see that the skull and
+limbs are apparently in some manner correlated, so that any change in the
+one tends to affect the other.
+
+Nathusius has remarked, and the observation is an interesting one, that the
+peculiar form of the skull and body in the most highly cultivated races is
+not characteristic of any one race, but is common to all when improved up
+to the same standard. Thus the large-bodied, long-eared, English breeds
+with a convex back, and the small-bodied, short-eared, Chinese breeds with
+a concave back, when bred to the same state of perfection, nearly resemble
+each other in the form of the head and body. This result, it appears, is
+partly due to similar causes of change acting on the several races, and
+partly to man breeding the pig for one sole purpose, namely, for the
+greatest amount of flesh and fat; so that selection has always tended
+towards one and the same end. With most domestic animals the result of
+selection has been divergence of character, here it has been
+convergence.[162]
+
+The nature of the food supplied during many generations has apparently
+affected the length of the intestines; for, according to Cuvier,[163] their
+length to that of the body in the wild boar is as 9 to 1,--in the common
+domestic boar as 13.5 to 1,--and in the Siam breed as 16 to 1. In this
+latter breed the greater {74} length may be due either to descent from a
+distinct species or to more ancient domestication. The number of mammae
+vary, as does the period of gestation. The latest authority says[164] that
+"the period averages from 17 to 20 weeks," but I think there must be some
+error in this statement: in M. Tessier's observations on 25 sows it varied
+from 109 to 123 days. The Rev. W. D. Fox has given me ten carefully
+recorded cases with well-bred pigs, in which the period varied from 101 to
+116 days. According to Nathusius the period is shortest in the races which
+come early to maturity; but in these latter the course of development does
+not appear to be actually shortened, for the young animal is born, judging
+from the state of the skull, less fully developed, or in a more embryonic
+condition,[165] than in the case of common swine, which arrive at maturity
+at a later age. In the highly cultivated and early matured races, the
+teeth, also, are developed earlier.
+
+The difference in the number of the vertebrae and ribs in different kinds of
+pigs, as observed by Mr. Eyton,[166] and as given in the following table,
+has often been quoted. The African sow probably belongs to the _S. scrofa_
+type; and Mr. Eyton informs me that, since the publication of his paper,
+cross-bred animals from the African and English races were found by Lord
+Hill to be perfectly fertile.
+
+  ----------------+--------+---------+---------+-------------+-----------
+                  | English|         |         |             | French
+                  |  Long- |         |         |             | Domestic
+                  | legged | African | Chinese | Wild Boar,  | Boar, from
+                  |  Male. | Female. | Male.   | from Cuvier.| Cuvier.
+  ----------------+--------+---------+---------+-------------+-----------
+  Dorsal          |        |         |         |             |
+  vertebrae        |  15    |    13   |   15    |     14      |    14
+                  |        |         |         |             |
+  Lumbar          |   6    |     6   |    4    |      5      |     5
+                  +--------+---------+---------+-------------+-----------
+  Dorsal and      |        |         |         |             |
+  lumbar together |  21    |    19   |   19    |     19      |    19
+                  |        |         |         |             |
+  Sacral          |   5    |     5   |    4    |      4      |     4
+                  +--------+---------+---------+-------------+-----------
+  Total number    |        |         |         |             |
+  of vertebrae     |  26    |    24   |   23    |     23      |    23
+  ----------------+--------+---------+---------+-------------+-----------
+
+{75}
+
+Some semi-monstrous breeds deserve notice. From the time of Aristotle to
+the present time solid-hoofed swine have occasionally been observed in
+various parts of the world. Although this peculiarity is strongly
+inherited, it is hardly probable that all the animals with solid hoofs have
+descended from the same parents; it is more probable that the same
+peculiarity has reappeared at various times and places. Dr. Struthers has
+lately described and figured[167] the structure of the feet; in both front
+and hind feet the distal phalanges of the two greater toes are represented
+by a single, great, hoof-bearing phalanx; and in the front feet, the middle
+phalanges are represented by a bone which is single towards the lower end,
+but bears two separate articulations towards the upper end. From other
+accounts it appears that an intermediate toe is likewise sometimes
+superadded.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Old Irish Pig, with jaw-appendages. (Copied from H.
+D. Richardson on Pigs.)]
+
+Another curious anomaly is offered by the appendages, described by M.
+Eudes-Deslongchamps as often characterizing the Normandy pigs. These
+appendages are always attached to the same spot, to the corners of the jaw;
+they are cylindrical, about three inches in length, covered with bristles,
+and with a pencil of bristles rising out of a sinus on one side: they have
+a cartilaginous centre, with two small longitudinal muscles; they occur
+either symmetrically on both sides of the face or on one {76} side alone.
+Richardson figures them on the gaunt old "Irish Greyhound pig;" and
+Nathusius states that they occasionally appear in all the long-eared races,
+but are not strictly inherited, for they occur or fail in animals of the
+same litter.[168] As no wild pigs are known to have analogous appendages,
+we have at present no reason to suppose that their appearance is due to
+reversion; and if this be so, we are forced to admit that somewhat complex,
+though apparently useless, structures may be suddenly developed without the
+aid of selection. This case perhaps throws some little light on the manner
+of appearance of the hideous fleshy protuberances, though of an essentially
+different nature from the above-described appendages, on the cheeks of the
+wart-hog or Phacochoerus Africanus.
+
+It is a remarkable fact that the boars of all domesticated breeds have much
+shorter tusks than wild boars. Many facts show that with all animals the
+state of the hair is much affected by exposure to, or protection from,
+climate; and as we see that the state of the hair and teeth are correlated
+in Turkish dogs (other analogous facts will be hereafter given), may we not
+venture to surmise that the reduction of the tusks in the domestic boar is
+related to his coat of bristles being diminished from living under shelter?
+On the other hand, as we shall immediately see, the tusks and bristles
+reappear with feral boars, which are no longer protected from the weather.
+It is not surprising that the tusks should be more affected than the other
+teeth; as parts developed to serve as secondary sexual characters are
+always liable to much variation.
+
+It is a well-known fact that the young of wild European and Indian
+pigs,[169] for the first six months, are longitudinally banded with
+light-coloured stripes. This character generally disappears under
+domestication. The Turkish domestic pigs, however, have striped young, as
+have those of Westphalia, "whatever may be their hue;"[170] whether these
+latter pigs belong to the {77} same curly-haired race with the Turkish
+swine, I do not know. The pigs which have run wild in Jamaica and the
+semi-feral pigs of New Granada, both those which are black and those which
+are black with a white band across the stomach, often extending over the
+back, have resumed this aboriginal character and produce
+longitudinally-striped young. This is likewise the case, at least
+occasionally, with the neglected pigs in the Zambesi settlement on the
+coast of Africa.[171]
+
+The common belief that all domesticated animals, when they run wild, revert
+completely to the character of their parent-stock, is chiefly founded, as
+far as I can discover, on feral pigs. But even in this case the belief is
+not grounded on sufficient evidence; for the two main types of _S. scrofa_
+and _Indica_ have never been distinguished in a feral state. The young, as
+we have just seen, reacquire their longitudinal stripes, and the boars
+invariably reassume their tusks. They revert also in the general shape of
+their bodies, and in the length of their legs and muzzles, to the state of
+the wild animal, as might have been expected from the amount of exercise
+which they are compelled to take in search of food. In Jamaica the feral
+pigs do not acquire the full size of the European wild boar, "never
+attaining a greater height than 20 inches at the shoulder." In various
+countries they reassume their original bristly covering, but in different
+{78} degrees, dependent on the climate; thus, according to Roulin, the
+semi-feral pigs in the hot valleys of New Granada are very scantily
+clothed; whereas, on the Paramos, at the height of 7000 to 8000 feet, they
+acquire a thick covering of wool lying under the bristles, like that on the
+truly wild pigs of France. These pigs on the Paramos are small and stunted.
+The wild boar of India is said to have the bristles at the end of its tail
+arranged like the plumes of an arrow, whilst the European boar has a simple
+tuft; and it is a curious fact that many, but not all, of the feral pigs in
+Jamaica, derived from a Spanish stock, have a plumed tail.[172] With
+respect to colour, feral pigs generally revert to that of the wild boar;
+but in certain parts of S. America, as we have seen, some of the semi-feral
+pigs have a curious white band across their stomachs; and in certain other
+hot places the pigs are red, and this colour has likewise occasionally been
+observed in the feral pigs of Jamaica. From these several facts we see that
+with pigs when feral there is a strong tendency to revert to the wild type;
+but that this tendency is largely governed by the nature of the climate,
+amount of exercise, and other causes of change to which they have been
+subjected.
+
+The last point worth notice is that we have unusually good evidence of
+breeds of pigs now keeping perfectly true, which have been formed by the
+crossing of several distinct breeds. The Improved Essex pigs, for instance,
+breed very true; but there is no doubt that they largely owe their present
+excellent qualities to crosses originally made by Lord Western with the
+Neapolitan race, and to subsequent crosses with the Berkshire breed (this
+also having been improved by Neapolitan crosses), and likewise, probably,
+with the Sussex breed.[173] In breeds thus formed by complex crosses, the
+most careful and unremitting selection during many generations has been
+found to be indispensable. Chiefly in consequence of so much crossing, some
+well-known breeds have undergone rapid changes; thus, according to
+Nathusius,[174] the Berkshire breed of 1780 is quite {79} different from
+that of 1810; and, since this latter period, at least two distinct forms
+have borne the same name.
+
+CATTLE.
+
+Domestic cattle are almost certainly the descendants of more than one wild
+form, in the same manner as has been shown to be the case with our dogs and
+pigs. Naturalists have generally made two main divisions of cattle: the
+humped kinds inhabiting tropical countries, called in India Zebus, to which
+the specific name of _Bos Indicus_ has been given; and the common
+non-humped cattle, generally included under the name of _Bos taurus._ The
+humped cattle were domesticated, as may be seen on the Egyptian monuments,
+at least as early as the twelfth dynasty, that is 2100 B.C. They differ
+from common cattle in various osteological characters, even in a greater
+degree, according to Ruetimeyer,[175] than do the fossil species of Europe,
+namely _Bos primigenius, longifrons_, and _frontosus_, from each other.
+They differ, also, as Mr. Blyth,[176] who has particularly attended to this
+subject, remarks, in general configuration, in the shape of their ears, in
+the point where the dewlap commences, in the typical curvature of their
+horns, in their manner of carrying their heads when at rest, in their
+ordinary variations of colour, especially in the frequent presence of
+"nilgau-like markings on their feet," and "in the one being born with teeth
+protruding through the jaws, and the other not so." They have different
+habits, and their voice is entirely different. The humped cattle in India
+"seldom seek shade, and never go into the water and there stand knee-deep,
+like the cattle of Europe." They have run wild in parts of Oude and
+Rohilcund, and can maintain themselves in a region infested by tigers. They
+have given rise to many races differing greatly in size, in the presence
+{80} of one or two humps, in length of horns, and other respects. Mr. Blyth
+sums up emphatically that the humped and humpless cattle must be considered
+as distinct species. When we consider the number of points in external
+structure and habits, independently of their important osteological
+differences, in which they differ from each other; and that many of these
+points are not likely to have been affected by domestication, there can
+hardly be a doubt, notwithstanding the adverse opinion of some naturalists,
+that the humped and non-humped cattle must be ranked as specifically
+distinct.
+
+The European breeds of humpless cattle are numerous. Professor Low
+enumerates 19 British breeds, only a few of which are identical with those
+on the Continent. Even the small Channel islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and
+Alderney, possess their own sub-breeds;[177] and these again differ from
+the cattle of the other British islands, such as Anglesea, and the western
+isles of Scotland. Desmarest, who paid attention to the subject, describes
+15 French races, excluding sub-varieties and those imported from other
+countries. In other parts of Europe there are several distinct races, such
+as the pale-coloured Hungarian cattle, with their light and free step, and
+their enormous horns sometimes measuring above five feet from tip to
+tip:[178] the Podolian cattle are remarkable from the height of their
+fore-quarters. In the most recent work on Cattle,[179] engravings are given
+of fifty-five European breeds; it is, however, probable that several of
+these differ very little from each other, or are merely synonyms. It must
+not be supposed that numerous breeds of cattle exist only in long-civilized
+countries, for we shall presently see that several kinds are kept by the
+savages of Southern Africa.
+
+    With respect to the parentage of the several European breeds, we
+    already know much from Nilsson's Memoir,[180] and more especially from
+    Ruetimeyer's 'Pfahlbauten' and succeeding works. Two or three species or
+    forms of {81} Bos, closely allied to still living domestic races, have
+    been found fossil in the more recent tertiary deposits of Europe.
+    Following Ruetimeyer, we have:--
+
+    _Bos primigenius._--This magnificent, well-known species was
+    domesticated in Switzerland during the Neolithic period; even at this
+    early period it varied a little, having apparently been crossed with
+    other races. Some of the larger races on the Continent, as the
+    Friesland, &c., and the Pembroke race in England, closely resemble in
+    essential structure _B. primigenius_, and no doubt are its descendants.
+    This is likewise the opinion of Nilsson. _Bos primigenius_ existed as a
+    wild animal in Caesar's time, and is now semi-wild, though much
+    degenerated in size, in the park of Chillingham; for I am informed by
+    Professor Ruetimeyer, to whom Lord Tankerville sent a skull, that the
+    Chillingham cattle are less altered from the true primigenius type than
+    any other known breed.[181]
+
+    _Bos trochoceros._--This form is not included in the three species
+    above mentioned, for it is now considered by Ruetimeyer to be the female
+    of an early domesticated form of _B. primigenius_, and as the
+    progenitor of his _frontosus_ race. I may add that specific names have
+    been given to four other fossil oxen, now believed to be identical with
+    _B. primigenius_.[182]
+
+    _Bos longifrons_ (or _brachyceros_) of Owen.--This very distinct
+    species was of small size, and had a short body with fine legs. It has
+    been found in England associated with the remains of the elephant and
+    rhinoceros.[183] It was the commonest form in a domesticated condition
+    in Switzerland during the earliest part of the Neolithic period. It was
+    domesticated in England during the Roman period, and supplied food to
+    the Roman legionaries.[184] Some remains have been found in Ireland in
+    certain crannoges, of which the dates are believed to be from 843-933
+    A.D.[185] Professor Owen[186] thinks it probable that the Welsh and
+    Highland cattle are descended from this form; as likewise is the case,
+    according to Ruetimeyer, with some of the existing Swiss breeds. These
+    latter are of different shades of colour from light-grey to
+    blackish-brown, with a lighter stripe along the spine, but they have no
+    pure white marks. The cattle of North Wales and the Highlands, on the
+    other hand, are generally black or dark-coloured.
+
+    _Bos frontosus_ of Nilsson.--This species is allied to _B. longifrons_,
+    but in the opinion of some good judges is distinct from it. Both
+    co-existed in Scania during the same late geological period,[187] and
+    both have been found in the Irish crannoges.[188] Nilsson believes that
+    his _B. frontosus_ may be the {82} parent of the mountain cattle of
+    Norway, which have a high protuberance on the skull between the base of
+    the horns. As Professor Owen believes that the Scotch Highland cattle
+    are descended from his _B. longifrons_, it is worth notice that a
+    capable judge[189] has remarked that he saw no cattle in Norway like
+    the Highland breed, but that they more nearly resembled the Devonshire
+    breed.
+
+Hence we see that three forms or species of Bos, originally inhabitants of
+Europe, have been domesticated; but there is no improbability in this fact,
+for the genus Bos readily yields to domestication. Besides these three
+species and the zebu, the yak, the gayal, and the arni[190] (not to mention
+the buffalo or genus Bubalus) have been domesticated; making altogether
+seven species of Bos. The zebu and the three European species are now
+extinct in a wild state, for the cattle of the _B. primigenius_ type in the
+British parks can hardly be considered as truly wild. Although certain
+races of cattle, domesticated at a very ancient period in Europe, are the
+descendants of the three above-named fossil species, yet it does not follow
+that they were here first domesticated. Those who place much reliance on
+philology argue that our cattle were imported from the East.[191] But as
+races of men invading any country would probably give their own names to
+the breeds of cattle which they might there find domesticated, the argument
+seems inconclusive. There is indirect evidence that our cattle are the
+descendants of species which originally inhabited a temperate or cold
+climate, but not a land long covered with snow; for our cattle, as we have
+seen in the chapter on Horses, apparently have not the instinct of scraping
+away the snow to get at the herbage beneath. No one could behold the
+magnificent wild bulls on the bleak Falkland Islands in the southern
+hemisphere, and doubt about the climate being admirably suited to them.
+Azara has remarked that in the temperate regions of La Plata the cows
+conceive when two years old, whilst in the much hotter country of Paraguay
+they do not conceive till three years old; "from which fact," as he adds,
+"one may conclude that cattle do not succeed so well in warm
+countries."[192]
+
+The above-named three fossil forms of Bos have been ranked {83} by nearly
+all palaeontologists as distinct species; and it would not be reasonable to
+change their denomination simply because they are now found to be the
+parents of several domesticated races. But what is of most importance for
+us, as showing that they deserve to be ranked as species, is that they
+co-existed in different parts of Europe during the same period, and yet
+kept distinct. Their domesticated descendants, on the other hand, if not
+separated, cross with the utmost freedom and become commingled. The several
+European breeds have so often been crossed, both intentionally and
+unintentionally, that, if any sterility ensued from such unions, it would
+certainly have been detected. As zebus inhabit a distant and much hotter
+region, and as they differ in so many characters from our European cattle,
+I have taken pains to ascertain whether the two forms are fertile when
+crossed. The late Lord Powis imported some zebus and crossed them with
+common cattle in Shropshire; and I was assured by his steward that the
+cross-bred animals were perfectly fertile with both parent-stocks. Mr.
+Blyth informs me that in India hybrids, with various proportions of either
+blood, are quite fertile; and this can hardly fail to be known, for in some
+districts[193] the two species are allowed to breed freely together. Most
+of the cattle which were first introduced into Tasmania were humped, so
+that at one time thousands of crossed animals existed there; and Mr. B.
+O'Neile Wilson, M.A., writes to me from Tasmania that he has never heard of
+any sterility having been observed. He himself formerly possessed a herd of
+such crossed cattle, and all were perfectly fertile; so much so, that he
+cannot remember even a single cow failing to calve. These several facts
+afford an important confirmation of the Pallasian doctrine that the
+descendants of species which when first domesticated would if crossed
+probably have been in some degree sterile, become perfectly fertile after a
+long course of domestication. In a future chapter we shall see that this
+doctrine throws much light on the difficult subject of Hybridism.
+
+I have alluded to the cattle in Chillingham Park, which, according to
+Ruetimeyer, have been very little changed from the _Bos primigenius_ type.
+This park is so ancient that it is {84} referred to in a record of the year
+1220. The cattle in their instincts and habits are truly wild. They are
+white, with the inside of the ears reddish-brown, eyes rimmed with black,
+muzzles brown, hoofs black, and horns white tipped with black. Within a
+period of thirty-three years about a dozen calves were born with "brown and
+blue spots upon the cheeks or necks; but these, together with any defective
+animals, were always destroyed." According to Bewick, about the year 1770
+some calves appeared with black ears; but these were also destroyed by the
+keeper, and black ears have not since reappeared. The wild white cattle in
+the Duke of Hamilton's park, where I have heard of the birth of a black
+calf, are said by Lord Tankerville to be inferior to those at Chillingham.
+The cattle kept until the year 1780 by the Duke of Queensberry, but now
+extinct, had their ears, muzzle, and orbits of the eyes black. Those which
+have existed from time immemorial at Chartley; closely resemble the cattle
+at Chillingham, but are larger, "with some small difference in the colour
+of the ears." "They frequently tend to become entirely black; and a
+singular superstition prevails in the vicinity that, when a black calf is
+born, some calamity impends over the noble house of Ferrers. All the black
+calves are destroyed." The cattle at Burton Constable in Yorkshire, now
+extinct, had ears, muzzle, and the tip of the tail black. Those at
+Gisburne, also in Yorkshire, are said by Bewick to have been sometimes
+without dark muzzles, with the inside alone of the ears brown; and they are
+elsewhere said to have been low in stature and hornless.[194]
+
+The several above-specified differences in the park-cattle, slight though
+they be, are worth recording, as they show that animals living nearly in a
+state of nature, and exposed to nearly uniform conditions, if not allowed
+to roam freely and to cross with other herds, do not keep as uniform as
+truly {85} wild animals. For the preservation of a uniform character, even
+within the same park, a certain degree of selection--that is, the
+destruction of the dark-coloured calves--is apparently necessary.
+
+The cattle in all the parks are white; but, from the occasional appearance
+of dark-coloured calves, it is extremely doubtful whether the aboriginal
+_Bos primigenius_ was white. The following facts, however, show that there
+is a strong, though not invariable, tendency in wild or escaped cattle,
+under widely different conditions of life, to become white with coloured
+ears. If the old writers Boethius and Leslie[195] can be trusted, the wild
+cattle of Scotland were white and furnished with a great mane; but the
+colour of their ears is not mentioned. The primaeval forest formerly
+extended across the whole country from Chillingham to Hamilton, and Sir
+Walter Scott used to maintain that the cattle still preserved in these two
+parks, at the two extremities of the forest, were remnants of its original
+inhabitants; and this view certainly seems probable. In Wales,[196] during
+the tenth century, some of the cattle are described as being white with red
+ears. Four hundred cattle thus coloured were sent to King John; and an
+early record speaks of a hundred cattle with red ears having been demanded
+as a compensation for some offence, but, if the cattle were of a dark or
+black colour, one hundred and fifty were to be presented. The black cattle
+of North Wales apparently belong, as we have seen, to the small
+_longifrons_ type: and as the alternative was offered of either 150 dark
+cattle, or 100 white cattle with red ears, we may presume that the latter
+were the larger beasts, and probably belonged to the _primigenius_ type.
+Youatt has remarked that at the present day, whenever cattle of the
+short-horn breed are white, the extremities of their ears are more or less
+tinged with red.
+
+The cattle which have run wild on the Pampas, in Texas, and in two parts of
+Africa, have become of a nearly uniform dark {86} brownish-red.[197] On the
+Ladrone Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, immense herds of cattle, which were
+wild in the year 1741, are described as "milk-white, except their ears,
+which are generally black."[198] The Falkland Islands, situated far south,
+with all the conditions of life as different as it is possible to conceive
+from those of the Ladrones, offer a more interesting case. Cattle have run
+wild there during eighty or ninety years; and in the southern districts the
+animals are mostly white, with their feet, or whole heads, or only their
+ears black; but my informant, Admiral Sulivan,[199] who long resided on
+these islands, does not believe that they are ever purely white. So that in
+these two archipelagos we see that the cattle tend to become white with
+coloured ears. In other parts of the Falkland Islands, other colours
+prevail: near Port Pleasant brown is the common tint; round Mount Usborne,
+about half the animals in some of the herds were lead or mouse-coloured,
+which elsewhere is an unusual tint. These latter cattle, though generally
+inhabiting high land, breed about a month earlier than the other cattle;
+and this circumstance would aid in keeping them distinct and in
+perpetuating this peculiar colour. It is worth recalling to mind that blue
+or lead-coloured marks have occasionally appeared on the white cattle of
+Chillingham. So plainly different were the colours of the wild herds in
+different parts of the Falkland Islands, that in hunting them, as Admiral
+Sulivan informs me, white spots in one district, and dark spots in another
+district, were always looked out for on the distant hills. In the
+intermediate districts intermediate colours prevailed. Whatever the cause
+may be, this tendency in the wild cattle of the Falkland Islands, which are
+all descended from a few brought from La Plata, to break up into herds of
+three different colours, is an interesting fact.
+
+Returning to the several British breeds, the conspicuous difference in
+general appearance between Short-horns, Long-horns (now rarely seen),
+Herefords, Highland cattle, Alderneys, &c., must be familiar to every one.
+A large part of the {87} difference, no doubt, may be due to descent from
+primordially distinct species; but we may feel sure that there has been in
+addition a considerable amount of variation. Even during the Neolithic
+period, the domestic cattle were not actually identical with the aboriginal
+species. Within recent times most of the breeds have been modified by
+careful and methodical selection. How strongly the characters thus acquired
+are inherited, may be inferred from the prices realised by the improved
+breeds; even at the first sale of Colling's Short-horns, eleven bulls
+reached an average of 214l., and lately Short-horn bulls have been sold for
+a thousand guineas, and have been exported to all quarters of the world.
+
+Some constitutional differences may be here noticed. The Short-horns arrive
+at maturity far earlier than the wilder breeds, such as those of Wales or
+the Highlands. This fact has been shown in an interesting manner by Mr.
+Simonds,[200] who has given a table of the average period of their
+dentition, which proves that there is a difference of no less than six
+months in the appearance of the permanent incisors. The period of
+gestation, from observations made by Tessier on 1131 cows, varies to the
+extent of eighty-one days; and what is more interesting, M. Lefour affirms
+"that the period of gestation is longer in the large German cattle than in
+the smaller breeds."[201] With respect to the period of conception, it
+seems certain that Alderney and Zetland cows often become pregnant earlier
+than other breeds.[202] Lastly, as four fully-developed mammae is a generic
+character in the genus Bos,[203] it is worth notice that with our domestic
+cows the two rudimentary mammae often become fairly well developed and yield
+milk.
+
+As numerous breeds are generally found only in long-civilized countries, it
+may be well to show that in some countries inhabited by barbarous races,
+who are frequently at war with each other and therefore have little free
+{88} communication, several distinct breeds of cattle now exist or formerly
+existed. At the Cape of Good Hope Leguat observed, in the year 1720, three
+kinds.[204] At the present day various travellers have noticed the
+differences in the breeds in Southern Africa. Sir Andrew Smith several
+years ago remarked to me that the cattle possessed by the different tribes
+of Caffres, though living near each other under the same latitude and in
+the same kind of country, yet differed, and he expressed much surprise at
+the fact. Mr. Andersson has described[205] the Damara, Bechuana, and
+Namaqua cattle; and he informs me in a letter that the cattle north of Lake
+Ngami are likewise different, as Mr. Galton has heard is the case with the
+cattle of Benguela. The Namaqua cattle in size and shape nearly resemble
+European cattle, and have short stout horns and large hoofs. The Damara
+cattle are very peculiar, being big-boned, with slender legs and small hard
+feet; their tails are adorned with a tuft of long bushy hair nearly
+touching the ground, and their horns are extraordinarily large. The
+Bechuana cattle have even larger horns, and there is now a skull in London
+with the two horns 8 ft. 81/4 in. long, as measured in a straight line from
+tip to tip, and no less than 13ft. 5in. as measured along their curvature!
+Mr. Andersson in his letter to me says that, though he will not venture to
+describe the differences between the breeds belonging to the many different
+sub-tribes, yet such certainly exist, as shown by the wonderful facility
+with which the natives discriminate them.
+
+That many breeds of cattle have originated through variation, independently
+of descent from distinct species, we may infer from what we see in South
+America, where the genus Bos was not endemic, and where the cattle which
+now exist in such vast numbers are the descendants of a few imported from
+Spain and Portugal. In Columbia, Roulin[206] describes two peculiar breeds,
+namely, _pelones_, with extremely thin and fine hair, and _calongos_,
+absolutely naked. According to Castelnau there are two races in Brazil, one
+like European cattle, the other different, with {89} remarkable horns. In
+Paraguay, Azara describes a breed which certainly originated in S. America,
+called _chivos_, "because they have straight vertical horns, conical, and
+very large at the base." He likewise describes a dwarf race in Corrientes,
+with short legs and a body larger than usual. Cattle without horns, and
+others with reversed hair, have also originated in Paraguay.
+
+Another monstrous breed, called niatas or natas, of which I saw two small
+herds on the northern bank of the Plata, is so remarkable as to deserve a
+fuller description. This breed bears the same relation to other breeds, as
+bull or pug dogs do to other dogs, or as improved pigs, according to H. von
+Nathusius, do to common pigs.[207] Ruetimeyer believes that these cattle
+belong to the primigenius type.[208] The forehead is very short and broad,
+with the nasal end of the skull, together with the whole plane of the upper
+molar-teeth, curved upwards. The lower jaw projects beyond the upper, and
+has a corresponding upward curvature. It is an interesting fact that an
+almost similar conformation characterizes, as I have been informed by Dr.
+Falconer, the extinct and gigantic Sivatherium of India, and is not known
+in any other ruminant. The upper lip is much drawn back, the nostrils are
+seated high up and are widely open, the eyes project outwards, and the
+horns are large. In walking the head is carried low, and the neck is short.
+The hind legs appear to be longer, compared with the front legs, than is
+usual. The exposed incisor teeth, the short head and upturned nostrils,
+give these cattle the most ludicrous, self-confident air of defiance. The
+skull which I presented to the College of Surgeons has been thus described
+by Professor Owen:[209] "It is remarkable from the stunted development of
+the nasals, premaxillaries, and fore-part of the lower jaw, which is
+unusually {90} curved upwards to come into contact with the premaxillaries.
+The nasal bones are about one-third the ordinary length, but retain almost
+their normal breadth. The triangular vacuity is left between them, the
+frontal and lachrymal, which latter bone articulates with the premaxillary,
+and thus excludes the maxillary from any junction with the nasal." So that
+even the connexion of some of the bones is changed. Other differences might
+be added: thus the plane of the condyles is somewhat modified, and the
+terminal edge of the premaxillaries forms an arch. In fact, on comparison
+with the skull of a common ox, scarcely a single bone presents the same
+exact shape, and the whole skull has a wonderfully different appearance.
+
+The first brief published notice of this race was by Azara, between the
+years 1783-96; but Don F. Muniz, of Luxan, who has kindly collected
+information for me, states that about 1760 these cattle were kept as
+curiosities near Buenos Ayres. Their origin is not positively known, but
+they must have originated subsequently to the year 1552, when cattle were
+first introduced. Signor Muniz informs me that the breed is believed to
+have originated with the Indians southward of the Plata. Even to this day
+those reared near the Plata show their less civilized nature in being
+fiercer than common cattle, and in the cow, if visited too often, easily
+deserting her first calf. The breed is very true, and a niata bull and cow
+invariably produce niata calves. The breed has already lasted at least a
+century. A niata bull crossed with a common cow, and the reverse cross,
+yield offspring having an intermediate character, but with the niata
+character strongly displayed. According to Signor Muniz, there is the
+clearest evidence, contrary to the common belief of agriculturists in
+analogous cases, that the niata cow when crossed with a common bull
+transmits her peculiarities more strongly than does the niata bull when
+crossed with a common cow. When the pasture is tolerably long, these cattle
+feed as well as common cattle with their tongue and palate; but during the
+great droughts, when so many animals perish on the Pampas, the niata breed
+lies under a great disadvantage, and would, if not attended to, become
+extinct; for the common cattle, like horses, are able just to keep alive by
+browsing on the twigs of trees and on reeds with their lips: this the
+niatas cannot so {91} well do, as their lips do not join, and hence they
+are found to perish before the common cattle. This strikes me as a good
+illustration of how little we are able to judge from the ordinary habits of
+an animal, on what circumstances, occurring only at long intervals of time,
+its rarity or extinction may depend. It shows us, also, how natural
+selection would have determined the rejection of the niata modification had
+it arisen in a state of nature.
+
+Having described the semi-monstrous niata breed, I may allude to a white
+bull, said to have been brought from Africa, which was exhibited in London
+in 1829, and which has been well figured by Mr. Harvey.[210] It had a hump,
+and was furnished with a mane. The dewlap was peculiar, being divided
+between its fore-legs into parallel divisions. Its lateral hoofs were
+annually shed, and grew to the length of five or six inches. The eye was
+very peculiar, being remarkably prominent, and "resembled a cup and ball,
+thus enabling the animal to see on all sides with equal ease; the pupil was
+small and oval, or rather a parallelogram with the ends cut off, and lying
+transversely across the ball," A new and strange breed might probably have
+been formed by careful breeding and selection from this animal.
+
+I have often speculated on the probable causes through which each separate
+district in Great Britain came to possess in former times its own peculiar
+breed of cattle; and the question is, perhaps, even more perplexing in the
+case of Southern Africa. We now know that the differences may be in part
+attributed to descent from distinct species; but this will not suffice.
+Have the slight differences in climate and in the nature of the pasture, in
+the different districts of Britain, directly induced corresponding
+differences in the cattle? We have seen that the semi-wild cattle in the
+several British parks are not identical in colouring or size, and that some
+degree of selection has been requisite to keep them true. It is almost
+certain that abundant food given during many generations directly affects
+the size of a breed.[211] That climate directly affects the thickness of
+the {92} skin and the hair is likewise certain: thus Roulin asserts[212]
+that the hides of the feral cattle on the hot Llanos "are always much less
+heavy than those of the cattle raised on the high platform of Bogota; and
+that these hides yield in weight and in thickness of hair to those of the
+cattle which have run wild on the lofty Paramos." The same difference has
+been observed in the hides of the cattle reared on the bleak Falkland
+Islands and on the temperate Pampas. Low has remarked[213] that the cattle
+which inhabit the more humid parts of Britain have longer hair and thicker
+skins than other British cattle; and the hair and horns are so closely
+related to each other, that, as we shall see in a future chapter, they are
+apt to vary together; thus climate might indirectly affect, through the
+skin, the form and size of the horns. When we compare highly improved
+stall-fed cattle with the wilder breeds, or compare mountain and lowland
+breeds, we cannot doubt that an active life, leading to the free use of the
+limbs and lungs, affects the shape and proportions of the whole body. It is
+probable that some breeds, such as the semi-monstrous niata cattle, and
+some peculiarities, such as being hornless, &c., have appeared suddenly
+from what we may call a spontaneous variation; but even in this case a rude
+kind of selection is necessary, and the animals thus characterized must be
+at least partially separated from others. This degree of care, however, has
+sometimes been taken even in little-civilized districts, where we should
+least have expected it, as in the case of the niata, chivo, and hornless
+cattle in S. America.
+
+That methodical selection has done wonders within a recent period in
+modifying our cattle, no one doubts. During the process of methodical
+selection it has occasionally happened that deviations of structure, more
+strongly pronounced than mere individual differences, yet by no means
+deserving to be called monstrosities, have been taken advantage of: thus
+the famous Long-horn Bull, Shakespeare, though of the pure Canley stock,
+"scarcely inherited a single point of the long-horned breed, his horns
+excepted;[214] yet in the hands of Mr. Fowler, {93} this bull greatly
+improved his race. We have also reason to believe that selection, carried
+on so far unconsciously that there was at no one time any distinct
+intention to improve or change the breed, has in the course of time
+modified most of our cattle; for by this process, aided by more abundant
+food, all the lowland British breeds have increased greatly in size and in
+early maturity since the reign of Henry VII.[215] It should never be
+forgotten that many animals have to be annually slaughtered; so that each
+owner must determine which shall be killed and which preserved for
+breeding. In every district, as Youatt has remarked, there is a prejudice
+in favour of the native breed; so that animals possessing qualities,
+whatever they may be, which are most valued in each district, will be
+oftenest preserved; and this unmethodical selection assuredly will in the
+long run affect the character of the whole breed. But it may be asked, can
+this rude kind of selection have been practised by barbarians such as those
+of southern Africa? In a future chapter on Selection we shall see that this
+has certainly occurred to some extent. Therefore, looking to the origin of
+the many breeds of cattle which formerly inhabited the several districts of
+Britain, I conclude that, although slight differences in the nature of the
+climate, food, &c., as well as changed habits of life, aided by correlation
+of growth, and the occasional appearance from unknown causes of
+considerable deviations of structure, have all probably played their parts;
+yet that the occasional preservation in each district of those individual
+animals which were most valued by each owner has perhaps been even more
+effective in the production of the several British breeds. As soon as two
+or more breeds had once been formed in any district, or when new breeds
+descended from distinct species were introduced, their crossing, especially
+if aided by some selection, will have multiplied the number and modified
+the characters of the older breeds.
+
+SHEEP.
+
+I shall treat this subject briefly. Most authors look at our domestic sheep
+as descended from several distinct species; but how many still exist is
+doubtful. Mr. Blyth believes that there {94} are in the whole world
+fourteen species, one of which, the Corsican moufflon, he concludes (as I
+am informed by him) to be the parent of the smaller, short-tailed breeds,
+with crescent-shaped horns, such as the old Highland sheep. The larger,
+long-tailed breeds, having horns with a double flexure, such as the
+Dorsets, merinos, &c., he believes to be descended from an unknown and
+extinct species. M. Gervais makes six species of Ovis;[216] but concludes
+that our domestic sheep form a distinct genus, now completely extinct. A
+German naturalist[217] believes that our sheep descend from ten
+aboriginally distinct species, of which only one is still living in a wild
+state! Another ingenious observer,[218] though not a naturalist, with a
+bold defiance of everything known on geographical distribution, infers that
+the sheep of Great Britain alone are the descendants of eleven endemic
+British forms! Under such a hopeless state of doubt it would be useless for
+my purpose to give a detailed account of the several breeds; but a few
+remarks may be added.
+
+Sheep have been domesticated from a very ancient period. Ruetimeyer[219]
+found in the Swiss lake-dwellings the remains of a small breed, with thin
+and tall legs, and with horns like those of a goat: this race differs
+somewhat from any one now known. Almost every country has its own peculiar
+breed; and many countries have many breeds differing greatly from each
+other. One of the most strongly marked races is an Eastern one with a long
+tail, including, according to Pallas, twenty vertebrae, and so loaded with
+fat, that, from being esteemed a delicacy, it is sometimes placed on a
+truck which is dragged about by the living animal. These sheep, though
+ranked by Fitzinger as a distinct aboriginal form, seem to bear in their
+drooping ears the stamp of long domestication. This is likewise the case
+with those sheep which have two great masses of fat on the rump, with the
+tail in a rudimentary condition. The Angola variety of {95} the long-tailed
+race has curious masses of fat on the back of the head and beneath the
+jaws.[220] Mr. Hodgson in an admirable paper[221] on the sheep of the
+Himalaya infers from the distribution of the several races, "that this
+caudal augmentation in most of its phases is an instance of degeneracy in
+these pre-eminently Alpine animals." The horns present an endless diversity
+in character; being, especially in the female sex, not rarely absent, or,
+on the other hand, amounting to four or even eight in number. The horns,
+when numerous, arise from a crest on the frontal bone, which is elevated in
+a peculiar manner. It is remarkable that multiplicity of horns "is
+generally accompanied by great length and coarseness of the fleece."[222]
+This correlation, however, is not invariable; for I am informed by Mr. D.
+Forbes, that the Spanish sheep in Chile resemble, in fleece and in all
+other characters, their parent merino-race, except that instead of a pair
+they generally bear four horns. The existence of a pair of mammae is a
+generic character in the genus Ovis as well as in several allied forms;
+nevertheless, as Mr. Hodgson has remarked, "this character is not
+absolutely constant even among the true and proper sheep: for I have more
+than once met with Cagias (a sub-Himalayan domestic race) possessed of four
+teats."[223] This case is the more remarkable as, when any part or organ is
+present in reduced number in comparison with the same part in allied
+groups, it usually is subject to little variation. The presence of
+interdigital pits has likewise been considered as a generic distinction in
+sheep; but Isidore Geoffroy[224] has shown that these pits or pouches are
+absent in some breeds.
+
+In sheep there is a strong tendency for characters, which have apparently
+been acquired under domestication, to become attached either exclusively to
+the male sex, or to be more highly developed in this than in the other sex.
+Thus in many breeds the horns are deficient in the ewe, though this
+likewise occurs occasionally with the female of the wild musmon. In the
+rams of the Wallachian breed "the horns spring almost perpendicularly {96}
+from the frontal bone, and then take a beautiful spiral form; in the ewes
+they protrude nearly at right angles from the head, and then become twisted
+in a singular manner."[225] Mr. Hodgson states that the extraordinarily
+arched nose or chaffron, which is so highly developed in several foreign
+breeds, is characteristic of the ram alone, and apparently is the result of
+domestication.[226] I hear from Mr. Blyth that the accumulation of fat in
+the fat-tailed sheep of the plains of India is greater in the male than in
+the female; and Fitzinger[227] remarks that the mane in the African maned
+race is far more developed in the ram than in the ewe.
+
+Different races of sheep, like cattle, present constitutional differences.
+Thus the improved breeds arrive at maturity at an early age, as has been
+well shown by Mr. Simonds through their early average period of dentition.
+The several races have become adapted to different kinds of pasture and
+climate: for instance, no one can rear Leicester sheep on mountainous
+regions, where Cheviots flourish. As Youatt has remarked, "in all the
+different districts of Great Britain we find various breeds of sheep
+beautifully adapted to the locality which they occupy. No one knows their
+origin; they are indigenous to the soil, climate, pasturage, and the
+locality on which they graze; they seem to have been formed for it and by
+it."[228] Marshall relates[229] that a flock of heavy Lincolnshire and
+light Norfolk sheep which had been bred together in a large sheep-walk,
+part of which was low, rich, and moist, and another part high and dry, with
+benty grass, when turned out, regularly separated from each other; the
+heavy sheep drawing off to the rich soil, and the lighter sheep to their
+own soil; so that "whilst there was plenty of grass the two breeds kept
+themselves as distinct as rooks and pigeons." Numerous sheep from various
+parts of the world have been brought during a long course of years to the
+Zoological Gardens of London; but as Youatt, who attended the animals as a
+{97} veterinary surgeon, remarks, "few or none die of the rot, but they are
+phthisical; not one of them from a torrid climate lasts out the second
+year, and when they die their lungs are tuberculated."[230] Even in certain
+parts of England it has been found impossible to keep certain breeds of
+sheep; thus on a farm on the banks of the Ouse, the Leicester sheep were so
+rapidly destroyed by pleuritis[231] that the owner could not keep them; the
+coarser-skinned sheep never being affected.
+
+The period of gestation was formerly thought to be so unalterable a
+character, that a supposed difference between the wolf and the dog in this
+respect was esteemed a sure sign of specific distinction; but we have seen
+that the period is shorter in the improved breeds of the pig, and in the
+larger breeds of the ox, than in other breeds of these two animals. And now
+we know, on the excellent authority of Hermann von Nathusius,[232] that
+Merino and Southdown sheep, when both have long been kept under exactly the
+same conditions, differ in their average period of gestation, as is seen in
+the following Table:--
+
+  Merinos                            150.3 days.
+  Southdowns                         144.2  "
+  Half-bred Merinos and Southdowns   146.3  "
+  3/4 blood of Southdown             145.5  "
+  7/8         "      "               144.2  "
+
+In this graduated difference, in these cross-bred animals having different
+proportions of Southdown blood, we see how strictly the two periods of
+gestation have been transmitted. Nathusius remarks that, as Southdowns grow
+with remarkable rapidity after birth, it is not surprising that their
+foetal development should have been shortened. It is of course possible
+that the difference in these two breeds may be due to their descent from
+distinct parent-species; but as the early maturity of the Southdowns has
+long been carefully attended to by breeders, the difference is more
+probably the result of such attention. Lastly, the fecundity of the several
+breeds differs much; some generally producing twins or even triplets at a
+birth, of which fact the curious Shangai sheep (with their truncated and
+rudimentary {98} ears, and great Roman noses), lately exhibited in the
+Zoological Gardens, offer a remarkable instance.
+
+Sheep are perhaps more readily affected by the direct action of the
+conditions of life to which they have been exposed than almost any other
+domestic animal. According to Pallas, and more recently according to Erman,
+the fat-tailed Kirghisian sheep, when bred for a few generations in Russia,
+degenerate, and the mass of fat dwindles away, "the scanty and bitter
+herbage of the steppes seems so essential to their development." Pallas
+makes an analogous statement with respect to one of the Crimean breeds.
+Burnes states that the Karakool breed, which produces a fine, curled,
+black, and valuable fleece, when removed from its own canton near Bokhara
+to Persia or to other quarters, loses its peculiar fleece.[233] In all such
+cases, however, it may be that a change of any kind in the conditions of
+life causes variability and consequent loss of character, and not that
+certain conditions are necessary for the development of certain characters.
+
+Great heat, however, seems to act directly on the fleece: several accounts
+have been published of the change which sheep imported from Europe undergo
+in the West Indies. Dr. Nicholson of Antigua informs me that, after the
+third generation, the wool disappears from the whole body, except over the
+loins; and the animal then appears like a goat with a dirty door-mat on its
+back. A similar change is said to take place on the west coast of
+Africa.[234] On the other hand, many wool-bearing sheep live on the hot
+plains of India. Roulin asserts that in the lower and heated valleys of the
+Cordillera, if the lambs are sheared as soon as the wool has grown to a
+certain thickness, all goes on afterwards as usual; but if not sheared, the
+wool detaches itself in flakes, and short shining hair like that {99} on a
+goat is produced ever afterwards. This curious result seems merely to be an
+exaggerated tendency natural to the Merino breed, for as a great authority,
+namely, Lord Somerville, remarks, "the wool of our Merino sheep after
+shear-time is hard and coarse to such a degree as to render it almost
+impossible to suppose that the same animal could bear wool so opposite in
+quality, compared to that which has been clipped from it: as the cold
+weather advances, the fleeces recover their soft quality." As in sheep of
+all breeds the fleece naturally consists of longer and coarser hair
+covering shorter and softer wool, the change which it often undergoes in
+hot climates is probably merely a case of unequal development; for even
+with those sheep which like goats are covered with hair, a small quantity
+of underlying wool may always be found.[235] In the wild mountain-sheep
+(_Ovis montana_) of North America there is an annual analogous change of
+coat; "the wool begins to drop out in early spring, leaving in its place a
+coat of hair resembling that of the elk, a change of pelage quite different
+in character from the ordinary thickening of the coat or hair, common to
+all furred animals in winter,--for instance, in the horse, the cow, &c.,
+which shed their winter coat in the spring."[236]
+
+A slight difference in climate or pasture sometimes slightly affects the
+fleece, as has been observed even in different districts in England, and as
+is well shown by the great softness of the wool brought from Southern
+Australia. But it should be observed, as Youatt repeatedly insists, that
+the tendency to change may generally be counteracted by careful selection.
+M. Lasterye, after discussing this subject, sums up as follows: "The
+preservation of the Merino race in its utmost purity at the Cape of Good
+Hope, in the marshes of Holland, and under the rigorous climate of Sweden,
+furnishes an additional support of this my unalterable principle, that
+fine-woolled sheep may be kept wherever industrious men and intelligent
+breeders exist."
+
+That methodical selection has effected great changes in several {100}
+breeds of sheep no one, who knows anything on the subject, entertains a
+doubt. The case of the Southdowns, as improved by Ellman, offers perhaps
+the most striking instance. Unconscious or occasional selection has
+likewise slowly produced a great effect, as we shall see in the chapters on
+Selection. That crossing has largely modified some breeds, no one who will
+study what has been written on this subject--for instance, Mr. Spooner's
+paper--will dispute; but to produce uniformity, in a crossed breed, careful
+selection and "rigorous weeding," as this author expresses it, are
+indispensable.[237]
+
+In some few instances new breeds have suddenly originated; thus, in 1791, a
+ram-lamb was born in Massachusetts, having short crooked legs and a long
+back, like a turnspit-dog. From this one lamb the _otter_ or _ancon_
+semi-monstrous breed was raised; as these sheep could not leap over the
+fences, it was thought that they would be valuable; but they have been
+supplanted by merinos, and thus exterminated. These sheep are remarkable
+from transmitting their character so truly that Colonel Humphreys[238]
+never heard of "but one questionable case" of an ancon ram and ewe not
+producing ancon offspring. When they are crossed with other breeds the
+offspring, with rare exceptions, instead of being intermediate in
+character, perfectly resemble either parent; and this has occurred even in
+the case of twins. Lastly, "the ancons have been observed to keep together,
+separating themselves from the rest of the flock when put into enclosures
+with other sheep."
+
+A more interesting case has been recorded in the Report of the Juries for
+the Great Exhibition (1851), namely, the production of a merino ram-lamb on
+the Mauchamp farm, in 1828, which was remarkable for its long, smooth,
+straight, and silky wool. By the year 1833 M. Graux had raised rams enough
+to serve his whole flock, and after a few more years he was able to sell
+stock of his new breed. So peculiar and valuable is the wool, that it sells
+at 25 per cent. above the best merino wool: even the fleeces of half-bred
+animals are valuable, and are known in France as the "Mauchamp-merino." It
+is interesting, as {101} showing how generally any marked deviation of
+structure is accompanied by other deviations, that the first ram and his
+immediate offspring were of small size, with large heads, long necks,
+narrow chests, and long flanks; but these blemishes were removed by
+judicious crosses and selection. The long smooth wool was also correlated
+with smooth horns; and as horns and hair are homologous structures, we can
+understand the meaning of this correlation. If the Mauchamp and ancon
+breeds had originated a century or two ago, we should have had no record of
+their birth; and many a naturalist would no doubt have insisted, especially
+in the case of the Mauchamp race, that they had each descended from, or
+been crossed with, some unknown aboriginal form.
+
+GOATS.
+
+From the recent researches of M. Brandt, most naturalists now believe that
+all our goats are descended from the _Capra aegagrus_ of the mountains of
+Asia, possibly mingled with the allied Indian species _C. Falconeri_ of
+India.[239] In Switzerland, during the early Stone period, the domestic
+goat was commoner than the sheep; and this very ancient race differed in no
+respect from that now common in Switzerland.[240] At the present time, the
+many races found in several parts of the world differ greatly from each
+other; nevertheless, as far as they have been tried,[241] they are all
+quite fertile when crossed. So numerous are the breeds, that Mr. G.
+Clark[242] has described eight distinct kinds imported into the one island
+of Mauritius. The ears of one kind were enormously developed, being, as
+measured by Mr. Clark, no less than 19 inches in length and 43/4 inches in
+breadth. As with cattle, the mammae of those breeds which are regularly
+milked become greatly developed; and, as Mr. Clark remarks, "it is not rare
+to see their teats touching the ground." The following cases are worth
+notice as presenting unusual {102} points of variation. According to
+Godron,[243] the mammae differ greatly in shape in different breeds, being
+elongated in the common goat, hemispherical in the Angora race, and bilobed
+and divergent in the goats of Syria and Nubia. According to this same
+author, the males of certain breeds have lost their usual offensive odour.
+In one of the Indian breeds the males and females have horns of
+widely-different shapes;[244] and in some breeds the females are destitute
+of horns.[245] The presence of interdigital pits or glands on all four feet
+has been thought to characterise the genus Ovis, and their absence to be
+characteristic of the genus Capra; but Mr. Hodgson has found that they
+exist in the front feet of the majority of Himalayan goats.[246] Mr.
+Hodgson measured the intestines in two goats of the Dugu race, and he found
+that the proportional length of the great and small intestines differed
+considerably. In one of these goats the caecum was thirteen inches, and in
+the other no less than thirty-six inches in length!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{103}
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DOMESTIC RABBITS.
+
+    DOMESTIC RABBITS DESCENDED FROM THE COMMON WILD RABBIT--ANCIENT
+    DOMESTICATION--ANCIENT SELECTION--LARGE LOP-EARED RABBITS--VARIOUS
+    BREEDS--FLUCTUATING CHARACTERS--ORIGIN OF THE HIMALAYAN BREED--CURIOUS
+    CASE OF INHERITANCE--FERAL RABBITS IN JAMAICA AND THE FALKLAND
+    ISLANDS--PORTO SANTO FERAL RABBITS--OSTEOLOGICAL
+    CHARACTERS--SKULL--SKULL OF HALF-LOP RABBITS--VARIATIONS IN THE SKULL
+    ANALOGOUS TO DIFFERENCES IN DIFFERENT SPECIES OF
+    HARES--VERTEBRAE--STERNUM--SCAPULA--EFFECTS OF USE AND DISUSE ON THE
+    PROPORTIONS OF THE LIMBS AND BODY--CAPACITY OF THE SKULL AND REDUCED
+    SIZE OF THE BRAIN--SUMMARY ON THE MODIFICATIONS OF DOMESTICATED
+    RABBITS.
+
+All naturalists, with, as far as I know, a single exception, believe that
+the several domestic breeds of the rabbit are descended from the common
+wild species; I shall therefore describe them more carefully than in the
+previous cases. Professor Gervais[247] states "that the true wild rabbit is
+smaller than the domestic; its proportions are not absolutely the same; its
+tail is smaller; its ears are shorter and more thickly clothed with hair;
+and these characters, without speaking of colour, are so many indications
+opposed to the opinion which unites these animals under the same specific
+denomination." Few naturalists will agree with this author that such slight
+differences are sufficient to separate as distinct species the wild and
+domestic rabbit. How extraordinary it would be, if close confinement,
+perfect tameness, unnatural food, and careful breeding, all prolonged
+during many generations, had not produced at least some effect! The tame
+rabbit has been domesticated from an ancient period. Confucius ranges
+rabbits among animals worthy to be sacrificed to the gods, and, as he
+prescribes their multiplication, they were probably at this early period
+domesticated in China. They are mentioned by several of the classical
+writers. {104} In 1631 Gervaise Markham writes, "You shall not, as in other
+cattell, looke to their shape, but to their richnesse, onely elect your
+buckes, the largest and goodliest conies you can get; and for the richnesse
+of the skin, that is accounted the richest which hath the equallest mixture
+of blacke and white haire together, yet the blacke rather shadowing the
+white; the furre should be thicke, deepe, smooth, and shining; ... they are
+of body much fatter and larger, and, when another skin is worth two or
+three pence, they are worth two shillings." From this full description we
+see that silver-grey rabbits existed in England at this period; and, what
+is far more important, we see that the breeding or selection of rabbits was
+then carefully attended to. Aldrovandi, in 1637, describes, on the
+authority of several old writers (as Scaliger, in 1557), rabbits of various
+colours, some "like a hare," and he adds that P. Valerianus (who died a
+very old man in 1558) saw at Verona rabbits four times bigger than
+ours.[248]
+
+From the fact of the rabbit having been domesticated at an ancient period,
+we must look to the northern hemisphere of the Old World, and to the warmer
+temperate regions alone, for the aboriginal parent-form; for the rabbit
+cannot live without protection in countries as cold as Sweden, and, though
+it has run wild in the tropical island of Jamaica, it has never greatly
+multiplied there. It now exists, and has long existed, in the warmer
+temperate parts of Europe, for fossil remains have been found in several
+countries.[249] The domestic rabbit readily becomes feral in these same
+countries, and when variously coloured kinds are turned out they generally
+revert to the ordinary grey colour.[250] The wild rabbits, if taken young,
+can be domesticated, though the process is generally very troublesome.[251]
+The various {105} domestic races are often crossed, and are believed to be
+perfectly fertile together, and a perfect gradation can be shown to exist
+from the largest domestic kinds, having enormously developed ears, to the
+common wild kind. The parent-form must have been a burrowing animal, a
+habit not common, as far as I can discover, to any other species in the
+large genus Lepus. Only one wild species is known with certainty to exist
+in Europe; but the rabbit (if it be a true rabbit) from Mount Sinai, and
+likewise that from Algeria, present slight differences; and these forms
+have been considered by some authors as specifically distinct.[252] But
+such slight differences would aid us little in explaining the more
+considerable differences characteristic of the several domestic races. If
+the latter are the descendants of two or more closely allied species, all,
+excepting the common rabbit, have been exterminated in a wild state; and
+this is very improbable, seeing with what pertinacity this animal holds its
+ground. From these several reasons we may infer with safety that all the
+domestic breeds are the descendants of the common wild species. But from
+what we hear of the late marvellous success in rearing hybrids between the
+hare and rabbit,[253] it is possible, though not probable, from the great
+difficulty in making the first cross, that some of the larger races, which
+are coloured like the hare, may have been modified by crosses with this
+animal. Nevertheless, the chief differences in the skeletons of the several
+domestic breeds cannot, as we shall presently see, have been derived from a
+cross with the hare.
+
+There are many breeds which transmit their characters more or less truly.
+Every one has seen the enormous lop-eared rabbits exhibited at our shows;
+various allied sub-breeds are reared on the Continent, such as the
+so-called Andalusian, which is said to have a large head with a round
+forehead, and to attain a greater size than any other kind; another large
+Paris breed is named the Rouennais, and has a square head; the so-called
+Patagonian rabbit has remarkably short ears and a large round head.
+Although I have not seen all these breeds, I feel some doubt about there
+being any marked difference in the {106} shape of their skulls.[254]
+English lop-eared rabbits often weigh 8 lbs. or 10 lbs., and one has been
+exhibited weighing 18 lbs.; whereas a full-sized wild rabbit weighs only
+about 31/4 lbs. The head or skull in all the large lop-eared rabbits examined
+by me is much longer relatively to its breadth than in the wild rabbit.
+Many of them have loose transverse folds of skin or dewlaps beneath the
+throat, which can be pulled out so as to reach nearly to the ends of the
+jaws. Their ears are prodigiously developed, and hang down on each side of
+their faces. A rabbit has been exhibited with its two ears, measured from
+the tip of one to the tip of the other, 22 inches in length, and each ear
+was 5-3/8 inches in breadth. In a common wild rabbit I found that the
+length of the two ears, from tip to tip, was 7-5/8 inches, and the breadth
+only 1-7/8 inch. The great weight of the body in the larger rabbits, and
+the immense development of their ears, are the qualities which win prizes,
+and have been carefully selected.
+
+The hare-coloured, or, as it is sometimes called, the Belgian rabbit,
+differs in nothing except colour from the other large breeds; but Mr. J.
+Young, of Southampton, a great breeder of this kind, informs me that the
+females, in all the specimens examined by him, had only six mammae; and this
+certainly was the case with two females which came into my possession. Mr.
+B. P. Brent, however, assures me that the number is variable with other
+domestic rabbits. The common wild rabbit always has ten mammae. The Angora
+rabbit is remarkable from the length and fineness of its fur, which even on
+the soles of the feet is of considerable length. This breed is the only one
+which differs in its mental qualities, for it is said to be much more
+sociable than other rabbits, and the male shows no wish to destroy its
+young.[255] Two live rabbits were brought to me from Moscow, of about the
+size of the wild species, but with long soft fur, different from that of
+the Angora. These Moscow rabbits had pink eyes and were snow-white,
+excepting the ears, two spots near the nose, the upper and under surface of
+the tail, and the hinder tarsi, which were blackish-brown. In short, they
+were {107} coloured nearly like the so-called Himalayan rabbits, presently
+to be described, and differed from them only in the character of their fur.
+There are two other breeds which come true to colour, but differ in no
+other respect, namely silver-greys and chinchillas. Lastly, the Nicard or
+Dutch rabbit may be mentioned, which varies in colour, and is remarkable
+from its small size, some specimens weighing only 11/4 lb.; rabbits of this
+breed make excellent nurses for other and more delicate kinds.[256]
+
+Certain characters are remarkably fluctuating, or are very feebly
+transmitted by domestic rabbits: thus, one breeder tells me that with the
+smaller kinds he has hardly ever raised a whole litter of the same colour:
+with the large lop-eared breeds "it is impossible," says a great
+judge,[257] "to breed true to colour, but by judicious crossing a great
+deal may be done towards it. The fancier should know how his does are bred,
+that is, the colour of their parents." Nevertheless, certain colours, as we
+shall presently see, are transmitted truly. The dewlap is not strictly
+inherited. Lop-eared rabbits, with their ears hanging flat down on each
+side of the face, do not transmit this character at all truly. Mr. Delamer
+remarks that, "with fancy rabbits, when both the parents are perfectly
+formed, have model ears, and are handsomely marked, their progeny do not
+invariably turn out the same." When one parent, or even both, are oar-laps,
+that is, have their ears sticking out at right angles, or when one parent
+or both are half-lops, that is, have only one ear dependent, there is
+nearly as good a chance of the progeny having both ears full-lop, as if
+both parents had been thus characterized. But I am informed, if both
+parents have upright ears, there is hardly a chance of a full-lop. In some
+half-lops the ear that hangs down is broader and longer than the upright
+ear;[258] so that we have the unusual case of a want of symmetry on the two
+sides. This difference in the position and size of the two ears probably
+indicates that the lopping of the ear results {108} from its great length
+and weight, favoured no doubt by the weakness of the muscles consequent on
+disuse. Anderson[259] mentions a breed having only a single ear; and
+Professor Gervais another breed which is destitute of ears.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Half-lop Rabbit. (Copied from E. S. Delamer's
+work.)]
+
+The origin of the Himalayan breed (sometimes called Chinese, or Polish, or
+Russian) is so curious, both in itself, and as throwing some light on the
+complex laws of inheritance, that it is worth giving in detail. These
+pretty rabbits are white, except their ears, nose, all four feet, and the
+upper side of tail, which are all brownish-black; but as they have red
+eyes, they may be considered as albinoes. I have received several accounts
+of their breeding perfectly true. From their symmetrical marks, they were
+at first ranked as specifically distinct, and were provisionally named _L.
+nigripes_[260] Some good observers thought that they could detect a
+difference in their habits, and stoutly maintained that they formed a new
+species. Their origin is now well known. A writer, in 1857,[261] stated
+that he had produced Himalayan rabbits in the following manner. But it is
+first necessary briefly to describe two other breeds: silver-greys or
+silver-sprigs generally have black heads and legs, and their fine grey fur
+is interspersed with numerous black and white long hairs. {109} They breed
+perfectly true, and have long been kept in warrens. When they escape and
+cross with common rabbits, the product, as I hear from Mr. Wyrley Birch, of
+Wretham Hall, is not a mixture of the two colours, but about half take
+after the one parent, and the other half after the other parent. Secondly,
+chinchillas or tame silver-greys (I will use the former name) have short,
+paler, mouse or slate-coloured fur, interspersed with long, blackish,
+slate-coloured, and white hairs.[262] These rabbits breed perfectly true.
+Now, the writer above referred to had a breed of chinchillas which had been
+crossed with the common black rabbit, and their offspring were either
+blacks or chinchillas. These latter were again crossed with other
+chinchillas (which had also been crossed with silver-greys), and from this
+complicated cross Himalayan rabbits were raised. From these and other
+similar statements, Mr. Bartlett[263] was led to make a careful trial in
+the Zoological Gardens, and he found that by simply crossing silver-greys
+with chinchillas he could always produce some few Himalayans; and the
+latter, notwithstanding their sudden origin, if kept separate, bred
+perfectly true.
+
+The Himalayans, when first born, are quite white, and are then true
+albinoes; but in the course of a few months they gradually assume their
+dark ears, nose, feet, and tail. Occasionally, however, as I am informed by
+Mr. W. A. Wooler and the Rev. W. D. Fox, the young are born of a very pale
+grey colour, and specimens of such fur were sent me by the former
+gentleman. The grey tint, however, disappears as the animal comes to
+maturity. So that with these Himalayans there is a tendency, strictly
+confined to early youth, to revert to the colour of the adult silver-grey
+parent-stock. Silver-greys and chinchillas, on the other hand, present a
+remarkable contrast in their colour whilst quite young, for they are born
+perfectly black, but soon assume their characteristic grey or silver tints.
+The same thing occurs with grey horses, which, as long as they are foals,
+are generally of a nearly black colour, but soon become grey, and get
+whiter and whiter as they grow older. Hence the usual rule is that
+Himalayans are born white and afterwards become in certain parts of their
+bodies dark-coloured; whilst {110} silver-greys are born black and
+afterwards become sprinkled with white. Exceptions, however, and of a
+directly opposite nature, occasionally occur in both cases. For young
+silver-greys are sometimes born in warrens, as I hear from Mr. W. Birch, of
+a cream-colour, but these young animals ultimately become black, The
+Himalayans, on the other hand, sometimes produce, as is stated by an
+experienced amateur,[264] a single black young one in a litter; but such,
+before two months elapse, become perfectly white.
+
+To sum up the whole curious case: wild silver-greys may be considered as
+black rabbits which become grey at an early period of life. When they are
+crossed with common rabbits, the offspring are said not to have blended
+colours, but to take after either parent; and in this respect they resemble
+black and albino varieties of most quadrupeds, which often transmit their
+colours in this same manner. When they are crossed with chinchillas, that
+is, with a paler sub-variety, the young are at first pure albinoes, but
+soon become dark-coloured in certain parts of their bodies, and are then
+called Himalayans. The young Himalayans, however, are sometimes at first
+either pale grey or completely black, in either case changing after a time
+to white. In a future chapter I shall advance a large body of facts showing
+that, when two varieties are crossed both of which differ in colour from
+their parent-stock, there is a strong tendency in the young to revert to
+the aboriginal colour; and what is very remarkable, this reversion
+occasionally supervenes, not before birth, but during the growth of the
+animal. Hence, if it could be shown that silver-greys and chinchillas were
+the offspring of a cross between a black and albino variety with the
+colours intimately blended--a supposition in itself not improbable, and
+supported by the circumstance of silver-greys in warrens sometimes
+producing creamy-white young, which ultimately become black--then all the
+above-given paradoxical facts on the changes of colour in silver-greys and
+in their descendants the Himalayans would come under the law of reversion,
+supervening at different periods of growth and in different degrees, either
+to the original black or to the original albino parent-variety.
+
+{111}
+
+It is, also, remarkable that Himalayans, though produced so suddenly, breed
+true. But as, whilst young, they are albinoes, the case falls under a very
+general rule; for albinism is well known to be strongly inherited, as with
+white mice and many other quadrupeds, and even with white flowers. But why,
+it may be asked, do the ears, tail, nose, and feet, and no other part of
+the body, revert to a black colour? This apparently depends on a law, which
+generally holds good, namely, that characters common to many species of a
+genus--and this, in fact, implies long inheritance in common from the
+ancient progenitor of the genus--are found to resist variation, or to
+reappear if lost, more persistently than the characters which are confined
+to the separate species. Now, in the genus Lepus, a large majority of the
+species have their ears and the upper surface of the tail tinted black; but
+the persistence of these marks is best seen in those species which in
+winter become white: thus, in Scotland the _L. variabilis_[265] in its
+winter dress has a shade of colour on its nose, and the tips of its ears
+are black: in the _L. tibetanus_ the ears are black, the upper surface of
+the tail greyish-black, and the soles of the feet brown: in _L. glacialis_
+the winter fur is pure white, except the soles of the feet and the points
+of the ears. Even in the variously-coloured fancy rabbits we may often
+observe a tendency in these same parts to be more darkly tinted than the
+rest of the body. Thus, as it seems to me, the appearance of the several
+coloured marks on the Himalayan rabbit, as it grows old, is rendered
+intelligible. I may add a nearly analogous case: fancy rabbits very often
+have a white star on their foreheads; and the common English hare, whilst
+young, generally has, as I have myself observed, a similar white star on
+its forehead.
+
+When variously coloured rabbits are set free in Europe, and are thus placed
+under their natural conditions, they generally revert to the aboriginal
+grey colour; this may be in part due to the tendency in all crossed
+animals, as lately observed, to revert to their primordial state. But this
+tendency does not always prevail; thus silver-grey rabbits are kept in
+warrens, and remain true though living almost in a state of nature; but a
+{112} warren must not be stocked with both silver-greys and common rabbits;
+otherwise "in a few years there will be none but common greys
+surviving."[266] When rabbits run wild in foreign countries, under
+different conditions of life, they by no means always revert to their
+aboriginal colour. In Jamaica the feral rabbits are described as
+"slate-coloured, deeply tinted with sprinklings of white on the neck, on
+the shoulders, and on the back; softening off to blue-white under the
+breast and belly."[267] But in this tropical island the conditions were not
+favourable to their increase, and they never spread widely; and, as I hear
+from Mr. R. Hill, owing to a great fire which occurred in the woods, they
+have now become extinct. Rabbits during many years have run wild in the
+Falkland Islands; they are abundant in certain parts, but do not spread
+extensively. Most of them are of the common grey colour; a few, as I am
+informed by Admiral Sulivan, are hare-coloured, and many are black, often
+with nearly symmetrical white marks on their faces. Hence, M. Lesson
+described the black variety as a distinct species, under the name of _Lepus
+magellanicus_, but this, as I have elsewhere shown, is an error.[268]
+Within recent times the sealers have stocked some of the small outlying
+islets in the Falkland group with rabbits; and on Pebble Islet, as I hear
+from Admiral Sulivan, a large proportion are hare-coloured, whereas on
+Rabbit Islet a large proportion are of a bluish colour which is not
+elsewhere seen. How the rabbits were coloured which were turned out on
+these islets is not known.
+
+The rabbits which have become feral on the island of Porto Santo, near
+Madeira, deserve a fuller account. In 1418 or 1419, J. Gonzales Zarco[269]
+happened to have a female rabbit on board which had produced young during
+the voyage, and he turned them all out on the island. These animals soon
+increased so {113} rapidly, that they became a nuisance, and actually
+caused the abandonment of the settlement. Thirty-seven years subsequently,
+Cada Mosto describes them as innumerable; nor is this surprising, as the
+island was not inhabited by any beast of prey or by any terrestrial mammal.
+We do not know the character of the mother-rabbit; but we have every reason
+to believe that it was the common domesticated kind. The Spanish peninsula,
+whence Zarco sailed, is known to have abounded with the common wild species
+at the most remote historical period. As these rabbits were taken on board
+for food, it is improbable that they should have been of any peculiar
+breed. That the breed was well domesticated is shown by the doe having
+littered during the voyage. Mr. Wollaston, at my request, brought home two
+of these feral rabbits in spirits of wine; and, subsequently, Mr. W.
+Haywood sent to me three more specimens in brine, and two alive. These
+seven specimens, though caught at different periods, closely resembled each
+other. They were full grown, as shown by the state of their bones. Although
+the conditions of life in Porto Santo are evidently highly favourable to
+rabbits, as proved by their extraordinarily rapid increase, yet they differ
+conspicuously in their small size from the wild English rabbit. Four
+English rabbits, measured from the incisors to the anus, varied between 17
+and 173/4 inches in length; whilst two of the Porto Santo rabbits were only
+141/2 and 15 inches in length. But the decrease in size is best shown by
+weight; four wild English rabbits averaged 3 lb. 5 oz., whilst one of the
+Porto Santo rabbits, which had lived for four years in the Zoological
+Gardens, but had become thin, weighed only 1 lb. 9 oz. A fairer test is
+afforded by the comparison of the well-cleaned limb-bones of a P. Santo
+rabbit killed on the island with the same bones of a wild English rabbit of
+average size, and they differed in the proportion of rather less than five
+to nine. So that the Porto Santo rabbits have decreased nearly three inches
+in length, and almost half in weight of body.[270] The head has not
+decreased in length {114} proportionally with the body; and the capacity of
+the brain-case is, as we shall hereafter see, singularly variable. I
+prepared four skulls, and these resembled each other more closely than do
+generally the skulls of wild English rabbits; but the only difference in
+structure which they presented was that the supra-orbital processes of the
+frontal bones were narrower.
+
+In colour the Porto Santo rabbit differs considerably from the common
+rabbit; the upper surface is redder, and is rarely interspersed with any
+black or black-tipped hairs. The throat and certain parts of the under
+surface, instead of being pure white, are generally pale grey or leaden
+colour. But the most remarkable difference is in the ears and tail; I have
+examined many fresh English rabbits, and the large collection of skins in
+the British Museum from various countries, and all have the upper surface
+of the tail and the tips of the ears clothed with blackish-grey fur; and
+this is given in most works as one of the specific characters of the
+rabbit. Now in the seven Porto Santo rabbits the upper surface of the tail
+was reddish-brown, and the tips of the ears had no trace of the black
+edging. But here we meet with a singular circumstance: in June, 1861, I
+examined two of these rabbits recently sent to the Zoological Gardens, and
+their tails and ears were coloured as just described; but when one of their
+dead bodies was sent to me in February, 1865, the ears were plainly edged,
+and the upper surface of the tail was covered, with blackish-grey fur, and
+the whole body was much less red; so that under the English climate this
+individual rabbit had recovered the proper colour of its fur in rather less
+than four years!
+
+The two little Porto Santo rabbits, whilst alive in the Zoological Gardens,
+had a remarkably different appearance from the common kind. They were
+extraordinarily wild and active, so that many persons exclaimed on seeing
+them that they were more like large rats than rabbits. They were nocturnal
+to an unusual degree in their habits, and their wildness was never in the
+least subdued; so that the superintendent, Mr. Bartlett, assured me that he
+had never had a wilder animal under his charge. This is a singular fact,
+considering that they are descended from a domesticated breed; I was so
+much surprised at it, that I requested Mr. Haywood to make inquiries on the
+spot, {115} whether they were much hunted by the inhabitants, or persecuted
+by hawks, or cats, or other animals; but this is not the case, and no cause
+can be assigned for their wildness. They live on the central, higher rocky
+land and near the sea-cliffs, and, being exceedingly shy and timid, seldom
+appear in the lower and cultivated districts. They are said to produce from
+four to six young at a birth, and their breeding season is in July and
+August. Lastly, and this is a highly remarkable fact, Mr. Bartlett could
+never succeed in getting these two rabbits, which were both males, to
+associate or breed with the females of several breeds which were repeatedly
+placed with them.
+
+If the history of these Porto Santo rabbits had not been known, most
+naturalists, on observing their much reduced size, their reddish colour
+above and grey beneath, with neither tail nor ears tipped with black, would
+have ranked them as a distinct species. They would have been strongly
+confirmed in this view by seeing them alive in the Zoological Gardens, and
+hearing that they refused to couple with other rabbits. Yet this rabbit,
+which there can be little doubt would thus have been ranked as a distinct
+species, has certainly originated since the year 1420. Finally, from the
+three cases of the rabbits which have run wild in Porto Santo, Jamaica, and
+the Falkland Islands, we see that these animals do not, under new
+conditions of life, revert to or retain their aboriginal character, as is
+so generally asserted to be the case by most authors.
+
+_Osteological Characters._
+
+When we remember, on the one hand, how frequently it is stated that
+important parts of the structure never vary; and, on the other hand, on
+what small differences in the skeleton, fossil species have often been
+founded, the variability of the skull and of some other bones in the
+domesticated rabbit well deserves attention. It must not be supposed that
+the more important differences immediately to be described strictly
+characterise any one breed; all that can be said is, that they are
+generally present in certain breeds. We should bear in mind that selection
+has not been applied to fix any character in the skeleton, and that the
+animals have not had to support themselves under {116} uniform habits of
+life. We cannot account for most of the differences in the skeleton; but we
+shall see that the increased size of the body, due to careful nurture and
+continued selection, has affected the head in a particular manner. Even the
+elongation and lopping of the ears have influenced in a small degree the
+form of the whole skull. The want of exercise has apparently modified the
+proportional length of the limbs in comparison with the body.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 6.--Skull of Wild Rabbit, of natural size.]
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 7.--Skull of large Lop-eared Rabbit, of natural
+    size.]
+
+    As a standard of comparison, I prepared skeletons of two wild rabbits
+    from Kent, one from the Shetland Islands, and one from Antrim in
+    Ireland. As all the bones in these four specimens from such distant
+    localities closely resembled each other, presenting scarcely any
+    appreciable difference, it may be concluded that the bones of the wild
+    rabbit are generally uniform in character.
+
+    _Skull._--I have carefully examined skulls of ten large lop-eared fancy
+    rabbits, and of five common domestic rabbits, which latter differ from
+    the lop-eared only in not having such large bodies or ears, yet both
+    larger than in the wild rabbit. First for the ten lop-eared rabbits: in
+    all these the skull is remarkably elongated in comparison with its
+    breadth. In a wild rabbit the length was 3.15 inches, in a large fancy
+    rabbit 4.30; whilst the breadth of the cranium enclosing the brain was
+    in both almost exactly the same. Even by taking as the standard of
+    comparison the widest part of the zygomatic arch, the skulls of the
+    lop-eared are proportionally to their breadth three-quarters of an inch
+    too long. The depth of the head has increased almost in the same
+    proportion with the length; it is the breadth alone which has not
+    increased. The parietal and occipital bones enclosing the brain are
+    less arched, both in a longitudinal and transverse line, than in the
+    wild rabbit, so that the shape of the cranium is somewhat different.
+    The surface is rougher, less cleanly sculptured, and the lines of
+    sutures are more prominent.
+
+    Although the skulls of the large lop-eared rabbits in comparison with
+    those of the wild rabbit are much elongated relatively to their
+    breadth, yet, relatively to the size of body, they are far from
+    elongated. The lop-eared rabbits which I examined were, though not fat,
+    more than twice as heavy as the wild specimens; but the skull was very
+    far from being twice as long. Even if we take the fairer standard of
+    the length of body, from the nose to the anus, the skull is not on an
+    average as long as it ought to be by a third of an inch. In the small
+    feral P. Santo rabbit, on the other hand, the head relatively to the
+    length of body is about a quarter of an inch too long.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 8.--Part of Zygomatic Arch, showing the projecting
+    end of the malar bone and the auditory meatus: of natural size. Upper
+    figure, Wild Rabbit. Lower figure, Lop-eared, hare-coloured Rabbit.]
+
+    This elongation of the skull relatively to its breadth, I find a
+    universal character, not only with the large lop-eared rabbits, but in
+    all the artificial breeds; as is well seen in the skull of the Angora.
+    I was at first much surprised at the fact, and could not imagine why
+    domestication should produce this uniform result; but the explanation
+    seems to lie in the circumstance that during a number of generations
+    the artificial races have been closely confined, and have had little
+    occasion to exert either their senses, or intellect, or voluntary
+    muscles; consequently the brain, as {117} we shall presently more fully
+    see, has not increased relatively with the size of body. As the brain
+    has not increased, the bony case enclosing it has not increased, and
+    this has evidently affected through correlation the breadth of the
+    entire skull from end to end.
+
+    In all the skulls of the large lop-eared rabbits, the supra-orbital
+    plates or processes of the frontal bones ere much broader than in the
+    wild rabbit, and they generally project more upwards. In the zygomatic
+    arch the posterior or projecting point of the malar-bone is broader and
+    blunter; and in the specimen, fig. 8, it is so in a remarkable degree.
+    This point approaches nearer to the auditory meatus than in the wild
+    rabbit, as may be best seen in fig. 8; but this circumstance mainly
+    depends on the changed direction of the meatus. The inter-parietal bone
+    (see fig. 9) differs much in shape in the several skulls; generally it
+    is more oval, or has a greater width in the line of the longitudinal
+    axis of the skull, than in the wild rabbit. The {118} posterior margin
+    of "the square raised platform" [271] of the occiput, instead of being
+    truncated, or projecting slightly as in the wild rabbit, is in most
+    lop-eared rabbits pointed, as in fig. 9, C. The paramastoids relatively
+    to the size of the skull are generally much thicker than in the wild
+    rabbit.
+
+    The occipital foramen (fig. 10) presents some remarkable differences:
+    in the wild rabbit, the lower edge between the condyles is considerably
+    and almost angularly hollowed out, and the upper edge is deeply and
+    squarely notched; hence the longitudinal axis exceeds the transverse
+    axis. In the skulls of the lop-eared rabbits the transverse axis
+    exceeds the longitudinal; for in none of these skulls was the lower
+    edge between the condyles so deeply hollowed out; in five of them there
+    was no upper square notch, in three there was a trace of the notch, and
+    in two alone it was well developed. These differences in the shape of
+    the foramen are remarkable, considering that it gives passage to so
+    important a structure as the spinal marrow, though apparently the
+    outline of the latter is not affected by the shape of the passage.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 9.--Posterior end of Skull, of natural size,
+    showing the inter-parietal bone. A. Wild Rabbit. B. Feral Rabbit from
+    island of P. Santo, near Madeira. C. Large Lop-eared Rabbit.]
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 10.--Occipital Foramen, of natural size, in--A.
+    Wild Rabbit; B. Large Lop-eared Rabbit.]
+
+    In all the skulls of the large lop-eared rabbits, the bony auditory
+    meatus is conspicuously larger than in the wild rabbit. In a skull 4.3
+    inches in length, and which barely exceeded in breadth the skull of a
+    wild rabbit (which was 3.15 inches in length), the longer diameter of
+    the meatus was exactly twice as great. The orifice is more compressed,
+    and its margin on the side nearest the skull stands up higher than the
+    outer side. The whole meatus is directed more forwards. As in breeding
+    lop-eared rabbits the length of the ears, and their consequent lopping
+    and lying flat on the face, are the chief points of excellence, there
+    can hardly be a doubt that the great change in the size, form, and
+    direction of the bony meatus, relatively to this same part in the wild
+    rabbit, is due to the continued selection of individuals having {119}
+    larger and larger ears. The influence of the external ear on the bony
+    meatus is well shown in the skulls (I have examined three) of half-lops
+    (see fig. 5), in which one ear stands upright, and the other and longer
+    ear hangs down; for in these skulls there was a plain difference in the
+    form and direction of the bony meatus on the two sides. But it is a
+    much more interesting fact, that the changed direction and increased
+    size of the bony meatus have slightly affected on the same side the
+    structure of the whole skull. I here give a drawing of the skull of a
+    half-lop; and it may be observed that the suture between the parietal
+    and frontal bones does not run strictly at right angles to the
+    longitudinal axis of the skull; the left frontal bone projects beyond
+    the right one; both the posterior and anterior margins of the left
+    zygomatic arch on the side of the lopping ear stand a little in advance
+    of the corresponding bones on the opposite side. Even the lower jaw is
+    affected, and the condyles are not quite symmetrical, that on the left
+    standing a little in advance of that on the right. This seems to me a
+    remarkable case of correlation of growth. Who would have surmised that
+    by keeping an animal during many generations under confinement, and so
+    leading to the disuse of the muscles of the ears, and by continually
+    selecting individuals with the longest and largest ears, he would thus
+    indirectly have affected almost every suture in the skull and the form
+    of the lower jaw!
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 11.--Skull, of natural size, of Half-lop Rabbit,
+    showing the different direction of the auditory meatus on the two
+    sides, and the consequent general distortion of the skull. The left ear
+    of the animal (or right side of figure) lopped forwards.]
+
+    In the large lop-eared rabbits the only difference in the lower jaw, in
+    comparison with that of the wild rabbit, is that the posterior margin
+    of the ascending ramus is broader and more inflected. The teeth in
+    neither jaw present any difference, except that the small incisors,
+    beneath the large ones, are proportionally a little longer. The molar
+    teeth have increased in size proportionally with the increased width of
+    the skull, measured across the zygomatic arch, and not proportionally
+    with its increased length. The inner line of the sockets of the molar
+    teeth in the upper jaw of the wild rabbit forms a perfectly straight
+    line; but in {120} some of the largest skulls of the lop-eared this
+    line was plainly bowed inwards. In one specimen there was an additional
+    molar tooth on each side of the upper jaw, between the molars and
+    premolars; but these two teeth did not correspond in size; and as no
+    rodent has seven molars, this is merely a monstrosity, though a curious
+    one.
+
+    The five other skulls of common domestic rabbits, some of which
+    approach in size the above-described largest skulls, whilst the others
+    exceed but little those of the wild rabbit, are only worth notice as
+    presenting a perfect gradation in all the above-specified differences
+    between the skulls of the largest lop-eared and wild rabbits. In all,
+    however, the supra-orbital plates are rather larger, and in all the
+    auditory meatus is larger, in conformity with the increased size of the
+    external ears, than in the wild rabbit. The lower notch in the
+    occipital foramen in some was not so deep as in the wild, but in all
+    five skulls the upper notch was well developed.
+
+    The skull of the _Angora_ rabbit, like the latter five skulls, is
+    intermediate in general proportions, and in most other characters,
+    between those of the largest lop-eared and wild rabbits. It presents
+    only one singular character: though considerably longer than the skull
+    of the wild, the breadth measured within the posterior supra-orbital
+    fissures is nearly a third less than in the wild. The skulls of the
+    _silver-grey_, and _chinchilla_ and _Himalayan_ rabbits are more
+    elongated than in the wild, with broader supra-orbital plates, but
+    differ little in any other respect, excepting that the upper and lower
+    notches of the occipital foramen are not so deep or so well developed.
+    The skull of the _Moscow_ rabbit scarcely differs in any respect from
+    that of the wild rabbit. In the Porto Santo feral rabbits the
+    supra-orbital plates are generally narrower and more pointed than in
+    our wild rabbits.
+
+    As some of the largest lop-eared rabbits of which I prepared skeletons
+    were coloured almost like hares, and as these latter animals and
+    rabbits have, as it is affirmed, been recently crossed in France, it
+    might be thought that some of the above-described characters had been
+    derived from a cross at a remote period with the hare. Consequently I
+    examined skulls of the hare, but no light could thus be thrown on the
+    peculiarities of the skulls of the larger rabbits. It is, however, an
+    interesting fact, as illustrating the law that varieties of one species
+    often assume the characters of other species of the same genus, that I
+    found, on comparing the skulls of ten species of hares in the British
+    Museum, that they differed from each other chiefly in the very same
+    points in which domestic rabbits vary,--namely, in general proportions,
+    in the form and size of the supra-orbital plates, in the form of the
+    free end of the malar bone, and in the line of suture separating the
+    occipital and frontal bones. Moreover two eminently variable characters
+    in the domestic rabbit, namely, the outline of the occipital foramen
+    and the shape of the "raised platform" of the occiput, were likewise
+    variable in two instances in the same species of hare.
+
+    _Vertebrae._--The number is uniform in all the skeletons which I have
+    examined, with two exceptions, namely, in one of the small feral Porto
+    Santo rabbits and in one of the largest lop-eared kinds; both of these
+    had as usual seven cervical, twelve dorsal with ribs, but, instead of
+    seven lumbar, both had eight lumbar vertebrae. This is remarkable, as
+    Gervais gives {121} seven as the number for the whole genus Lepus. The
+    caudal vertebrae apparently differ by two or three, but I did not attend
+    to them, and they are difficult to count with certainty.
+
+    In the first cervical vertebra, or atlas, the anterior margin of the
+    neural arch varies a little in wild specimens, being either nearly
+    smooth, or furnished with a small supra-median atlantoid process; I
+    have figured a specimen with the largest process (_a_) which I have
+    seen; but it will be observed how inferior this is in size and
+    different in shape to that in a large lop-eared rabbit. In the latter,
+    the infra-median process (_b_) is also proportionally much thicker and
+    longer. The alae are a little squarer in outline.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 12.--Atlas Vertebrae, of natural size; inferior
+    surface viewed obliquely. Upper figure, Wild Rabbit. Lower figure,
+    Hare-coloured, large, Lop-eared Rabbit. _a_, supra-median, atlantoid
+    process; _b_, infra-median process.]
+
+    _Third cervical vertebra._--In the wild rabbit (fig. 13, A _a_) this
+    vertebra, viewed on the inferior surface, has a transverse process,
+    which is directed obliquely backwards, and consists of a single pointed
+    bar; in the fourth vertebra this process is slightly forked in the
+    middle. In the large lop-eared rabbits this process (B _a_) is forked
+    in the third vertebra, as in the fourth of the wild rabbit. But the
+    third cervical vertebrae of the wild and lop-eared (A _b_, B _b_)
+    rabbits differ more conspicuously when their anterior articular
+    surfaces are compared; for the extremities of the antero-dorsal
+    processes in the wild rabbit are simply rounded, whilst in the
+    lop-eared they are trifid, with a deep central pit. The canal for the
+    spinal marrow in the lop-eared (B _b_) is more elongated in a
+    transverse direction than in the wild rabbit; and the passages for the
+    arteries are of a slightly different shape. These several differences
+    in this vertebra seem to me well deserving attention.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 13.--Third Cervical Vertebra, of natural size,
+    of--A. Wild Rabbit; B. Hare-coloured, large, Lop-eared Rabbit. _a, a_,
+    inferior surface; _b, b_, anterior articular surfaces.]
+
+    _First dorsal vertebra._--Its neural spine varies in length in the wild
+    rabbit; being sometimes very short, but generally more than half as
+    long as that of the second dorsal; but I have seen it in two large
+    lop-eared rabbits three-fourths of the length of that of the second
+    dorsal vertebra.
+
+    _Ninth and tenth dorsal vertebrae._--In the wild rabbit the neural spine
+    of the ninth vertebra is just perceptibly thicker than that of the
+    eighth; and {122} the neural spine of the tenth is plainly thicker and
+    shorter than those of all the anterior vertebrae. In the large lop-cared
+    rabbits the neural spines of the tenth, ninth, eighth, and even in a
+    slight degree that of the seventh vertebra, are very much thicker, and
+    of somewhat different shape, in comparison with those of the wild
+    rabbit. So that this part of the vertebral column differs considerably
+    in appearance from the same part in the wild rabbit, and closely
+    resembles in an interesting manner these same vertebrae in some species
+    of hares. In the Angora, Chinchilla, and Himalayan rabbits, the neural
+    spines of the eighth and ninth vertebrae are in a slight degree thicker
+    than in the wild. On the other hand, in one of the feral Porto Santo
+    rabbits, which in most of its characters deviates in an exactly
+    opposite manner to what the large lop-cared rabbits do from the common
+    wild rabbit, the neural spines of the ninth and tenth vertebrae were not
+    at all larger than those of the several anterior vertebrae. In this same
+    Porto Santo specimen there was no trace in the ninth vertebra of the
+    anterior lateral processes (see woodcut 14), which are plainly
+    developed in all British wild rabbits, and still more plainly developed
+    in the large lop-eared rabbits. In a half-wild rabbit from Sandon
+    Park,[272] a haemal spine was moderately well developed on the under
+    side of the twelfth dorsal vertebra, and I have seen this in no other
+    specimen.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 14.--Dorsal Vertebrae, from sixth to tenth
+    inclusive, of natural size, viewed laterally. A. Wild Rabbit. B. Large,
+    Hare-coloured, so called Spanish Rabbit.]
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 15.--Terminal bone of Sternum, of natural size. A.
+    Wild Rabbit. B. Hare-coloured, Lop-eared Rabbit. C. Hare-coloured,
+    Spanish Rabbit. (N.B. The left-hand angle of the upper articular
+    extremity of B was broken, and has been accidentally thus
+    represented.)]
+
+    _Lumbar vertebrae._--I have stated that in two cases there were eight
+    instead of seven lumbar vertebrae. The third lumbar vertebra in one
+    skeleton of a wild British rabbit, and in one of the Porto Santo feral
+    rabbits, had a haemal spine; whilst in four skeletons of large lop-eared
+    rabbits, and in the Himalayan rabbit, this same vertebra had a
+    well-developed haemal spine.
+
+    _Pelvis._--In four wild specimens this bone was almost absolutely
+    identical in shape; but in several domesticated breeds shades of
+    differences {123} could be distinguished. In the large lop-eared
+    rabbits the whole upper part of the ilium is straighter, or less
+    splayed outwards, than in the wild rabbit; and the tuberosity on the
+    inner lip of the anterior and upper part of the ilium is proportionally
+    more prominent.
+
+    _Sternum._--The posterior end of the posterior sternal bone in the wild
+    rabbit (fig. 15, A) is thin and slightly enlarged; in some of the large
+    lop-eared rabbits (B) it is much more enlarged towards the extremity;
+    whilst in other specimens (C) it keeps nearly of the same breadth from
+    end to end, but is much thicker at the extremity.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 16.--Acromion of Scapula, of natural size. A. Wild
+    Rabbit. B, C, D; Large, Lop-eared Rabbits.]
+
+    _Scapula._--The acromion sends out a rectangular bar, ending in an
+    oblique knob, which latter in the wild rabbit (fig. 16, A) varies a
+    little in shape and size, as does the apex of the acromion in
+    sharpness, and the part just below the rectangular bar in breadth. But
+    the variations in these respects in the wild rabbit are very slight;
+    whilst in the large lop-eared rabbits they are considerable. Thus in
+    some specimens (B) the oblique terminal knob is developed into a short
+    bar, forming an obtuse angle with the rectangular bar. In another
+    specimen (C) these two unequal bars form nearly a straight line. The
+    apex of the acromion varies much in breadth and sharpness, as may be
+    seen by comparing figs. B, C, and D.
+
+    _Limbs._--In these I could detect no variation; but the bones of the
+    feet were too troublesome to compare with much care.
+
+I have now described all the differences in the skeletons which I have
+observed. It is impossible not to be struck with the high degree of
+variability or plasticity of many of the bones. We see how erroneous the
+often-repeated statement is, that only the crests of the bones which give
+attachment to muscles vary in shape, and that only parts of slight
+importance {124} become modified under domestication. No one will say, for
+instance, that the occipital foramen, or the atlas, or the third cervical
+vertebra is a part of slight importance. If the several vertebrae of the
+wild and lop-eared rabbits, of which figures have been given, had been
+found fossil, palaeontologists would have declared without hesitation that
+they had belonged to distinct species.
+
+    _The effects of the use and disuse of parts._--In the large lop-eared
+    rabbits the relative proportional lengths of the bones of the same leg,
+    and of the front and hind legs compared with each other, have remained
+    nearly the same as in the wild rabbit; but in weight, the bones of the
+    hind legs apparently have not increased in due proportion with the
+    front legs. The weight of the whole body in the large rabbits examined
+    by me was from twice to twice and a half as great as that of the wild
+    rabbit; and the weight of the bones of the front and hind limbs taken
+    together (excluding the feet, on account of the difficulty of perfectly
+    cleaning so many small bones) has increased in the large lop-eared
+    rabbits in nearly the same proportion; consequently in due proportion
+    to the weight of body which they have to support. If we take the length
+    of the body as the standard of comparison, the limbs of the large
+    rabbits have not increased in length in due proportion by one inch, or
+    by one inch and a half. Again, if we take as the standard of comparison
+    the length of the skull, which, as we have before seen, has not
+    increased in length in due proportion to the length of body, the limbs
+    will be found to be, proportionally with those of the wild rabbit, from
+    half to three-quarters of an inch too short. Hence, whatever standard
+    of comparison be taken, the limb-bones of the large lop-eared rabbits
+    have not increased in length, though they have in weight, in full
+    proportion to the other parts of the frame; and this, I presume, may be
+    accounted for by the inactive life which during many generations they
+    have spent. Nor has the scapula increased in length in due proportion
+    to the increased length of the body.
+
+    The capacity of the osseous case of the brain is a more interesting
+    point, to which I was led to attend by finding, as previously stated,
+    that with all domesticated rabbits the length of the skull relatively
+    to its breadth has greatly increased in comparison with that of the
+    wild rabbit. If we had possessed a large number of domesticated rabbits
+    of nearly the same size with the wild rabbit, it would have been a
+    simple task to have measured and compared the capacities of their
+    skulls. But this is not the case; almost all the domestic breeds have
+    larger bodies than wild rabbits, and the lop-eared kinds are more than
+    double their weight. As a small animal has to exert its senses,
+    intellect, and instincts equally with a large animal, we ought not by
+    any means to expect an animal twice or thrice as large as another to
+    have a brain of double or treble the size.[273] Now, after weighing
+    {125} the bodies of four wild rabbits, and of four large but not
+    fattened lop-eared rabbits, I find that on an average the wild are to
+    the lop-eared in weight as 1 to 2.47; in average length of body as 1 to
+    1.41; whilst in capacity of skull (measured as hereafter to be
+    described) they are only as 1 to 1.15. Hence we see that the capacity
+    of the skull, and consequently the size of the brain, has increased but
+    little, relatively to the increased size of the body; and this fact
+    explains the narrowness of the skull relatively to its length in all
+    domestic rabbits.
+
+    In the upper half of the following table I have given the measurements
+    of the skulls of ten wild rabbits; and in the lower half of eleven
+    thoroughly domesticated kinds. As these rabbits differ so greatly in
+    size, it is necessary to have some standard by which to compare the
+    capacities of their skulls. I have selected the length of skull as the
+    best standard, for in the larger rabbits it has not, as already stated,
+    increased in length so much as the body; but as the skull, like every
+    other part, varies in length, neither it nor any other part affords a
+    perfect standard.
+
+    In the first column of figures the extreme length of the skull is given
+    in inches and decimals. I am aware that these measurements pretend to
+    greater accuracy than is possible; but I have found it the least
+    trouble to record the exact length which the compass gave. The second
+    and third columns give the length and weight of body, whenever these
+    measurements have been made. The fourth column gives the capacity of
+    the skull by the weight of small shot with which the skulls had been
+    filled; but it is not pretended that these weights are accurate within
+    a few grains. In the fifth column the capacity is given which the skull
+    ought to have had by calculation, according to the length of skull, in
+    comparison with that of the wild rabbit No. 1; in the sixth column the
+    difference between the actual and calculated capacities, and in the
+    seventh the percentage of increase or decrease, are given. For
+    instance, as the wild rabbit No. 5 has a shorter and lighter body than
+    the wild rabbit No. 1, we might have expected that its skull would have
+    had less capacity; the actual capacity, as expressed by the weight of
+    shot, is 875 grains, which is 97 grains less than that of the first
+    rabbit. But comparing these two rabbits by the length of their skulls,
+    we see that in No. 1 the skull is 3.15 inches in length, and in No. 5
+    2.96 inches in length; according to this ratio, the brain of No. 5
+    ought to have had a capacity of 913 grains of shot, which is above the
+    actual capacity, but only by 38 grains. Or, to put the case in another
+    way (as in column VII), the brain of this small rabbit, No. 5, for
+    every 100 grains of weight is only 4 per cent. too light,--that is, it
+    ought, according to the standard rabbit No. 1, to have been 4 per cent.
+    heavier. I have taken the rabbit No. 1 as the standard of comparison
+    because, of the skulls having a full average length, this has the least
+    capacity; so that it is the least favourable to the result which I wish
+    to show, namely, that the brain in all long-domesticated rabbits has
+    decreased in size, either actually, or relatively to the length of the
+    head and body, in comparison with the brain of the wild rabbit. Had I
+    taken the Irish rabbit, No. 3, as the standard, the following results
+    would have been somewhat more striking.
+
+    Turning to the Table: the first four wild rabbits have skulls of the
+    same length, and these differ but little in capacity. The Sandon rabbit
+    {126} (No. 4) is interesting, as, though now wild, it is known to be
+    descended from a domesticated breed, as is still shown by its peculiar
+    colouring and longer body; nevertheless the skull has recovered its
+    normal length and full capacity. The next three rabbits are wild, but
+    of small size, and they all have skulls with slightly lessened
+    capacities. The three Porto Santo feral rabbits (Nos. 8 to 10) offer a
+    perplexing case; their bodies are greatly reduced in size, as in a
+    lesser degree are their skulls in length and in actual capacity, in
+    comparison with the skulls of wild English rabbits. But when we compare
+    the capacities of the skull in the three Porto Santo rabbits, we
+    observe a surprising difference, which does not stand in any relation
+    to the slight difference in the length of their skulls, nor, as I
+    believe, to any difference in the size of their bodies; but I neglected
+    to weigh separately their bodies. I can hardly suppose that the
+    medullary matter of the brain in these three rabbits, living under
+    similar conditions, can differ as much as is indicated by the
+    proportional difference of capacity in their skulls; nor do I know
+    whether it is possible that one brain may contain considerably more
+    fluid than another. Hence I can throw no light on this case.
+
+    Looking to the lower half of the Table, which gives the measurements of
+    domesticated rabbits, we see that in all the capacity of the skull is
+    less, but in very various degrees, than might have been anticipated
+    according to the length of their skulls, relatively to that of the wild
+    rabbit No. 1. In line 22 the average measurements of seven large
+    lop-eared rabbits are given. Now the question arises, has the average
+    capacity of the skull in these seven large rabbits increased as much as
+    might have been expected from their greatly increased size of body. We
+    may endeavour to answer this question in two ways: in the upper half of
+    the Table we have measurements of the skulls of six small wild rabbits
+    (Nos. 5 to 10), and we find that on an average the skulls are in length
+    .18 of an inch shorter, and in capacity 91 grains less, than the
+    average length and capacity of the three first wild rabbits on the
+    list. The seven large lop-cared rabbits, on an average, have skulls
+    4.11 inches in length, and 1136 grains in capacity; so that these
+    skulls have increased in length more than five times as much as the
+    skulls of the six small wild rabbits have decreased in length; hence we
+    might have expected that the skulls of the large lop-eared rabbits
+    would have increased in capacity five times as much as the skulls of
+    the six small rabbits have decreased in capacity; and this would have
+    given an average increased capacity of 455 grains, whilst the real
+    average increase is only 155 grains. Again, the large lop-eared rabbits
+    have bodies of nearly the same weight and size as the common hare, but
+    their heads are longer; consequently, if the lop-eared rabbits had been
+    wild, it might have been expected that their skulls would have had
+    nearly the same capacity as that of the skull of the hare. But this is
+    far from being the case; for the average capacity of the two
+    hare-skulls (Nos. 23, 24) is so much larger than the average capacity
+    of the seven lop-cared skulls, that the latter would have to be
+    increased 21 per cent. to come up to the standard of the hare.[274]
+
+{127}
+
+  ------------------------------------------------+---------+-------------
+                                                  | I.      |   II.
+                                                  |         |
+                                                  |         | Length
+          Name of Breed.                          | Length  | of Body from
+    WILD AND SEMI-WILD RABBITS.                   | of      | Incisors to
+                                                  | Skull.  | Anus.
+  ------------------------------------------------+---------+-------------
+                                                  | inches. | inches.
+   1. Wild rabbit, Kent                           |  3.15   |  17.4
+   2.     "        Shetland Islands               |  3.15   |   ..
+   3.     "        Ireland                        |  3.15   |   ..
+   4. Domestic rabbit, run wild, Sandon           |  3.15   |  18.5
+   5. Wild, common variety, small specimen, Kent  |  2.96   |  17.0
+   6. Wild, fawn-coloured variety, Scotland       |  3.1    |   ..
+   7. Silver-grey, small specimen, Thetford warren|  2.95   |  15.5
+   8. Feral rabbit, Porto Santo                   |  2.83   |   ..
+   9.       "            "                        |  2.85   |   ..
+  10.       "            "                        |  2.95   |   ..
+         Average of the three Porto Santo Rabbits |  2.88   |   ..
+                                                  |         |
+                     Domestic Rabbits             |         |
+                                                  |         |
+  11. Himalayan                                   |  3.5    |   20.5
+  12. Moscow                                      |  3.25   |   17.0
+  13. Angora                                      |  3.5    |   19.5
+  14. Chinchilla                                  |  3.65   |   22.0
+  15. Large lop-eared                             |  4.1    |   24.5
+  16.   "         "                               |  4.1    |   25.0
+  17.   "         "                               |  4.07   |    ..
+  18.   "         "                               |  4.1    |   25.0
+  19.   "         "                               |  4.3    |    ..
+  20.   "         "                               |  4.25   |    ..
+  21. Large hare-coloured                         |  3.86   |   24.0
+  22. Average of above seven large lop-eared      |         |
+          rabbits                                 |  4.11   |   24.62
+  ------------------------------------------------+---------+-------------
+  23. Hare (_L. timidus_) English specimen        |  3.61   |
+  24.  "         "      German specimen           |  3.82   |
+  ------------------------------------------------+---------+-------------
+
+  ----------+-------------+------------+-----------------+-----------
+            |   III.      |  IV.       |   V.            |  VI.
+            |             |            |                 |
+            |             |            | Capacity        |
+            |             |            | calculated      | Difference
+            |             | Capacity of| according to    | between
+            |  Weight     | Skull      | Length of       | actual and
+            |  of         | measured by| Skull relatively| calculated
+            |  whole Body.| Small Shot.| to that         | capacities
+            |             |            | of No. 1.       | of Skulls.
+  ----------+-------------+------------+-----------------+-----------
+            |  lbs. ozs.  |   grains.  |   grains.       | grains.
+   1.       |    3   5    |    972     |     ..          |   ..
+   2.       |     ..      |    979     |     ..          |   ..
+   3.       |     ..      |    992     |     ..          |   ..
+   4.       |     ..      |    977     |                 |
+   5.       |    2  14    |    875     |    913          |   38
+   6.       |     ..      |    918     |    950          |   32
+   7.       |    2  11    |    938     |    910          |   28
+   8.       |     ..      |    893     |    873          |   20
+   9.       |     ..      |    756     |    879          |  123
+  10.       |     ..      |    835     |    910          |   75
+            |             |            |                 |
+  (Average) |     ..      |    828     |    888          |   60
+            |             |            |                 |
+  11.       |     ..      |    963     |   1080          |  117
+  12.       |    3   8    |    803     |   1002          |  199
+  13.       |    3   1    |    697     |   1080          |  383
+  14.       |     ..      |    995     |   1126          |  131
+  15.       |    7   0    |   1065     |   1265          |  200
+  16.       |    7  13    |   1153     |   1265          |  112
+  17.       |     ..      |   1037     |   1255          |  218
+  18.       |    7   4    |   1208     |   1265          |   57
+  19.       |     ..      |   1232     |   1326          |   94
+  20.       |     ..      |   1124     |   1311          |  187
+  21.       |    6  14    |   1131     |   1191          |   60
+  22.       |    7   4    |   1136     |   1268          |  132
+  ----------+-------------+------------+-----------------+-----------
+  23.       |    7   0    |   1315     |                 |
+  24.       |    7   0    |   1455     |                 |
+  ----------+-------------+------------+-----------------+-----------
+
+  ----+-----------------------------------
+      |  VII.
+      |
+      | Showing how much per cent.
+      | the Brain, by calculation,
+      | according to the length of the
+      | Skull, is too light or too heavy,
+      | relatively to the Brain of the
+      | Wild Rabbit No. 1.
+  ----+-----------------------------------
+   1. |
+   2. |
+   3. | (  [2 per cent. too heavy in
+      | (  comparison with No. 1.]
+   4. |
+   5. |  4 per cent. too light.
+   6. |  3    "         "
+   7. |  3    "      too heavy.
+   8. |  2    "         "
+   9. | 16    "       too light.
+  10. |  9    "         "
+      |
+  Av. |  7    "         "
+      |
+  11. | 12    "         "
+  12. | 24    "         "
+  13. | 54    "         "
+  14. | 13    "         "
+  15. | 18    "         "
+  16. |  9    "         "
+  17. | 21    "         "
+  18. |  4    "         "
+  19. |  7    "         "
+  20. | 16    "         "
+  21. |  5    "         "
+  22. | 11    "         "
+  ----+-----------------------------------
+  23. |
+  24. |
+  ----+-----------------------------------
+
+
+{128}
+
+    I have previously remarked that, if we had possessed many domestic
+    rabbits of the same average size with the wild rabbit, it would have
+    been easy to compare the capacity of their skulls. Now the Himalayan,
+    Moscow, and Angora rabbits (Nos. 11, 12, 13 of Table) are only a little
+    larger in body, and have skulls only a little longer, than the wild
+    animal, and we see that the actual capacity of their skulls is less
+    than in the wild animal, and considerably less by calculation (column
+    7), according to the difference in the length of their skulls. The
+    narrowness of the brain-case in these three rabbits could be plainly
+    seen and proved by external measurement. The Chinchilla rabbit (No. 14)
+    is a considerably larger animal than the wild rabbit, yet the capacity
+    of its skull only slightly exceeds that of the wild rabbit. The Angora
+    rabbit, No. 13, offers the most remarkable case; this animal in its
+    pure white colour and length of silky fur bears the stamp of long
+    domesticity. It has a considerably longer head and body than the wild
+    rabbit, but the actual capacity of its skull is less than that of even
+    the little wild Porto Santo rabbits. By the standard of the length of
+    skull the capacity (see column 7) is only half of what it ought to have
+    been! I kept this individual animal alive, and it was not unhealthy nor
+    idiotic. This case of the Angora rabbit so much surprised me, that I
+    repeated all the measurements and found them correct. I have also
+    compared the capacity of the skull of the Angora with that of the wild
+    rabbit by other standards, namely, by the length and weight of the
+    body, and by the weight of the limb-bones; but by all these standards
+    the brain appears to be much too small, though in a less degree when
+    the standard of the limb-bones was used; and this latter circumstance
+    may probably be accounted for by the Limbs of this anciently
+    domesticated breed having become much reduced in weight, from its
+    long-continued inactive life. Hence I infer that in the Angora breed,
+    which is said to differ from other breeds in being quieter and more
+    social, the capacity of the skull has really undergone a remarkable
+    amount of reduction.
+
+From the several facts above given,--namely, firstly, that the actual
+capacity of the skull in the Himalayan, Moscow, and Angora breeds, is less
+than in the wild rabbit, though they are in all their dimensions rather
+larger animals; secondly, that the capacity of the skull of the large
+lop-eared rabbits has not been increased in nearly the same ratio as the
+capacity of the skull of the smaller wild rabbits has been decreased; and
+thirdly, that the capacity of the skull in these same large lop-eared
+rabbits is very inferior to that of the hare, an animal of nearly the same
+{129} size,--I conclude, notwithstanding the remarkable differences in
+capacity in the skulls of the small P. Santo rabbits, and likewise in the
+large lop-eared kinds, that in all long-domesticated rabbits the brain has
+either by no means increased in due proportion with the increased length of
+the head and increased size of the body, or that it has actually decreased
+in size, relatively to what would have occurred had these animals lived in
+a state of nature. When we remember that rabbits, from having been
+domesticated and closely confined during many generations, cannot have
+exerted their intellect, instincts, senses, and voluntary movements, either
+in escaping from various dangers or in searching for food, we may conclude
+that their brains will have been feebly exercised, and consequently have
+suffered in development. We thus see that the most important and
+complicated organ in the whole organization is subject to the law of
+decrease in size from disuse.
+
+Finally, let us sum up the more important modifications which domestic
+rabbits have undergone, together with their causes as far as we can
+obscurely see them. By the supply of abundant and nutritious food, together
+with little exercise, and by the continued selection of the heaviest
+individuals, the weight of the larger breeds has been more than doubled.
+The bones of the limbs have increased in weight (but the hind legs less
+than the front legs), in due proportion with the increased weight of body;
+but in length they have not increased in due proportion, and this may have
+been caused by the want of proper exercise. With the increased size of the
+body the third cervical vertebra has assumed characters proper to the
+fourth cervical; and the eighth and ninth dorsal vertebrae have similarly
+assumed characters proper to the tenth and posterior vertebrae. The skull in
+the larger breeds has increased in length, but not in due proportion with
+the increased length of body; the brain has not duly increased in
+dimensions, or has even actually decreased, and consequently the bony case
+for the brain has remained narrow, and by correlation has affected the
+bones of the face and the entire length of the skull. The skull has thus
+acquired its characteristic narrowness. From unknown causes the
+supra-orbital processes of the frontal bones and the free end of the malar
+bones have increased in breadth; and in the larger breeds {130} the
+occipital foramen is generally much less deeply notched than in wild
+rabbits. Certain parts of the scapula and the terminal sternal bones have
+become highly variable in shape. The ears have been increased enormously in
+length and breadth through continued selection; their weight, conjoined
+probably with the disuse of their muscles, has caused them to lop
+downwards; and this has affected the position and form of the bony auditory
+meatus; and this again, by correlation, the position in a slight degree of
+almost every bone in the upper part of the skull, and even the position of
+the condyles of the lower jaw.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{131}
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DOMESTIC PIGEONS.
+
+    ENUMERATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL BREEDS--INDIVIDUAL
+    VARIABILITY--VARIATIONS OF A REMARKABLE NATURE--OSTEOLOGICAL
+    CHARACTERS: SKULL, LOWER JAW, NUMBER OF VERTEBRAE--CORRELATION OF
+    GROWTH: TONGUE WITH BEAK; EYELIDS AND NOSTRILS WITH WATTLED
+    SKIN--NUMBER OF WING-FEATHERS, AND LENGTH OF WING--COLOUR AND
+    DOWN--WEBBED AND FEATHERED FEET--ON THE EFFECTS OF DISUSE--LENGTH OF
+    FEET IN CORRELATION WITH LENGTH OF BEAK--LENGTH OP STERNUM, SCAPULA,
+    AND FURCULA--LENGTH OF WINGS--SUMMARY ON THE POINTS OF DIFFERENCE IN
+    THE SEVERAL BREEDS
+
+I have been led to study domestic pigeons with particular care, because the
+evidence that all the domestic races have descended from one known source
+is far clearer than with any other anciently domesticated animal. Secondly,
+because many treatises in several languages, some of them old, have been
+written on the pigeon, so that we are enabled to trace the history of
+several breeds. And lastly, because, from causes which we can partly
+understand, the amount of variation has been extraordinarily great. The
+details will often be tediously minute; but no one who really wants to
+understand the progress of change in domestic animals will regret this; and
+no one who has kept pigeons and has marked the great difference between the
+breeds and the trueness with which most of them propagate their kind, will
+think this care superfluous. Notwithstanding the clear evidence that all
+the breeds are the descendants of a single species, I could not persuade
+myself until some years had passed that the whole amount of difference
+between them had arisen since man first domesticated the wild rock-pigeon.
+
+I have kept alive all the most distinct breeds, which I could procure in
+England or from the Continent; and have prepared skeletons of all. I have
+received skins from Persia, and a large number from India and other
+quarters of the {132} world.[275] Since my admission into two of the London
+pigeon-clubs, I have received the kindest assistance from many of the most
+eminent amateurs.[276]
+
+The races of the Pigeon which can be distinguished, and which breed true,
+are very numerous. MM. Boitard and Corbie[277] describe in detail 122
+kinds; and I could add several European kinds not known to them. In India,
+judging from the skins sent me, there are many breeds unknown here; and Sir
+W. Elliot informs me that a collection imported by an Indian merchant into
+Madras from Cairo and Constantinople included several kinds unknown in
+India. I have no doubt that there exist considerably above 150 kinds which
+breed true and have been separately named. But of these the far greater
+number differ from each other only in unimportant characters. Such
+differences will be here entirely passed over, and I shall confine myself
+to the more important points of structure. That many important differences
+exist we shall presently see. I have looked through the magnificent
+collection of the Columbidae in the British Museum, and, with the exception
+of a few forms (such as the Didunculus, Calaenas, Goura, &c), I do not
+hesitate to {133} affirm that some domestic races of the rock-pigeon differ
+fully as much from each other in external characters as do the most
+distinct natural genera. We may look in vain through the 288 known
+species[278] for a beak so small and conical as that of the short-faced
+tumbler; for one so broad and short as that of the barb; for one so long,
+straight, and narrow, with its enormous wattles, as that of the English
+carrier; for an expanded upraised tail like that of the fantail; or for an
+oesophagus like that of the pouter. I do not for a moment pretend that the
+domestic races differ from each other in their whole organisation as much
+as the more distinct natural genera. I refer only to external characters,
+on which, however, it must be confessed that most genera of birds have been
+founded. When, in a future chapter, we discuss the principle of selection
+as followed by man, we shall clearly see why the differences between the
+domestic races are almost always confined to external, or at least to
+externally visible, characters.
+
+Owing to the amount and gradations of difference between the several
+breeds, I have found it indispensable in the following classification to
+rank them under Groups, Races, and Sub-races; to which varieties and
+sub-varieties, all strictly inheriting their proper characters, must often
+be added. Even with the individuals of the same sub-variety, when long kept
+by different fanciers, different strains can sometimes be recognised. There
+can be no doubt that, if well-characterized forms of the several Races had
+been found wild, all would have been ranked as distinct species, and
+several of them would certainly have been placed by ornithologists in
+distinct genera. A good classification of the various domestic breeds is
+extremely difficult, owing to the manner in which many of the forms
+graduate into each other; but it is curious how exactly the same
+difficulties are encountered, and the same rules have to be followed, as in
+the classification of any natural but difficult group of organic beings. An
+"artificial classification" might be followed which would present fewer
+difficulties than a "natural classification;" but then it would interrupt
+many plain affinities. Extreme forms can readily be defined; but
+intermediate and troublesome forms {134} often destroy our definitions.
+Forms which may be called "aberrant" must sometimes be included within
+groups to which they do not accurately belong. Characters of all kinds must
+be used; but as with birds in a state of nature, those afforded by the beak
+are the best and most readily appreciated. It is not possible to weigh the
+importance of all the characters which have to be used so as to make the
+groups and sub-groups of equal value. Lastly, a group may contain only one
+race, and another and less distinctly defined group may contain several
+races and sub-races, and in this case it is difficult, as in the
+classification of natural species, to avoid placing too high a value on
+characters which are common to a large number of forms.
+
+In my measurements I have never trusted to the eye; and when speaking of a
+part being large or small, I always refer to the wild rock-pigeon (_Columba
+livia_) as the standard of comparison. The measurements are given in
+decimals of an inch.[279]
+
+I will now give a brief description of all the principal breeds. The
+following diagram may aid the reader in learning their names and seeing
+their affinities. The rock-pigeon, or _Columba livia_ (including under this
+name two or three closely-allied sub-species or geographical races,
+hereafter to be described), may be confidently viewed, as we shall see in
+the next chapter, as the common parent-form. The names in italics on the
+right-hand side of the table show us the most distinct breeds, or those
+which have undergone the greatest amount of modification. The lengths of
+the dotted lines rudely represent the degree of distinctness of each breed
+from the parent-stock, and the names {135} placed under each other in the
+columns show the more or less closely connecting links. The distances of
+the dotted lines from each other approximately represent the amount of
+difference between the several breeds.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 17.--The Rock-pigeon, or Columba livia.[280] The
+parent-form of all domesticated Pigeons.]
+
+{136}
+
+COLUMBA LIVIA or ROCK-PIGEON
+
+  GROUP I.               GROUP II.
+
+     1.     SUB-    2.       3.      4.
+     .   GROUPS.    .
+     .           Kali-Par
+     .              .
+     .              .
+     .              ...Murassa
+     .              .
+     .              .
+     .           Bussorah
+     .              .
+     .              ....................
+     .              .     .      .     .
+     .              . Bagadotten .     .
+     .              .     .      .     .
+     .              . Scanderoon .     .
+     .              .     .      .     .
+     .              .     .    Tronfo  .
+     .              .     .            .
+  German P.         .     .            .
+     . Lille P.     .     .            .
+     .     .     Dragon  Pigeon        .
+     .     .        .    Cygne         .
+  Dutch P. .        .     .            .
+     .     .        .     .            .
+     .......        .     .            .
+     .              .     .            .
+  English       English  Runt.        Barb.
+  Pouter.       Carrier.
+
+               GROUP III.                        GROUP IV.
+
+    5.     6.      7.      8.      9.  SUB-      10.     11.
+    .      .       .       .       .   GROUPS.   .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .    Persian    .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .    Tumbler    .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .     Lotan     .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .    Tumbler    .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .    Common     .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .    Tumbler    .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+   Java    .       .       .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+  Fantail  .       .       .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .    Turbit    .       .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .             .  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .    Trumpeter.  .  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .         Laugher.  .  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       . English Frill-back.  .  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .                   Nun.  .  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .                     Spot.  .  .
+    .      .       .       .       .                     Swallow.  .
+    .      .       .       .       .                Dove-cot pigeon.
+  Fantail. African Short-  Indian  Jacobin.
+           Owl.    faced   Frill-
+                   Tumbler. back.
+
+{137}
+
+GROUP I.
+
+This group includes a single race, that of the Pouters. If the most
+strongly marked sub-race be taken, namely, the Improved English Pouter,
+this is perhaps the most distinct of all domesticated pigeons.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 18.--English Pouter.]
+
+RACE I.--POUTER PIGEONS. (Kropf-tauben, German. Grosses-gorges, or boulans,
+French.)
+
+_Oesophagus of great size, barely separated from the crop, often inflated.
+Body and legs elongated. Beak of moderate dimensions._ {138}
+
+    _Sub-race I._--The improved English Pouter, when its crop is fully
+    inflated, presents a truly astonishing appearance. The habit of
+    slightly inflating the crop is common to all domestic pigeons, but is
+    carried to an extreme in the Pouter. The crop does not differ, except
+    in size, from that of other pigeons; but is less plainly separated by
+    an oblique construction from the oesophagus. The diameter of the upper
+    part of the oesophagus is immense, even close up to the head. The beak
+    in one bird which I possessed was almost completely buried when the
+    oesophagus was fully expanded. The males, especially when excited, pout
+    more than the females, and they glory in exercising this power. If a
+    bird will not, to use the technical expression, "play," the fancier, as
+    I have witnessed, by taking the beak into his mouth, blows him up like
+    a balloon; and the bird, then puffed up with wind and pride, struts
+    about, retaining his magnificent size as long as he can. Pouters often
+    take flight with their crops inflated; and after one of my birds had
+    swallowed a good meal of peas and water, as he flew up in order to
+    disgorge them and thus feed his nearly fledged young, I have heard the
+    peas rattling in his inflated crop as if in a bladder. When flying,
+    they often strike the backs of their wings together, and thus make a
+    clapping noise.
+
+    Pouters stand remarkably upright, and their bodies are thin and
+    elongated. In connexion with this form of body, the ribs are generally
+    broader and the vertebrae more numerous than in other breeds. From their
+    manner of standing their legs appear longer than they really are,
+    though, in proportion with those of _C. livia_, the legs and feet are
+    actually longer. The wings appear much elongated, but by measurement,
+    in relation to the length of body, this is not the case. The beak
+    likewise appears longer, but it is in fact a little shorter (about .03
+    of an inch), proportionally with the size of the body, and relatively
+    to the beak of the rock-pigeon. The Pouter, though not bulky, is a
+    large bird; I measured one which was 341/2 inches from tip to tip of
+    wing, and 19 inches from tip of beak to end of tail. In a wild
+    rock-pigeon from the Shetland Islands the same measurements gave only
+    281/4 and 143/4. There are many sub-varieties of the Pouter of different
+    colours, but these I pass over.
+
+    _Sub-race II. Dutch Pouter._--This seems to be the parent-form of our
+    improved English Pouters. I kept a pair, but I suspect that they were
+    not pure birds. They are smaller than English pouters, and less well
+    developed in all their characters. Neumeister[281] says that the wings
+    are crossed over the tail, and do not reach to its extremity.
+
+    _Sub-race III. The Lille Pouter_--I know this breed only from
+    description.[282] It approaches in general form the Dutch Pouter, but
+    the inflated oesophagus assumes a spherical form, as if the pigeon had
+    swallowed a large orange, which had stuck close under the beak. This
+    inflated ball is represented as rising to a level with the crown of the
+    head. The middle toe alone is feathered. A variety of this sub-race,
+    called the claquant, is described by MM. Boitard and Corbie; it pouts
+    but little, and is characterised {139} by the habit of violently
+    hitting its wings together over its back,--a habit which the English
+    Pouter has in a slight degree.
+
+    _Sub-race IV. Common German Pouter._--I know this bird only from the
+    figures and description given by the accurate Neumeister, one of the
+    few writers on pigeons who, as I have found, may be always trusted.
+    This sub-race seems considerably different. The upper part of the
+    oesophagus is much less distended. The bird stands less upright. The
+    feet are not feathered, and the legs and beak are shorter. In these
+    respects there is an approach in form to the common rock-pigeon. The
+    tail-feathers are very long, yet the tips of the closed wings extend
+    beyond the end of the tail; and the length of the wings, from tip to
+    tip, and of the body, is greater than in the English Pouter.
+
+GROUP II.
+
+This group includes three Races, namely, Carriers, Runts, and Barbs, which
+are manifestly allied to each other. Indeed, certain carriers and runts
+pass into each other by such insensible gradations that an arbitrary line
+has to be drawn between them. Carriers also graduate through foreign breeds
+into the rock-pigeon. Yet, if well-characterised Carriers and Barbs (see
+figs. 19 and 20) had existed as wild species, no ornithologist would have
+placed them in the same genus with each other or with the rock-pigeon. This
+group may, as a general rule, be recognised by the beak being long, with
+the skin over the nostrils swollen and often carunculated or wattled, and
+with that round the eyes bare and likewise carunculated. The mouth is very
+wide, and the feet are large. Nevertheless the Barb, which must be classed
+in this same group, has a very short beak, and some runts have very little
+bare skin round their eyes.
+
+RACE II.--CARRIERS. (Tuerkische Taube: Pigeons Turcs: Dragons.)
+
+_Beak elongated, narrow, pointed; eyes surrounded by much naked, generally
+carunculated skin; neck and body elongated._
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 19.--English Carrier.]
+
+    _Sub-race I. The English Carrier._--This is a fine bird, of large size,
+    close feathered, generally dark-coloured, with an elongated neck. The
+    beak is attenuated and of wonderful length: in one specimen it was 1.4
+    inch in length from the feathered base to the tip; therefore nearly
+    twice as long as that of the rock-pigeon, which measured only .77.
+    Whenever I compare proportionally any part in the carrier and
+    rock-pigeon, I take the length of the body from the base of the beak to
+    the end of the tail as the standard of comparison; and according to
+    this standard, the beak in one {140} Carrier was nearly half an inch
+    longer than in the rock-pigeon. The upper mandible is often slightly
+    arched. The tongue is very long. The development of the carunculated
+    skin or wattle round the eyes, over the nostrils, and on the lower
+    mandible, is prodigious. The eyelids, measured longitudinally, were in
+    some specimens exactly twice as long as in the rock-pigeon. The
+    external orifice or furrow of the nostrils was also twice as long. The
+    open mouth in its widest part was in one case .75 of an inch in width,
+    whereas in the rock-pigeon it is only about .4 of an inch. This great
+    width of mouth is shown in the skeleton by the reflexed edges of the
+    ramus of the lower jaw. The head is flat on the summit and narrow
+    between the orbits. The feet are large and coarse; the length, as {141}
+    measured from end of hind toe to end of middle toe (without the claws),
+    was in two specimens 2.6 inches; and this, proportionally with the
+    rock-pigeon, is an excess of nearly a quarter of an inch. One very fine
+    Carrier measured 311/2 inches from tip to tip of wing. Birds of this
+    sub-race are too valuable to be flown as carriers.
+
+    _Sub-race II. Dragons; Persian Carriers._--The English Dragon differs
+    from the improved English Carrier in being smaller in all its
+    dimensions, and in having less wattle round the eyes and over the
+    nostrils, and none on the lower mandible. Sir W. Elliot sent me from
+    Madras a Bagdad Carrier (sometimes called khandesi), the name of which
+    shows its Persian origin; it would be considered here a very poor
+    Dragon; the body was of the size of the rock-pigeon, with the beak a
+    little longer, namely, 1 inch from the tip to the feathered base. The
+    skin round the eyes was only slightly wattled, whilst that over the
+    nostrils was fairly wattled. The Hon. C. Murray, also, sent me two
+    Carriers direct from Persia; these had nearly the same character as the
+    Madras bird, being about as large as the rock-pigeon, but the beak in
+    one specimen was as much as 1.15 in length; the skin over the nostrils
+    was only moderately, and that round the eyes scarcely at all wattled.
+
+    _Sub-race III. Bagadotten-Tauben of Neumeister_ (Pavdotten or
+    Hocker-Tauben).--I owe to the kindness of Mr. Baily, jun., a dead
+    specimen of this singular breed imported from Germany. It is certainly
+    allied to the Runts; nevertheless, from its close affinity with
+    Carriers, it will be convenient here to describe it. The beak is long,
+    and is hooked or bowed downwards in a highly remarkable manner, as will
+    be seen in the woodcut to be hereafter given when I treat of the
+    skeleton. The eyes are surrounded by a wide space of bright red skin,
+    which, as well as that over the nostrils, is moderately wattled. The
+    breast-bone is remarkably protuberant, being abruptly bowed outwards.
+    The feet and tarsi are of great length, larger than in first-rate
+    English Carriers. The whole bird is of large size, but in proportion to
+    the size of the body the feathers of the wing and tail are short; a
+    wild rock-pigeon, of considerably less size, had tail-feathers 4.6
+    inches in length, whereas in the large Bagadotten these feathers were
+    scarcely over 4.1 inches in length. Riedel[283] remarks that it is a
+    very silent bird.
+
+    _Sub-race IV. Bussorah Carrier._--Two specimens were sent me by Sir W.
+    Elliot from Madras, one in spirits and the other skinned. The name
+    shows its Persian origin. It is much valued in India, and is considered
+    as a distinct breed from the Bagdad Carrier, which forms my second
+    sub-race. At first I suspected that these two sub-races might have been
+    recently formed by crosses with other breeds, though the estimation in
+    which they are held renders this improbable; but in a Persian
+    treatise,[284] believed to have been written about 100 years ago, the
+    Bagdad and Bussorah breeds are described as distinct. The Bussorah
+    Carrier is of about the same size with the wild rock-pigeon. The shape
+    of the beak, with some little carunculated skin over the nostrils,--the
+    much elongated eyelids,--the {142} broad mouth measured
+    internally,--the narrow head,--the feet proportionally a little longer
+    than in the rock-pigeon,--and the general appearance, all show that
+    this bird is an undoubted Carrier; yet in one specimen the beak was of
+    exactly the same length as in the rock-pigeon. In the other specimen
+    the beak (as well as the opening of the nostrils) was only a very
+    little longer, viz. by .08 of an inch. Although there was a
+    considerable space of bare and slightly carunculated skin round the
+    eyes, that over the nostrils was only in a slight degree rugose. Sir W.
+    Elliot informs me that in the living bird the eye seems remarkably
+    large and prominent, and the same fact is noticed in the Persian
+    treatise; but the bony orbit is barely larger than that in the
+    rock-pigeon.
+
+    Amongst the several breeds sent to me from Madras by Sir W. Elliot
+    there is a pair of the _Kala Par_, black birds with the beak slightly
+    elongated, with the skin over the nostrils rather full, and with a
+    little naked skin round the eyes. This breed seems more closely allied
+    to the Carrier than to any other breed, being nearly intermediate
+    between the Bussorah Carrier and the rock-pigeon.
+
+    The names applied in different parts of Europe and in India to the
+    several kinds of Carriers all point to Persia or the surrounding
+    countries as the source of this Race. And it deserves especial notice
+    that, even if we neglect the Kala Par as of doubtful origin, we get a
+    series broken by very small steps, from the rock-pigeon, through the
+    Bussorah, which sometimes has a beak not at all longer than that of the
+    rock-pigeon and with the naked skin round the eyes and over the
+    nostrils very slightly swollen and carunculated, through the Bagdad
+    sub-race and Dragons, to our improved English Carriers, which present
+    so marvellous a difference from the rock-pigeon or _Columba livia_.
+
+RACE III.--RUNTS. (Scanderoons: Die Florentiner-Taube and Hinkel-Taube of
+Neumeister: Pigeon Bagadais, Pigeon Romain.)
+
+_Beak long, massive; body of great size._
+
+    Inextricable confusion reigns in the classification, affinities, and
+    naming of Runts. Several characters which are generally pretty constant
+    in other pigeons, such as the length of the wings, tail, legs, and
+    neck, and the amount of naked skin round the eyes, are excessively
+    variable in Runts. When the naked skin over the nostrils and round the
+    eyes is considerably developed and wattled, and when the size of body
+    is not very great, Runts graduate in so insensible a manner into
+    Carriers, that the distinction is quite arbitrary. This fact is
+    likewise shown by the names given to them in different parts of Europe.
+    Nevertheless, taking the most distinct forms, at least five sub-races
+    (some of them including well-marked varieties) can be distinguished,
+    which differ in such important points of structure, that they would be
+    considered as good species in a state of nature.
+
+    _Sub-race I. Scanderoon of English writers_ (Die Florentiner and
+    Hinkel-Taube of Neumeister).--Birds of this sub-race, of which I kept
+    one alive {143} and have since seen two others, differ from the
+    Bagadotten of Neumeister only in not haying the beak nearly so much
+    curved downwards, and in the naked skin round the eyes and over the
+    nostrils being hardly at all wattled. Nevertheless I have felt myself
+    compelled to place the Bagadotten in Race II., or that of the Carriers,
+    and the present bird in Race III., or that of the Runts. The Scanderoon
+    has a very short, narrow, and elevated tail; wings extremely short, so
+    that the first primary feathers were not longer than those of a small
+    tumbler pigeon! Neck long, much bowed; breast-bone prominent. Beak
+    long, being 1.15 inch from tip to feathered base; vertically thick;
+    slightly curved downwards. The skin over the nostrils swollen, not
+    wattled; naked skin round the eyes, broad, slightly carunculated. Legs
+    long; feet very large. Skin of neck bright red, often showing a naked
+    medial line, with a naked red patch at the distant end of the radius of
+    the wing. My bird, as measured from the base of the beak to the root of
+    the tail, was fully 2 inches longer than the rock-pigeon; yet the tail
+    itself was only 4 inches in length, whereas in the rock-pigeon, which
+    is a much smaller bird, the tail is 4-5/8 inches in length.
+
+    The Hinkel or Florentiner-Taube of Neumeister (Table XIII., fig. 1)
+    agrees with the above description in all the specified characters (for
+    the beak is not mentioned), except that Neumeister expressly says that
+    the neck is short, whereas in my Scanderoon it was remarkably long and
+    bowed; so that the Hinkel forms a well-marked variety.
+
+    _Sub-race II. Pigeon Cygne and Pigeon Bagadais of Boitard and Corbie_
+    (Scanderoon of French writers).--I kept two of these birds alive,
+    imported from France. They differed from the first sub-race or true
+    Scanderoon in the much greater length of the wing and tail, in the beak
+    not being so long, and in the skin about the head being more
+    carunculated. The skin of the neck is red; but the naked patches on the
+    wings are absent. One of my birds measured 381/2 inches from tip to tip
+    of wing. By taking the length of the body as the standard of
+    comparison, the two wings were no loss than 5 inches longer than those
+    of the rock-pigeon! The tail was 61/4 inches in length, and therefore 21/4
+    inches longer than that of the Scanderoon,--a bird of nearly the same
+    size. The beak is longer, thicker, and broader than in the rock-pigeon,
+    proportionally with the size of body. The eyelids, nostrils, and
+    internal gape of mouth are all proportionally very large, as in
+    Carriers. The foot, from the end of the middle to end of hind toe, was
+    actually 2.85 inches in length, which is an excess of .32 of an inch
+    over the foot of the rock-pigeon, relatively to the size of the two
+    birds.
+
+    _Sub-race III. Spanish and Roman Runts_.--I am not sure that I am right
+    in placing these Runts in a distinct sub-race; yet, if we take
+    well-characterized birds, there can be no doubt of the propriety of the
+    separation. They are heavy, massive birds, with shorter necks, legs,
+    and beaks than in the foregoing races. The skin over the nostrils is
+    swollen, but not carunculated; the naked skin round the eyes is not
+    very wide, and only slightly carunculated; and I have seen a fine
+    so-called Spanish Runt with hardly any naked skin round the eyes. Of
+    the two varieties to be seen in England, one, which is the rarer, has
+    very long wings and tail, {144} and agrees pretty closely with the last
+    sub-race; the other, with shorter wings and tail, is apparently the
+    _Pigeon Romain ordinaire_ of Boitard and Corbie. These Runts are apt to
+    tremble like Fantails. They are bad flyers. A few years ago Mr.
+    Gulliver[285] exhibited a Runt which weighed 1 lb. 14 oz.; and, as I am
+    informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, two Runts from the south of France were
+    lately exhibited at the Crystal Palace, each of which weighed 2 lbs. 21/2
+    oz. A very fine rock-pigeon from the Shetland Islands weighed only 141/2
+    oz.
+
+    _Sub-race IV. Tronfo of Aldrovandi_ (Leghorn Runt?).--In Aldrovandi's
+    work published in 1600 there is a coarse woodcut of a great Italian
+    pigeon, with an elevated tail, short legs, massive body, and with the
+    beak short and thick. I had imagined that this latter character, so
+    abnormal in the group, was merely a false representation from bad
+    drawing; but Moore, in his work published in 1735, says that he
+    possessed a Leghorn Runt of which "the beak was very short for so large
+    a bird." In other respects Moore's bird resembled the first sub-race or
+    Scanderoon, for it had a long bowed neck, long legs, short beak, and
+    elevated tail, and not much wattle about the head. So that Aldrovandi's
+    and Moore's birds must have formed distinct varieties, both of which
+    seem to be now extinct in Europe. Sir W. Elliot, however, informs me
+    that he has seen in Madras a short-beaked Runt imported from Cairo.
+
+    _Sub-race V. Murassa (adorned Pigeon) of Madras._--Skins of these
+    handsome chequered birds were sent me from Madras by Sir W. Elliot.
+    They are rather larger than the largest rock-pigeon, with longer and
+    more massive beaks. The skin over the nostrils is rather full and very
+    slightly carunculated, and they have some naked skin round the eyes:
+    feet large. This breed is intermediate between the rock-pigeon and a
+    very poor variety of Runt or Carrier.
+
+    From these several descriptions we see that with Runts, as with
+    Carriers, we have a fine gradation from the rock-pigeon (with the
+    Tronfo diverging as a distinct branch) to our largest and most massive
+    Runts. But the chain of affinities, and many points of resemblance,
+    between Runts and Carriers, make me believe that these two races have
+    not descended by independent lines from the rock-pigeon, but from some
+    common parent, as represented in the Table, which had already acquired
+    a moderately long beak, with slightly swollen skin over the nostrils,
+    and with some slightly carunculated naked skin round the eyes.
+
+RACE IV.--BARBS. (Indische-Taube: Pigeons Polonais.)
+
+_Beak short, broad, deep; naked skin round the eyes, broad and
+carunculated; skin over nostrils slightly swollen._
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 20.--English Barb.]
+
+    Misled by the extraordinary shortness and form of the beak, I did not
+    at first perceive the near affinity of this Race to that of Carriers
+    until the fact was pointed out to me by Mr. Brent. Subsequently, after
+    examining {145} the Bussorah Carrier, I saw that no very great amount
+    of modification would be requisite to convert it into a Barb. This view
+    of the affinity of Barbs to Carriers is supported by the analogical
+    difference between the short and long-beaked Runts; and still more
+    strongly by the fact, that young Barbs and Dragons, within 24 hours
+    after being hatched, resemble each other much more closely than do
+    young pigeons of other and equally distinct breeds. At this early age,
+    the length of beak, the swollen skin over the rather open nostrils, the
+    gape of the mouth, and the size of the feet, are the same in both;
+    although these parts afterwards become widely different. We thus see
+    that embryology (as the comparison of very young animals {146} may
+    perhaps be called) comes into play in the classification of domestic
+    varieties, as with species in a state of nature.
+
+    Fanciers, with some truth, compare the head and beak of the Barb to
+    that of a bullfinch. The Barb, if found in a state of nature, would
+    certainly have been placed in a new genus formed for its reception. The
+    body is a little larger than that of the rock-pigeon, but the beak is
+    more than .2 of an inch shorter; although shorter, it is both
+    vertically and horizontally thicker. From the outward flexure of the
+    rami of the lower jaw, the mouth internally is very broad, in the
+    proportion of .6 to .4 to that of the rock-pigeon. The whole head is
+    broad. The skin over the nostrils is swollen, but not carunculated,
+    except slightly in first-rate birds when old; whilst the naked skin
+    round the eye is broad and much carunculated. It is sometimes so much
+    developed, that a bird belonging to Mr. Harrison Weir could hardly see
+    to pick up food from the ground. The eyelids in one specimen were
+    nearly twice as long as those of the rock-pigeon. The feet are coarse
+    and strong, but proportionally rather shorter than in the rock-pigeon.
+    The plumage is generally dark and uniform. Barbs, in short, may be
+    called short-beaked Carriers, bearing the same relation to Carriers
+    that the Tronfo of Aldrovandi does to the common Runt.
+
+GROUP III.
+
+This group is artificial, and includes a heterogeneous collection of
+distinct forms. It may be defined by the beak, in well-characterised
+specimens of the several races, being shorter than in the rock-pigeon, and
+by the skin round the eyes not being much developed.
+
+RACE V.--FANTAILS.
+
+_Sub-race I. European Fantails_ (Pfauen-Taube; Trembleurs). _Tail expanded,
+directed upwards, formed of many feathers; oil-gland aborted; body and beak
+rather short_.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 21.--English Fantail.]
+
+    The normal number of tail-feathers in the genus Columba is 12; but
+    Fantails have from only 12 (as has been asserted) up to, according to
+    MM. Boitard and Corbie, 42. I have counted in one of my own birds 33,
+    and at Calcutta Mr. Blyth[286] has counted in an _imperfect_ tail 34
+    feathers. In Madras, as I am informed by Sir W. Elliot, 32 is the
+    standard number; but in England number is much less valued than the
+    position and expansion of the tail. The feathers are arranged in an
+    irregular double row; their permanent expansion, like a fan, and their
+    upward direction, are more remarkable characters than their increased
+    number. The tail is capable of the same movements as in other pigeons,
+    and can be depressed so as to sweep the ground. It arises from a more
+    expanded basis than in {147} other pigeons; and in three skeletons
+    there were one or two extra coccygeal vertebrae. I have examined many
+    specimens of various colours from different countries, and there was no
+    trace of the oil-gland; this is a curious case of abortion.[287] The
+    neck is thin and bowed {148} backwards. The breast is broad and
+    protuberant. The feet are small. The carriage of the bird is very
+    different from that of other pigeons; in good birds the head touches
+    the tail-feathers, which consequently often become crumpled. They
+    habitually tremble much; and their necks have an extraordinary,
+    apparently convulsive, backward and forward movement. Good birds walk
+    in a singular manner, as if their small feet were stiff. Owing to their
+    large tails, they fly badly on a windy day. The dark-coloured varieties
+    are generally larger than white Fantails.
+
+    Although between the best and common Fantails, now existing in England,
+    there is a vast difference in the position and size of the tail, in the
+    carriage of the head and neck, in the convulsive movements of the neck,
+    in the manner of walking, and in the breadth of the breast, the
+    differences so graduate away, that it is impossible to make more than
+    one sub-race. Moore, however, an excellent old authority,[288] says,
+    that in 1735 there were two sorts of broad-tailed shakers (_i.e._
+    fantails), "one having a neck much longer and more slender than the
+    other;" and I am informed by Mr. B. P. Brent that there is an existing
+    German Fantail with a thicker and shorter beak.
+
+    _Sub-race II. Java Fantail._--Mr. Swinhoe sent me from Amoy, in China,
+    the skin of a Fantail belonging to a breed known to have been imported
+    from Java. It was coloured in a peculiar manner, unlike any European
+    Fantail, and, for a Fantail, had a remarkably short beak. Although a
+    good bird of the kind, it had only 14 tail-feathers; but Mr. Swinhoe
+    has counted in other birds of this breed from 18 to 24 tail-feathers.
+    From a rough sketch sent to me, it is evident that the tail is not so
+    much expanded or so much upraised as in even second-rate European
+    Fantails. The bird shakes its neck like our Fantails. It had a
+    well-developed oil-gland. Fantails were known in India, as we shall
+    hereafter see, before the year 1600; and we may suspect that in the
+    Java Fantail we see the breed in its earlier and less improved
+    condition.
+
+RACE VI.--TURBIT AND OWL. (Moeven-Taube: Pigeons a cravate.)
+
+_Feathers divergent along the front of the neck and breast; beak very
+short, vertically rather thick; oesophagus somewhat enlarged._
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 22.--African Owl.]
+
+    Turbits and Owls differ from each other slightly in the shape of the
+    head, in the former having a crest, and in the curvature of the beak,
+    but they may be here conveniently grouped together. These pretty birds,
+    some of which are very small, can be recognised at once by the feathers
+    irregularly diverging, like a frill, along the front of the neck, in
+    the same manner, but in a less degree, as along the back of the neck in
+    the Jacobin. This bird has the remarkable habit of continually, and
+    momentarily inflating the upper part of the oesophagus, which causes a
+    movement in the frill. {149} When the oesophagus of a dead bird was
+    inflated, it was seen to be larger than in other breeds, and not so
+    distinctly separated from the crop. The Pouter inflates both its true
+    crop and oesophagus; the Turbit inflates in a much less degree the
+    oesophagus alone. The beak of the Turbit is very short, being .28 of an
+    inch shorter than that of the rock-pigeon, proportionally with the size
+    of their bodies; and in some owls brought by Mr. E. Vernon Harcourt
+    from Tunis, it was even shorter. The beak is vertically thicker, and
+    perhaps a little broader, in proportion to that of the rock-pigeon.
+
+{150}
+
+RACE VII.--TUMBLERS. (Tuemmler, or Burzel-Tauben: Culbutants.)
+
+_During flight, tumble backwards; body generally small; beak generally
+short, sometimes excessively short and conical._
+
+    This Race may be divided into four sub-races, namely, Persian, Lotan,
+    Common, and Short-faced Tumblers. These sub-races include many
+    varieties which breed true. I have examined eight skeletons of various
+    kinds of Tumblers: excepting in one imperfect and doubtful specimen,
+    the ribs are only seven in number, whereas the rock-pigeon has eight
+    ribs.
+
+    _Sub-race I. Persian Tumblers._--I have received a pair direct from
+    Persia, from the Hon. C. Murray. They were rather smaller birds than
+    the wild rock-pigeon, being about the size of the common
+    dovecot-pigeon, white and mottled, slightly feathered on the feet, with
+    the beak just perceptibly shorter than in the rock-pigeon. H.M. Consul,
+    Mr. Keith Abbott, informs me that the difference in the length of beak
+    is so slight, that only practised Persian fanciers can distinguish
+    these Tumblers from the common pigeon of the country. He informs me
+    that they fly in flocks high up in the air and tumble well. Some of
+    them occasionally appear to become giddy and tumble to the ground, in
+    which respect they resemble some of our Tumblers.
+
+    _Sub-race II. Lotan, or Lowtun: Indian Ground Tumblers._--These birds
+    present one of the most remarkable inherited habits or instincts which
+    have ever been recorded. The specimens sent to me from Madras by Sir W.
+    Elliot are white, slightly feathered on the feet, with the feathers on
+    the head reversed; and they are rather smaller than the rock or dovecot
+    pigeon. The beak is proportionally only slightly shorter and rather
+    thinner than in the rock-pigeon. These birds when gently shaken and
+    placed on the ground immediately begin tumbling head over heels, and
+    they continue thus to tumble until taken up and soothed,--the ceremony
+    being generally to blow in their faces, as in recovering a person from
+    a state of hypnotism or mesmerism. It is asserted that they will
+    continue to roll over till they die, if not taken up. There is abundant
+    evidence with respect to these remarkable peculiarities; but what makes
+    the case the more worthy of attention is, that the habit has been
+    strictly inherited since before the year 1600, for the breed is
+    distinctly described in the 'Ayeen Akbery.'[289] Mr. Evans kept a pair
+    in London, imported by Captain Vigne; and he assures me that he has
+    seen them tumble in the air, as well as in the manner above described
+    on the ground. Sir W. Elliot, however, writes to me from Madras, that
+    he is informed that they tumble exclusively on the ground, or at a very
+    small height above it. He also {151} mentions another sub-variety,
+    called the Kalmi Lotan, which begins to roll over if only touched on
+    the neck with a rod or wand.
+
+    _Sub-race III. Common English Tumblers._--These birds have exactly the
+    same habits as the Persian Tumbler, but tumble better. The English bird
+    is rather smaller than the Persian, and the beak is plainly shorter.
+    Compared with the rock-pigeon, and proportionally with the size of
+    body, the beak is from .16 to nearly .2 of an inch shorter, but it is
+    not thinner. There are several varieties of the common Tumbler, namely,
+    Baldheads, Beards, and Dutch Rollers. I have kept the latter alive;
+    they have differently shaped heads, longer necks, and are
+    feather-footed. They tumble to an extraordinary degree; as Mr. Brent
+    remarks,[290] "Every few seconds over they go; one, two, or three
+    summersaults at a time. Here and there a bird gives a very quick and
+    rapid spin, revolving like a wheel, though they sometimes lose their
+    balance, and make a rather ungraceful fall, in which they occasionally
+    hurt themselves by striking some object." From Madras I have received
+    several specimens of the common Tumbler of India, differing slightly
+    from each other in the length of their beaks. Mr. Brent sent me a dead
+    specimen of a "House-tumbler,"[291] which is a Scotch variety, not
+    differing in general appearance and form of beak from the common
+    Tumbler. Mr. Brent states that these birds generally begin to tumble
+    "almost as soon as they can well fly; at three months old they tumble
+    well, but still fly strong; at five or six months they tumble
+    excessively; and in the second year they mostly give up flying, on
+    account of their tumbling so much and so close to the ground. Some fly
+    round with the flock, throwing a clean summersault every few yards,
+    till they are obliged to settle from giddiness and exhaustion. These
+    are called Air Tumblers, and they commonly throw from twenty to thirty
+    summersaults in a minute, each clear and clean. I have one red cock
+    that I have on two or three occasions timed by my watch, and counted
+    forty summersaults in the minute. Others tumble differently. At first
+    they throw a single summersault, then it is double, till it becomes a
+    continuous roll, which puts an end to flying, for if they fly a few
+    yards over they go, and roll till they reach the ground. Thus I had one
+    kill herself, and another broke his leg. Many of them turn over only a
+    few inches from the ground, and will tumble two or three times in
+    flying across their loft. These are called House-tumblers, from
+    tumbling in the house. The act of tumbling seems to be one over which
+    they have no control, an involuntary movement which they seem to try to
+    prevent. I have seen a bird sometimes in his struggles fly a yard or
+    two straight upwards, the impulse forcing him backwards while he
+    struggles to go forwards. If suddenly startled, or in a strange place,
+    they seem less able to fly than if quiet in their accustomed loft."
+    These House-tumblers differ from the Lotan or Ground {152} Tumbler of
+    India, in not requiring to be shaken in order to begin tumbling. The
+    breed has probably been formed merely by selecting the best common
+    Tumblers, though it is possible that they may have been crossed at some
+    former period with Lotans.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 23.--Short-faced English Tumbler.]
+
+    _Sub-race IV. Short-faced Tumblers._--These are marvellous birds, and
+    are the glory and pride of many fanciers. In their extremely short,
+    sharp, and conical beaks, with the skin over the nostrils but little
+    developed, they almost depart from the type of the Columbidae. Their
+    heads are nearly globular {153} and upright in front, so that some
+    fanciers say[292] "the head should resemble a cherry with a barley-corn
+    stuck in it." These are the smallest kind of pigeons. Mr. Esquilant
+    possessed a blue Baldhead, two years old, which when alive weighed,
+    before feeding-time, only 6 oz. 5 drs.; two others, each weighed 7 oz.
+    We have seen that a wild rock-pigeon weighed 14 oz. 2 drs., and a Runt
+    34 oz. 4 drs. Short-faced Tumblers have a remarkably erect carriage,
+    with prominent breasts, drooping wings, and very small feet. The length
+    of the beak from the tip to the feathered base was in one good bird
+    only .4 of an inch; in a wild rock-pigeon it was exactly double this
+    length. As these Tumblers have shorter bodies than the wild
+    rock-pigeon, they ought of course to have shorter beaks; but
+    proportionally with the size of body, the beak is .28 of an inch too
+    short. So, again, the feet of this bird were actually .45 shorter, and
+    proportionally .21 of an inch shorter, than the feet of the
+    rock-pigeon. The middle toe has only twelve or thirteen, instead of
+    fourteen or fifteen scutellae. The primary wing-feathers are not rarely
+    only nine instead of ten in number. The improved short-faced Tumblers
+    have almost lost the power of tumbling; but there are several authentic
+    accounts of their occasionally tumbling. There are several
+    sub-varieties, such as Baldheads, Beards, Mottles, and Almonds; the
+    latter are remarkable from not acquiring their perfectly-coloured
+    plumage until they have moulted three or four times. There is good
+    reason to believe that most of these sub-varieties, some of which breed
+    truly, have arisen since the publication of Moore's treatise in
+    1735.[293]
+
+    Finally, in regard to the whole group of Tumblers, it is impossible to
+    conceive a more perfect gradation than I have now lying before me, from
+    the rock-pigeon, through Persian, Lotan, and Common Tumblers, up to the
+    marvellous short-faced birds; which latter, no ornithologist, judging
+    from mere external structure, would place in the same genus with the
+    rock-pigeon. The differences between the successive steps in this
+    series are not greater than those which may be observed between common
+    dovecot-pigeons (_C. livia_) brought from different countries.
+
+RACE VIII--INDIAN FRILL-BACK.
+
+_Beak very short; feathers reversed._
+
+    A specimen of this bird, in spirits, was sent to me from Madras by Sir
+    W. Elliot. It is wholly different from the Frill-back often exhibited
+    in England. It is a smallish bird, about the size of the common
+    Tumbler, but has a beak in all its proportions like our short-faced
+    Tumblers. The beak, measured from the tip to the feathered base, was
+    only .46 of an inch in length. The feathers over the whole body are
+    reversed or curl backwards. Had this bird occurred in Europe, I should
+    have thought it only a monstrous variety of our improved Tumbler; but
+    as short-faced Tumblers are not known in India, I think it must rank as
+    a distinct breed. Probably {154} this is the breed seen by Hasselquist
+    in 1757 at Cairo, and said to have been imported from India.
+
+RACE IX.--JACOBIN. (Zopf or Peruecken-Taube: Nonnains.)
+
+_Feathers of the neck forming a hood; wings and tail long; beak moderately
+short._
+
+    This pigeon can at once be recognised by its hood, almost enclosing the
+    head and meeting in front of the neck. The hood seems to be merely an
+    exaggeration of the crest of reversed feathers on the back of the head,
+    which is common to many sub-varieties, and which in the Latz-taube[294]
+    is in a nearly intermediate state between a hood and a crest. The
+    feathers of the hood are elongated. Both the wings and tail are
+    likewise much elongated; thus the folded wing of the Jacobin, though a
+    somewhat smaller bird, is fully 11/4 inch longer than in the rock-pigeon.
+    Taking the length of the body without the tail as the standard of
+    comparison, the folded wing, proportionally with the wings of the
+    rock-pigeon, is 21/4 inches too long, and the two wings, from tip to tip,
+    51/4 inches too long. In disposition this bird is singularly quiet,
+    seldom flying or moving about, as Bechstein and Riedel have likewise
+    remarked in Germany.[295] The latter author also notices the length of
+    the wings and tail. The beak is nearly .2 of an inch shorter in
+    proportion to the size of the body than in the rock-pigeon; but the
+    internal gape of the mouth is considerably wider.
+
+GROUP IV.
+
+The birds of this group may be characterised by their resemblance in all
+important points of structure, especially in the beak, to the rock-pigeon.
+The Trumpeter forms the only well-marked race. Of the numerous other
+sub-races and varieties I shall specify only a few of the most distinct,
+which I have myself seen and kept alive.
+
+RACE X.--TRUMPETER. (Trommel-Taube; Pigeon tambour; glougou.)
+
+_A tuft of feathers at the base of the beak curling forward; feet much
+feathered; voice very peculiar; size exceeding that of the rock-pigeon._
+
+    This is a well-marked breed, with a peculiar voice, wholly unlike that
+    of any other pigeon. The coo is rapidly repeated, and is continued for
+    {155} several minutes; hence their name of Trumpeters. They are also
+    characterised by a tuft of elongated feathers, which curls forward over
+    the base of the beak, and which is possessed by no other breed. Their
+    feet are so heavily feathered, that they almost appear like little
+    wings. They are larger birds than the rock-pigeon, but their beak is of
+    very nearly the same proportional size. Their feet are rather small.
+    This breed was perfectly characterised in Moore's time, in 1735. Mr.
+    Brent says that two varieties exist, which differ in size.
+
+RACE XI.--_Scarcely differing in structure from the wild Columba livia._
+
+    _Sub-race 1. Laughers. Size less than the Rock-pigeon; voice very
+    peculiar._--As this bird agrees in nearly all its proportions with the
+    rock-pigeon, though of smaller size, I should not have thought it
+    worthy of mention, had it not been for its peculiar voice--a character
+    supposed seldom to vary with birds. Although the voice of the Laugher
+    is very different from that of the Trumpeter, yet one of my Trumpeters
+    used to utter a single note like that of the Laugher. I have kept two
+    varieties of Laughers, which differed only in one variety being
+    turn-crowned; the smooth-headed kind, for which I am indebted to the
+    kindness of Mr. Brent, besides its peculiar note, used to coo in a
+    singular and pleasing manner, which, independently, struck both Mr.
+    Brent and myself as resembling that of the turtle-dove. Both varieties
+    come from Arabia. This breed was known by Moore in 1735. A pigeon which
+    seems to say Yak-roo is mentioned in 1600 in the 'Ayeen Akbery,' and is
+    probably the same breed. Sir W. Elliot has also sent me from Madras a
+    pigeon called Yahui, said to have come from Mecca, which does not
+    differ in appearance from the Laugher; it has "a deep melancholy voice,
+    like Yahu, often repeated." Yahu, yahu, means Oh God, Oh God; and
+    Sayzid Mohammed Musari, in the treatise written about 100 years ago,
+    says that these birds "are not flown, because they repeat the name of
+    the Most High God." Mr. Keith Abbott, however, informs me that the
+    common pigeon is called Yahoo in Persia.
+
+    _Sub-race II. Common Frill-back_ (Die Strupp-Taube). _Beak rather
+    longer than in the Rock-pigeon; feathers reversed._--This is a
+    considerably larger bird than the rock-pigeons and with the beak,
+    proportionally with the size of body, a little (viz. by .04 of an inch)
+    longer. The feathers, especially on the wing-coverts, have their points
+    curled upwards or backwards.
+
+    _Sub-race III. Nuns_ (Pigeons-coquilles).--These elegant birds are
+    smaller than the rock-pigeon. The beak is actually .17, and
+    proportionally with the size of the body .1 of an inch shorter than in
+    the rock-pigeons, although of the same thickness. In young birds the
+    scutellae on the tarsi and toes are generally of a leaden-black colour;
+    and this is a remarkable character (though observed in a lesser degree
+    in some other breeds), as the colour of the legs in the adult state is
+    subject to very little variation in any breed. I have on two or three
+    occasions counted thirteen or fourteen feathers in the tail; this
+    likewise occurs in the barely distinct breed called Helmets. {156} Nuns
+    are symmetrically coloured, with the head, primary wing-feathers, tail,
+    and tail-coverts of the same colour, namely, black or red, and with the
+    rest of the body white. This breed has retained the same character
+    since Aldrovandi wrote in 1600. I have received from Madras almost
+    similarly coloured birds.
+
+    _Sub-race IV. Spots_ (Die Blass-Taube: Pigeons heurtes).--These birds
+    are a very little larger than the rock-pigeon, with the beak a trace
+    smaller in all its dimensions, and with the feet decidedly smaller.
+    They are symmetrically coloured, with a spot on the forehead, with the
+    tail and tail-coverts of the same colour, the rest of the body being
+    white. This breed existed in 1676;[296] and in 1735 Moore remarks that
+    they breed truly, as is the case at the present day.
+
+    _Sub-race V. Swallows._--These birds, as measured from tip to tip of
+    wing, or from the end of the beak to the end of the tail, exceed in
+    size the rock-pigeon; but their bodies are much less bulky; their feet
+    and legs are likewise smaller. The beak is of about the same length,
+    but rather slighter. Altogether their general appearance is
+    considerably different from that of the rock-pigeon. Their heads and
+    wings are of the same colour, the rest of the body being white. Their
+    flight is said to be peculiar. This seems to be a modern breed, which,
+    however, originated before the year 1795 in Germany, for it is
+    described by Bechstein.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Besides the several breeds now described, three or four other very
+    distinct kinds existed lately, or perhaps still exist, in Germany and
+    France. Firstly, the Karmeliten, or Carme Pigeon, which I have not
+    seen; it is described as of small size, with very short legs, and with
+    an extremely short beak. Secondly, the Finnikin, which is now extinct
+    in England. It had, according to Moore's[297] treatise, published in
+    1735, a tuft of feathers on the hinder part of the head, which ran down
+    its back not unlike a horse's mane. "When it is salacious it rises over
+    the hen and turns round three or four times, flapping its wings, then
+    reverses and turns as many times the other way." The Turner, on the
+    other hand, when it "plays to the female, turns only one way." Whether
+    these extraordinary statements may be trusted I know not; but the
+    inheritance of any habit may be believed, after what we have seen with
+    respect to the Ground-tumbler of India. MM. Boitard and Corbie describe
+    a pigeon[298] which has the singular habit of sailing for a
+    considerable time through the air, without flapping its wings, like a
+    bird of prey. The confusion is inextricable, from the time of
+    Aldrovandi in 1600 to the present day, in the accounts published of the
+    Draijers, Smiters, Finnikins, Turners, Claquers, &c., which are all
+    remarkable from their manner of flight. Mr. Brent informs me that he
+    has seen one of these breeds in Germany with its wing-feathers injured
+    from having been so often struck together; but he did not see it
+    flying. An old stuffed specimen of a Finnikin in the British Museum
+    presents no well-marked character. Thirdly, a singular pigeon {157}
+    with a forked tail is mentioned in some treatises; and as
+    Bechstein[299] briefly describes and figures this bird, with a tail
+    "having completely the structure of that of the house-swallow," it must
+    once have, existed, for Bechstein was far too good a naturalist to have
+    confounded any distinct species with the domestic pigeon. Lastly, an
+    extraordinary pigeon imported from Belgium has lately been exhibited at
+    the Philoperisteron Society in London,[300] which "conjoins the colour
+    of an archangel with the head of an owl or barb, its most striking
+    peculiarity being the extraordinary length of the tail and
+    wing-feathers, the latter crossing beyond the tail, and giving to the
+    bird the appearance of a gigantic swift (Cypselus), or long-winged
+    hawk." Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that this bird weighed only 10 ounces,
+    but in length was 151/2 inches from tip of beak to end of tail, and 321/2
+    inches from tip to tip of wing; now the wild rock-pigeon weighs 141/2
+    ounces, and measures from tip of beak to end of tail 15 inches, and
+    from tip to tip of wing only 263/4 inches.
+
+I have now described all the domestic pigeons known to me, and have added a
+few others on reliable authority. I have classed them under four Groups, in
+order to mark their affinities and degrees of difference; but the third
+group is artificial. The kinds examined by me form eleven races, which
+include several sub-races; and even these latter present differences that
+would certainly have been thought of specific value if observed in a state
+of nature. The sub-races likewise include many strictly inherited
+varieties; so that altogether there must exist, as previously stated, above
+150 kinds which can be distinguished, though generally by characters of
+extremely slight importance. Many of the genera of the Columbidae, which are
+admitted by ornithologists, do not differ in any great degree from each
+other; taking this into consideration, there can be no doubt that several
+of the most strongly characterised domestic forms, if found wild, would
+have been placed in at least five new genera. Thus, a new genus would have
+been formed for the reception of the improved English Pouter: a second
+genus for Carriers and Runts; and this would have been a wide or
+comprehensive genus, for it would have admitted common Spanish Runts
+without any wattle, short-beaked Runts like the Tronfo, and the improved
+English Carrier: a third genus would have been termed for the Barb: a
+fourth for the Fantail: and lastly, a fifth for the short-beaked,
+not-wattled pigeons, such as Turbits {158} and short-faced Tumblers. The
+remaining domestic forms might have been included in the same genus with
+the wild rock-pigeon.
+
+_Individual Variability; Variations of a remarkable nature._
+
+The differences which we have as yet considered are characteristic of
+distinct breeds; but there are other differences, either confined to
+individual birds, or often observed in certain breeds but not
+characteristic of them. These individual differences are of importance, as
+they might in most cases be secured and accumulated by man's power of
+selection; and thus an existing breed might be greatly modified or a new
+one formed. Fanciers notice and select only those slight differences which
+are externally visible; but the whole organisation is so tied together by
+correlation of growth, that a change in one part is frequently accompanied
+by other changes. For our purpose, modifications of all kinds are equally
+important, and, if affecting a part which does not commonly vary, are of
+more importance than a modification in some conspicuous part. At the
+present day any visible deviation of character in a well-established breed
+is rejected as a blemish; but it by no means follows that at an early
+period, before well-marked breeds had been formed, such deviations would
+have been rejected; on the contrary, they would have been eagerly preserved
+as presenting a novelty, and would then have been slowly augmented, as we
+shall hereafter more clearly see, by the process of unconscious selection.
+
+    I have made numerous measurements of the various parts of the body in
+    the several breeds, and have hardly ever found them quite the same in
+    birds of the same breed,--the differences being greater than we
+    commonly meet with in wild species. To begin with the primary feathers
+    of the wing and tail; but I may first mention, as some readers may not
+    be aware of the fact, that the number of the primary wing and tail
+    feathers in wild birds is generally constant, and characterises, not
+    only whole genera, but even whole families. When the tail-feathers are
+    unusually numerous, as for instance in the swan, they are apt to be
+    variable in number; but this does not apply to the several species and
+    genera of the Columbidae, which never (as far as I can hear) have less
+    than twelve or more than sixteen tail-feathers; and these numbers
+    characterise, with rare exception, whole sub-families.[301] The wild
+    rock-pigeon has twelve tail-feathers. With {159} Fantails, as we have
+    seen, the number varies from fourteen to forty-two. In two young birds
+    in the same nest I counted twenty-two and twenty-seven feathers.
+    Pouters are very liable to have additional tail-feathers, and I have
+    seen on several occasions fourteen or fifteen in my own birds, Mr. Bult
+    had a specimen, examined by Mr. Yarrell, with seventeen tail-feathers.
+    I had a Nun with thirteen, and another with fourteen tail-feathers; and
+    in a Helmet, a breed barely distinguishable from the Nun, I have
+    counted fifteen, and have heard of other such instances. On the other
+    hand, Mr. Brent possessed a Dragon, which during its whole life never
+    had more than ten tail-feathers; and one of my Dragons, descended from
+    Mr. Brent's, had only eleven. I have seen a Baldhead-Tumbler with only
+    ten; and Mr. Brent had an Air-Tumbler with the same number, but another
+    with fourteen tail-feathers. Two of these latter Tumblers, bred by Mr.
+    Brent, were remarkable,--one from having the two central tail-feathers
+    a little divergent, and the other from having the two outer feathers
+    longer by three-eighths of an inch than the others; so that in both
+    cases the tail exhibited a tendency, but in different ways, to become
+    forked. And this shows us how a swallow-tailed breed, like that
+    described by Bechstein, might have been formed by careful selection.
+
+    With respect to the primary wing-feathers, the number in the Columbidae,
+    as far as I can find out, is always nine or ten. In the rock-pigeon it
+    is ten; but I have seen no less than eight short-faced Tumblers with
+    only nine primaries, and the occurrence of this number has been noticed
+    by fanciers, owing to ten flight-feathers of a white colour being one
+    of the points in Short-faced Baldhead-Tumblers. Mr. Brent, however, had
+    an Air-Tumbler (not short-faced) which had in both wings eleven
+    primaries. Mr. Corker, the eminent breeder of prize Carriers, assures
+    me that some of his birds had eleven primaries in both wings. I have
+    seen eleven in one wing in two Pouters. I have been assured by three
+    fanciers that they have seen twelve in Scanderoons; but as Neumeister
+    asserts that in the allied Florence Runt the middle flight-feather is
+    often double, the number twelve may have been caused by two of the ten
+    primaries having each two shafts to a single feather. The secondary
+    wing-feathers are difficult to count, but the number seems to vary from
+    twelve to fifteen. The length of the wing and tail relatively to the
+    body, and of the wings to the tail, certainly varies; I have especially
+    noticed this in Jacobins. In Mr. Bult's magnificent collection of
+    Pouters, the wings and tail varied greatly in length; and were
+    sometimes so much elongated that the birds could hardly play upright.
+    In the relative length of the few first primaries I have observed only
+    a slight degree of variability. Mr. Brent informs me that he has
+    observed the shape of the first feather to vary very slightly. But the
+    variation in these latter points is extremely slight compared with what
+    may often be observed in the natural species of the Columbidae.
+
+    In the beak I have observed very considerable differences in birds of
+    the {160} same breed, as in carefully bred Jacobins and Trumpeters. In
+    Carriers there is often a conspicuous difference in the degree of
+    attenuation and curvature of the beak. So it is indeed in many breeds:
+    thus I had two strains of black Barbs, which evidently differed in the
+    curvature of the upper mandible. In width of mouth I have found a great
+    difference in two Swallows. In Fantails of first-rate merit I have seen
+    some birds with much longer and thinner necks than in others. Other
+    analogous facts could be given. We have seen that the oil-gland is
+    aborted in all Fantails (with the exception of the sub-race from Java),
+    and, I may add, so hereditary is this tendency to abortion, that some,
+    although not all, of the mongrels from the Fantail and Pouter had no
+    oil-gland; in one Swallow out of many which I have examined, and in two
+    Nuns, there was no oil-gland.
+
+    The number of the scutellae on the toes often varies in the same breed,
+    and sometimes even differs on the two feet of the same individual; the
+    Shetland rock-pigeon has fifteen on the middle, and six on the hinder
+    toe; whereas I have seen a Runt with sixteen on the middle and eight on
+    the hind toe; and a short-faced Tumbler with only twelve and five on
+    these same toes. The rock-pigeon has no sensible amount of skin between
+    its toes; but I possessed a Spot and a Nun with the skin extending for
+    a space of a quarter of an inch from the fork, between the two _inner_
+    toes. On the other hand, as will hereafter be more fully shown, pigeons
+    with feathered feet very generally have the bases of their _outer_ toes
+    connected by skin. I had a red Tumbler, which had a coo unlike that of
+    its fellows, approaching in tone to that of the Laugher: this bird had
+    the habit, to a degree which I never saw equalled in any other pigeon,
+    of often walking with its wings raised and arched in an elegant manner.
+    I need say nothing on the great variability, in almost every breed, in
+    size of body, in colour, in the feathering of the feet, and in the
+    feathers on the back of the head being reversed. But I may mention a
+    remarkable Tumbler[302] exhibited at the Crystal Palace, which had an
+    irregular crest of feathers on its head, somewhat like the tuft on the
+    head of the Polish fowl. Mr. Bult reared by accident a hen Jacobin with
+    the feathers on the thigh so long as to reach the ground, and a cock
+    having, but in a lesser degree, the same peculiarity: from these two
+    birds he bred others similarly characterised, which were exhibited at
+    the Philoperisteron Club. I bred a mongrel pigeon which had fibrous
+    feathers, and the wing and tail-feathers so short and imperfect that
+    the bird could not fly even a foot in height.
+
+There are many singular and inherited peculiarities in the plumage of
+pigeons: thus Almond-Tumblers do not acquire their perfect mottled feathers
+until they have moulted three or four times: the Kite-Tumbler is at first
+brindled black and red with a barred appearance, but when "it throws its
+nest feathers it becomes almost black, generally with a bluish tail, and a
+reddish colour on the inner webs of the primary wing feathers."[303] {161}
+Neumeister describes a breed of a black colour with white bars on the wing
+and a white crescent-shaped mark on the breast; these marks are generally
+rusty-red before the first moult, but after the third or fourth moult they
+undergo a change; the wing-feathers and the crown of the head likewise then
+become white or grey.[304]
+
+It is an important fact, and I believe there is hardly an exception to the
+rule, that the especial characters for which each breed is valued are
+eminently variable: thus, in the Fantail, the number and direction of the
+tail-feathers, the carriage of the body, and the degree of trembling are
+all highly variable points; in Pouters, the degree to which they pout, and
+the shape of their inflated crops; in the Carrier, the length, narrowness,
+and curvature of the beak, and the amount of wattle; in Short-faced
+Tumblers, the shortness of the beak, the prominence of the forehead, and
+general carriage,[305] and in the Almond Tumbler the colour of the plumage;
+in common Tumblers, the manner of tumbling; in the Barb, the breadth and
+shortness of the beak and the amount of eye-wattle; in Runts, the size of
+body; in Turbits, the frill; and lastly in Trumpeters, the cooing, as well
+as the size of the tuft of feathers over the nostrils. These, which are the
+distinctive and selected characters of the several breeds, are all
+eminently variable.
+
+There is another interesting fact with respect to the character of the
+different breeds, namely, that they are often most strongly displayed in
+the male bird. In Carriers, when the males and females are exhibited in
+separate pens, the wattle is plainly seen to be much more developed in the
+males, though I have seen a hen Carrier belonging to Mr. Haynes heavily
+wattled. Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that, in twenty Barbs in Mr. P. H.
+Jones's possession, the males had generally the largest eye-wattles; Mr.
+Esquilant also believes in this rule, but Mr. H. Weir, a first-rate judge,
+entertains some doubt on the subject. Hale Pouters distend their crops to a
+much greater size than do the females; I have, however, seen a hen in the
+possession of Mr. Evans which pouted excellently; but this is an unusual
+circumstance. Mr. Harrison Weir, a successful breeder of prize {162}
+Fantails, informs me that his cock birds often have a greater number of
+tail-feathers than the hens. Mr. Eaton asserts[306] that, if a cock and hen
+Tumbler were of equal merit, the hen would be worth double the money; and
+as pigeons always pair, so that an equal number of both sexes is necessary
+for reproduction, this seems to show that high merit is rarer in the female
+than in the male. In the development of the frill in Turbits, of the hood
+in Jacobins, of the tuft in Trumpeters, of tumbling in Tumblers, there is
+no difference between the males and females. I may here add a rather
+different case, namely, the existence in France[307] of a wine-coloured
+variety of the Pouter, in which the male is generally chequered with black,
+whilst the female is never so chequered. Dr. Chapuis also remarks[308] that
+in certain light-coloured pigeons the males have their feathers striated
+with black, and these striae increase in size at each moult, so that the
+male ultimately becomes spotted with black. With Carriers, the wattle, both
+on the beak and round the eyes, and with Barbs that round the eyes, goes on
+increasing with age. This augmentation of character with advancing age, and
+more especially the difference between the males and females in the
+above-mentioned several respects, are highly remarkable facts, for there is
+no sensible difference at any age between the two sexes in the aboriginal
+rock-pigeon; and rarely any such difference throughout the whole family of
+the Columbidae.[309]
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 24.--Skulls of Pigeons, viewed laterally, of natural
+size. A. Wild Rock-pigeon, _Columba livia_. B. Short-faced Tumbler. C.
+English Carrier. D. Bagadotten Carrier.]
+
+_Osteological Characters._
+
+In the skeletons of the various breeds there is much variability; and
+though certain differences occur frequently, and others rarely, in certain
+breeds, yet none can be said to be absolutely characteristic of any breed.
+Considering that strongly-marked domestic races have been formed chiefly by
+man's power {163} of selection, we ought not to expect to find great and
+constant differences in the skeleton; for fanciers can neither see, nor do
+they care for, modifications of structure in the internal framework. Nor
+ought we to expect changes in the skeletons from hanged habits of life; as
+every facility is given to the most distinct breeds to follow the same
+habits, and the much modified races are never allowed to wander abroad and
+procure their own food in various ways. Moreover, I find, on comparing the
+skeletons of _Columba livia_, _oenas_, _palumbus_, and _turtur_, which are
+ranked by all systematists in two or three distinct though allied genera,
+that the differences are extremely slight, certainly less than between the
+skeletons of some of the most distinct domestic breeds. How far the
+skeleton of the wild rock-pigeon is constant I have no means of judging, as
+I have examined only two.
+
+    _Skull._--The individual bones, especially those at the base, do not
+    differ in shape. But the whole skull, in its proportions, outline, and
+    relative direction of the bones, differs greatly in some of the breeds,
+    as may be seen by comparing the figures of (A) the wild rock-pigeon,
+    (B) the {164} shortfaced tumbler, (C) the English carrier, and (D) the
+    Bagadotten carrier (of Neumeister), all drawn of the natural size and
+    viewed laterally. In the carrier, besides the elongation of the bones
+    of the face, the space between the orbits is proportionally a little
+    narrower than in the rock-pigeon. In the Bagadotten the upper mandible
+    is remarkably arched, and the premaxillary bones are proportionally
+    broader. In the short-faced tumbler the skull is more globular; all the
+    bones of the face are much shortened, and the front of the skull and
+    descending nasal bones are almost perpendicular; the maxillo-jugal arch
+    and premaxillary bones form an almost straight line; the space between
+    the prominent edges of the eye-orbits is depressed. In the barb the
+    premaxillary bones are much shortened, and their anterior portion is
+    thicker than in the rock-pigeon, as is the lower part of the nasal
+    bone. In two nuns the ascending branches of the premaxillaries, near
+    their tips, were somewhat attenuated, and in these birds, as well as in
+    some others, for instance in the spot, the occipital crest over the
+    foramen was considerably more prominent than in the rock-pigeon.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 25.--Lower jaws, seen from above, of natural size. A.
+Rock-pigeon. B. Runt. C. Barb.]
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 26.--Skull of Runt, seen from above, of natural size,
+showing the reflexed margin of the distal portion of the lower jaw.]
+
+    In the lower jaw, the articular surface is proportionally smaller in
+    many breeds than in the rock-pigeon; and the vertical diameter more
+    especially of the outer part of the articular surface is considerably
+    shorter. May not this be accounted for by the lessened use of the jaws,
+    owing to nutritious food having been given during a long period to all
+    highly improved pigeons? In runts, carriers, and barbs (and in a lesser
+    degree in several breeds), the whole side of the jaw near the articular
+    end is bent inwards in a highly remarkable manner; and the superior
+    margin of the ramus, beyond the middle, is reflexed in an equally
+    remarkable manner, as may be seen in the accompanying figures, in
+    comparison with the jaw of the rock-pigeon. This reflexion of the upper
+    margin of the lower jaw is plainly connected with the singularly wide
+    gape of the mouth, as has been described in runts, carriers, and barbs.
+    The reflexion is well shown in fig. 26 of the head of a runt seen from
+    above; here a wide open space may be observed on each side, between the
+    edges of the lower jaw and of the premaxillary {165} bones. In the
+    rock-pigeon, and in several domestic breeds, the edges of the lower jaw
+    on each side come close up to the premaxillary bones, so that no open
+    space is left. The degree of downward curvature of the distal half of
+    the lower jaw also differs to an extraordinary degree in some breeds,
+    as may be seen in the drawings (fig. A) of the rock-pigeon, (B) of the
+    short-faced tumbler, and (C) of the Bagadotten carrier of Neumeister.
+    In some runts the symphysis of the lower jaw is remarkably solid. No
+    one would readily have believed that jaws differing so greatly in the
+    several above-specified points could have belonged to the same species.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 27.--Lateral view of jaws, of natural size. A.
+Rock-pigeon. B. Short-faced Tumbler. C. Bagadotten Carrier.]
+
+    _Vertebrae._-- All the breeds have twelve cervical vertebrae.[310] But in
+    a Bussorah carrier from India, the twelfth vertebra carried a small
+    rib, a quarter of an inch in length, with a perfect double
+    articulation.
+
+    The _dorsal vertebrae_ are always eight. In the rock-pigeon all eight
+    bear ribs; the eighth rib being very thin, and the seventh having no
+    process. In pouters all the ribs are extremely broad, and, in three out
+    of four skeletons examined by me, the eighth rib was twice or even
+    thrice as broad as in the rock-pigeon; and the seventh pair had
+    distinct processes. In many breeds there are only seven ribs, as in
+    seven out of eight skeletons of various tumblers, and in several
+    skeletons of fantails, turbits, and nuns. In all these breeds the
+    seventh pair was very small, and was destitute of processes, in which
+    respect it differed from the same rib in the rock-pigeon. In one
+    tumbler, and in the Bussorah carrier, even the sixth pair had no
+    process. The hypapophysis of the second dorsal vertebra varies much in
+    development; being sometimes (as in several, but {166} not all
+    tumblers) nearly as prominent as that of the third dorsal vertebra; and
+    the two hypapophyses together tend to form an ossified arch. The
+    development of the arch, formed by the hypapophyses of the third and
+    fourth dorsal vertebrae, also varies considerably, as does the size of
+    the hypapophysis of the fifth vertebra.
+
+    The rock-pigeon has twelve _sacral vertebrae_; but these vary in number,
+    relative size, and distinctness in the different breeds. In pouters,
+    with their elongated bodies, there are thirteen or even fourteen, and,
+    as we shall immediately see, an additional number of caudal vertebrae.
+    In runts and carriers there is generally the proper number, namely
+    twelve; but in one runt, and in the Bussorah carrier, there were only
+    eleven. In tumblers there are either eleven, twelve, or thirteen sacral
+    vertebrae.
+
+    The _caudal vertebrae_ are seven in number in the rock-pigeon. In
+    fantails, which have their tails so largely developed, there are either
+    eight or nine, and apparently in one case ten, and they are a little
+    longer than in the rock-pigeon, and their shape varies considerably.
+    Pouters, also, have eight or nine caudal vertebrae. I have seen eight in
+    a nun and jacobin. Tumblers, though such small birds, always have the
+    normal number seven; as have carriers, with one exception, in which
+    there were only six.
+
+    The following table will serve as a summary, and will show the most
+    remarkable deviations in the number of the vertebrae and ribs which I
+    have observed:--
+
+
+  +----------+-------------+--------------+-----------------+-------------+
+  |          |  Rock       |Pouter,       |   Tumbler,      |    Bussorah |
+  |          |  Pigeon.    |from Mr. Bult.|   Dutch Roller. |    Carrier. |
+  +----------+-------------+--------------+-----------------+-------------+
+  |Cervical  |             |              |                 |             |
+  |Vertebrae  |    12       |     12       |       12        |       12    |
+  |          |             |              |                 |  The 12th   |
+  |          |             |              |                 |   bore a    |
+  |          |             |              |                 |  small rib. |
+  |Dorsal    |             |              |                 |             |
+  |Vertebrae  |     8       |      8       |        8        |        8    |
+  |          |             |              |                 |             |
+  |Dorsal    |             |              |                 |             |
+  |Ribs      |     8       |      8       |        7        |        7    |
+  |          |The 6th pair |The 6th & 7th | The 6th & 7th   |The 6th & 7th|
+  |          |    with     |  pair with   |  pair without   |pair without |
+  |          | processes,  |  processes.  |  processes.     | processes.  |
+  |          |the 7th pair |              |                 |             |
+  |          | without a   |              |                 |             |
+  |          |  process.   |              |                 |             |
+  |          |             |              |                 |             |
+  |Sacral    |             |              |                 |             |
+  |Vertebrae  |    12       |      14      |        11       |       11    |
+  |Caudal    |             |              |                 |             |
+  |Vertebrae  |     7       |    8 or 9    |         7       |        7    |
+  |          +-------------+--------------+-----------------+-------------+
+  |Total     |             |              |                 |             |
+  |Vertebrae  |    39       |   42 or 43   |        38       |       38    |
+  +----------+-------------+--------------+-----------------+-------------+
+
+    The _pelvis_ differs very little in any breed. The anterior margin of
+    the ilium, however, is sometimes a little more equally rounded on both
+    sides than in the rock-pigeon, The ischium is also frequently rather
+    more elongated. The obturator-notch is sometimes, as in many tumblers,
+    less developed than in the rock-pigeon. The ridges on the ilium are
+    very prominent in most runts.
+
+    In the bones of the extremities I could detect no difference, except in
+    their proportional lengths; for instance, the metatarsus in a pouter
+    was 1.65 inch, and in a short-faced tumbler only .95 in length; and
+    this is a greater difference than would naturally follow from their
+    differently-sized bodies; but long legs in the pouter, and small feet
+    in the tumbler, are selected points. In some pouters the _scapula_ is
+    rather straighter, and in some {167} tumblers it is straighter, with
+    the apex less elongated, than in the rock-pigeon: in the woodcut, fig.
+    28, the scapulae of the rock-pigeon (A), and of a short-faced tumbler
+    (B), are given. The processes at the summit of the _coracoid_, which
+    receive the extremities of the furcula, form a more perfect cavity in
+    some tumblers than in the rock-pigeon: in pouters these processes are
+    larger and differently shaped, and the exterior angle of the extremity
+    of the coracoid, which is articulated to the sternum, is squarer.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 29.--Furculae, of natural size. A. Short-faced
+    Tumbler B and C. Fantails. D. Pouter.]
+
+    The two arms of the _furcula_ in pouters diverge less, proportionally
+    to their length, than in the rock-pigeon; and the symphysis is more
+    solid and pointed. In fantails the degree of divergence of the two arms
+    varies in a remarkable mariner. In fig. 29, B and C represent the
+    furculae of two fantails; and it will be seen that the divergence in B
+    is rather less even than in the furcula of the short-faced, small-sized
+    tumbler (A); whereas the divergence in C equals that in a rock-pigeon,
+    or in the pouter (D), though the latter is a much larger bird. The
+    extremities of the furcula, where articulated to the coracoids, vary
+    considerably in outline.
+
+    In the _sternum_ the differences in form are slight, except in the size
+    and outline of the perforations, which, both in the larger and lesser
+    sized breeds, are sometimes small. These perforations, also, are
+    sometimes either nearly circular, or elongated, as is often the case
+    with carriers. The posterior perforations occasionally are not
+    complete, being left open posteriorly. The marginal apophyses forming
+    the anterior perforations vary greatly in development. The degree of
+    convexity of the posterior part of the sternum differs much, being
+    sometimes almost perfectly flat. The manubrium is rather more prominent
+    in some individuals than in others, and the pore immediately under it
+    varies greatly in size.
+
+_Correlation of Growth._--By this term I mean that the whole organisation
+is so connected, that when one part varies, other {168} parts vary; but
+which of two correlated variations ought to be looked at as the cause and
+which as the effect, or whether both result from some common cause, we can
+seldom or never tell. The point of interest for us is that, when fanciers,
+by the continued selection of slight variations, have largely modified one
+part, they often unintentionally produce other modifications. For instance,
+the beak is readily acted on by selection, and, with its increased or
+diminished length, the tongue increases or diminishes, but not in due
+proportion; for, in a barb and short-faced tumbler, both of which have very
+short beaks, the tongue, taking the rock-pigeon as the standard of
+comparison, was proportionally not shortened enough, whilst in two carriers
+and in a runt the tongue, proportionally with the beak, was not lengthened
+enough. Thus, in a first-rate English carrier, in which the beak from the
+tip to the feathered base was exactly thrice as long as in a first-rate
+short-faced tumbler, the tongue was only a little more than twice as long.
+But the tongue varies in length independently of the beak: thus, in a
+carrier with a beak 1.2 inch in length, the tongue was .67 in length;
+whilst in a runt which equalled the carrier in length of body and in
+stretch of wings from tip to tip, the beak was .92 whilst the tongue was
+.73 of an inch in length, so that the tongue was actually longer than in
+the carrier with its long beak. The tongue of the runt was also very broad
+at the root. Of two runts, one had its beak longer by .23 of an inch,
+whilst its tongue was shorter by .14 than in the other.
+
+With the increased or diminished length of the beak the length of the slit
+forming the external orifice of the nostrils varies, but not in due
+proportion, for, taking the rock-pigeon as the standard, the orifice in a
+short-faced tumbler was not shortened in due proportion with its very short
+beak. On the other hand (and this could not have been anticipated), the
+orifice in three English carriers, in the Bagadotten carrier, and in a runt
+(_pigeon cygne_), was longer by above the tenth of an inch than would
+follow from the length of the beak proportionally with that of the
+rock-pigeon. In one carrier the orifice of the nostrils was thrice as long
+as in the rock-pigeon, though in body and length of beak this bird was not
+nearly double the size of the {169} rock-pigeon. This greatly increased
+length of the orifice of the nostrils seems to stand partly in correlation
+with the enlargement of the wattled skin on the upper mandible and over the
+nostrils; and this is a character which is selected by fanciers. So again,
+the broad, naked, and wattled skin round the eyes of carriers and barbs is
+a selected character; and in obvious correlation with this, the eyelids,
+measured longitudinally, are proportionally more than double the length of
+those of the rock-pigeon.
+
+The great difference (see woodcut No. 27) in the curvature of the lower jaw
+in the rock-pigeon, the tumbler, and Bagadotten carrier, stands in obvious
+relation to the curvature of the upper jaw, and more especially to the
+angle formed by the maxillo-jugal arch with the premaxillary bones. But in
+carriers, runts, and barbs the singular reflexion of the upper margin of
+the middle part of the lower jaw (see woodcut No. 25) is not strictly
+correlated with the width or divergence (as may be clearly seen in woodcut
+No. 26) of the premaxillary bones, but with the breadth of the horny and
+soft parts of the upper mandible, which are always overlapped by the edges
+of the lower mandible.
+
+In pouters, the elongation of the body is a selected character, and the
+ribs, as we have seen, have generally become very broad, with the seventh
+pair furnished with processes; the sacral and caudal vertebrae have been
+augmented in number; the sternum has likewise increased in length (but not
+in the depth of the crest) by .4 of an inch more than would follow from the
+greater bulk of the body in comparison with that of the rock-pigeon. In
+fantails, the length and number of the caudal vertebrae have increased.
+Hence, during the gradual progress of variation and selection, the internal
+bony frame-work and the external shape of the body have been, to a certain
+extent, modified in a correlated manner.
+
+Although the wings and tail often vary in length independently of each
+other, it is scarcely possible to doubt that they generally tend to become
+elongated or shortened in correlation. This is well seen in jacobins, and
+still more plainly in runts, some varieties of which have their wings and
+tail of great length, whilst others have both very short. With jacobins,
+the remarkable length of the tail and {170} wing-feathers is not a
+character which is intentionally selected by fanciers; but fanciers have
+been trying for centuries, at least since the year 1600, to increase the
+length of the reversed feathers on the neck, so that the hood may more
+completely enclose the head; and it may be suspected that the increased
+length of the wing and tail-feathers stands in correlation with the
+increased length of the neck-feathers. Short-faced tumblers have short
+wings in nearly due proportion with the reduced size of their bodies; but
+it is remarkable, seeing that the number of the primary wing-feathers is a
+constant character in most birds, that these tumblers generally have only
+nine instead of ten primaries. I have myself observed this in eight birds;
+and the Original Columbarian Society[311] reduced the standard for
+bald-head tumblers from ten to nine white flight-feathers, thinking it
+unfair that a bird which had only nine feathers should be disqualified for
+a prize because it had not ten _white_ flight-feathers. On the other hand,
+in carriers and runts, which have large bodies and long wings, eleven
+primary feathers have occasionally been observed.
+
+Mr. Tegetmeier has informed me of a curious and inexplicable case of
+correlation, namely, that young pigeons of all breeds, which when mature
+become white, yellow, silver (_i.e._ extremely pale blue), or dun-coloured,
+are born almost naked; whereas other coloured pigeons are born well clothed
+with down. Mr. Esquilant, however, has observed that young dun carriers are
+not so bare as young dun barbs and tumblers. Mr. Tegetmeier has seen two
+young birds in the same nest, produced from differently coloured parents,
+which differed greatly in the degree to which they were at first clothed
+with down.
+
+I have observed another case of correlation which at first sight appears
+quite inexplicable, but on which, as we shall see in a future chapter, some
+light can be thrown by the law of homologous parts varying in the same
+manner. The case is, that, when the feet are much feathered, the roots of
+the feathers are connected by a web of skin, and apparently in correlation
+with this the two outer toes become connected for a considerable space by
+skin. I have observed this in very many {171} specimens of pouters,
+trumpeters, swallows, roller-tumblers (likewise observed in this breed by
+Mr. Brent), and in a lesser degree in other feather-footed pigeons.
+
+The feet of the smaller and larger breeds are of course much smaller or
+larger than those of the rock-pigeon; but the scutellae or scales covering
+the toes and tarsi have not only decreased or increased in size, but
+likewise in number. To give a single instance, I have counted eight
+scutellae on the hind toe of a runt, and only five on that of a short-faced
+tumbler. With birds in a state of nature the number of the scutellae on the
+feet is usually a constant character. The length of the feet and the length
+of the beak apparently stand in correlation; but as disuse apparently has
+affected the size of the feet, this case may come under the following
+discussion.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_On the Effects of Disuse_.--In the following discussion on the relative
+proportions of the feet, sternum, furcula, scapulae, and wings, I may
+premise, in order to give some confidence to the reader, that my
+measurements were all made in the same manner, and that all the
+measurements of the external parts were made without the least intention of
+applying them to the following purpose.
+
+    I measured most of the birds which came into my possession, from the
+    feathered _base_ of the beak (the length of beak itself being so
+    variable) to the end of the tail, and to the oil-gland, but
+    unfortunately (except in a few cases) not to the root of the tail; I
+    measured each bird from the extreme tip to tip of wing; and the length
+    of the terminal folded part of the wing, from the extremity of the
+    primaries to the joint of the radius. I measured the feet without the
+    claws, from the end of the middle toe to the end of the hind toe; and
+    the tarsus together with the middle toe. I have taken in every case the
+    mean measurement of two wild rock-pigeons from the Shetland Islands, as
+    the standard of comparison. The following table shows the actual length
+    of the feet in each bird; and the difference between the length which
+    the feet ought to have had according to the size of body of each, in
+    comparison with the size of body and length of feet of the rock-pigeon,
+    calculated (with a few specified exceptions) by the standard of the
+    length of the body from the base of the beak to the oil-gland. I have
+    preferred this standard, owing to the variability of the length of
+    tail. But I have made similar calculations, taking as the standard the
+    length from tip to tip of wing, and likewise in most cases from the
+    base of the beak to the end of the tail; and the result has always been
+    closely similar. To give an example: the first bird in the table, being
+    a short-faced tumbler, {172} is much smaller than the rock-pigeon, and
+    would naturally have shorter feet; but it is found on calculation to
+    have feet too short by .11 of an inch, in comparison with the feet of
+    the rock-pigeon, relatively to the size of the body in these two birds,
+    as measured from the base of beak to the oil-gland. So again, when this
+    same tumbler and the rock-pigeon were compared by the length of their
+    wings, or by the extreme length of their bodies, the feet of the
+    tumbler were likewise found to be too short in very nearly the same
+    proportion. I am well aware that the measurements pretend to greater
+    accuracy than is possible, but it was less trouble to write down the
+    actual measurements given by the compasses in each case than an
+    approximation.
+
+TABLE I.
+
+_Pigeons with their beaks generally shorter than that of the Rock-pigeon,
+proportionally with the size of their bodies._
+
+  +-----------------------------------------+--------+-------------------+
+  |                                         |        |   Difference      |
+  |                                         |        |   between         |
+  |                                         |        |   actual and      |
+  |                                         |        |   calculated      |
+  |                                         |        |   length of       |
+  |          Name of Breed.                 | Actual |   feet, in        |
+  |                                         | length |   proportion to   |
+  |                                         | of     |   length of       |
+  |                                         | Feet   |   feet and size   |
+  |                                         |        |   of body in the  |
+  |                                         |        |   Rock-pigeon     |
+  |                                         |        +-------------------+
+  | Wild rock-pigeon (mean measurement)     | 2.02   |Too short|Too long |
+  |                                         |        |  by     |   by    |
+  +-----------------------------------------+--------+---------+---------+
+  | Short-faced Tumbler, bald-head          | 1.57   |  0.11   |  ..     |
+  |       "        "     almond             | 1.60   |  0.16   |  ..     |
+  | Tumbler, red magpie                     | 1.75   |  0.19   |  ..     |
+  |    "     red common (by standard        |        |         |         |
+  |                      to end of tail)    | 1.85   |  0.07   |  ..     |
+  |    "     common bald-head               | 1.85   |  0.18   |  ..     |
+  |    "     roller                         | 1.80   |  0.06   |  ..     |
+  | Turbit                                  | 1.75   |  0.17   |  ..     |
+  |    "                                    | 1.80   |  0.01   |  ..     |
+  |    "                                    | 1.84   |  0.15   |  ..     |
+  | Jacobin                                 | 1.90   |  0.02   |  ..     |
+  | Trumpeter, white                        | 2.02   |  0.06   |  ..     |
+  |    "       mottled                      | 1.95   |  0.18   |  ..     |
+  | Fantail (by standard to end of tail)    | 1.85   |  0.15   |  ..     |
+  |    "           "          "             | 1.95   |  0.15   |  ..     |
+  |    "     crested var.     "             | 1.95   |  0.0    | 0.0     |
+  | Indian Frill-back                       | 1.80   |  0.19   |  ..     |
+  | English Frill-back                      | 2.10   |  0.03   |  ..     |
+  | Nun                                     | 1.82   |  0.02   |  ..     |
+  | Laugher                                 | 1.65   |  0.16   |  ..     |
+  | Barb                                    | 2.00   |  0.03   |  ..     |
+  |   "                                     | 2.00   |   ..    | 0.03    |
+  | Spot                                    | 1.90   |  0.02   |  ..     |
+  |   "                                     | 1.90   |  0.07   |  ..     |
+  | Swallow, red                            | 1.85   |  0.18   |  ..     |
+  |    "     blue                           | 2.00   |   ..    | 0.03    |
+  | Pouter                                  | 2.42   |   ..    | 0.11    |
+  |    "   German                           | 2.30   |   ..    | 0.09    |
+  | Bussorah Carrier                        | 2.17   |   ..    | 0.09    |
+  |                                         +--------+---------+---------+
+  | Number of specimens                     |  28    |  22     |   5     |
+  +-----------------------------------------+--------+---------+---------+
+
+{173}
+
+TABLE II.
+
+_Pigeons with their beaks longer than that of the Rock-pigeon,
+proportionally with the size of their bodies._
+
+  +--------------------------------------+----------+---------------------+
+  |                                      |          |    Difference       |
+  |                                      |          |    between          |
+  |                                      |          |    actual and       |
+  |                                      |          |    calculated       |
+  |                                      |          |    length of        |
+  |          Name of Breed.              |   Actual |    feet, in         |
+  |                                      |   length |    proportion to    |
+  |                                      |   of     |    length of        |
+  |                                      |   Feet   |    feet and size    |
+  |                                      |          |    of body in the   |
+  |                                      |          |    Rock-pigeon      |
+  |                                      |          +----------+----------+
+  | Wild rock-pigeon (mean measurement)  |    2.02  | Too short| Too long |
+  |                                      |          |   by     |   by     |
+  +--------------------------------------+----------+----------+----------+
+  | Carrier                              |    2.60  |   ..     |    0.31  |
+  |    "                                 |    2.60  |   ..     |    0.25  |
+  |    "                                 |    2.40  |   ..     |    0.21  |
+  |    "    Dragon                       |    2.25  |   ..     |    0.06  |
+  | Bagadotten Carrier                   |    2.80  |   ..     |    0.56  |
+  | Scanderoon, white                    |    2.80  |   ..     |    0.37  |
+  |      "      Pigeon cygne             |    2.85  |   ..     |    0.29  |
+  | Runt                                 |    2.75  |   ..     |    0.27  |
+  |                                      +----------+----------+----------+
+  |          Number of specimens         |      8   |   ..     |      8   |
+  +--------------------------------------+----------+----------+----------+
+
+    In these two tables we see in the first column the actual length of the
+    feet in thirty-six birds belonging to various breeds, and in the two
+    other columns we see by how much the feet are too short or too long,
+    according to the size of bird, in comparison with the rock-pigeon. In
+    the first table twenty-two specimens have their feet too short, on an
+    average by a little above the tenth of an inch (viz. .107); and five
+    specimens have their feet on an average a very little too long, namely,
+    by .07 of an inch. But some of these latter and exceptional cases can
+    be explained; for instance, with pouters the legs and feet are selected
+    for length, and thus any natural tendency to a diminution in the length
+    of the feet will have been counteracted. In the swallow and barb, when
+    the calculation was made on any standard of comparison excepting the
+    one above used (viz. length of body from base of beak to oil-gland),
+    the feet were found to be too small.
+
+    In the second table we have eight birds, with their beaks much longer
+    than in the rock-pigeon, both actually and proportionally with the size
+    of body, and their feet are in an equally marked manner longer, namely,
+    in proportion, on an average by .29 of an inch. I should here state
+    that in Table I. there are a few partial exceptions to the beak being
+    proportionally shorter than in the rock-pigeon: thus the beak of the
+    English frill-back is just perceptibly longer, and that of the Bussorah
+    carrier of the same length or slightly longer, than in the rock-pigeon.
+    The beaks of spots, swallows, and laughers are only a very little
+    shorter, or of the same proportional length, but slenderer.
+    Nevertheless, these two tables, taken conjointly, indicate pretty
+    plainly some kind of correlation between the length of the beak and the
+    size of the feet. Breeders of cattle and horses believe that there is
+    an analogous connection between the length of the limbs and head; they
+    assert that a race-horse with the head of a dray-horse, or a {174}
+    greyhound with the head of a bulldog, would be a monstrous production.
+    As fancy pigeons are generally kept in small aviaries, and are
+    abundantly supplied with food, they must walk about much less than the
+    wild rock-pigeon; and it may be admitted as highly probable that the
+    reduction in the size of the feet in the twenty-two birds in the first
+    table has been caused by disuse,[312] and that this reduction has acted
+    by correlation on the beaks of the great majority of the birds in Table
+    I. When, on the other hand, the beak has been much elongated by the
+    continued selection of successive slight increments of length, the feet
+    by correlation have likewise become much elongated in comparison with
+    those of the wild rock-pigeon, notwithstanding their lessened use.
+
+    As I had taken measures from the end of the middle toe to the heel of
+    the tarsus in the rock-pigeon and in the above thirty-six birds, I have
+    made calculations analogous with those above given, and the result is
+    the same,--namely, that in the short-beaked breeds, with equally few
+    exceptions as in the former case, the middle toe conjointly with the
+    tarsus has decreased in length; whereas in the long-beaked breeds it
+    has increased in length, though not quite so uniformly as in the former
+    case, for the leg in some varieties of the runt varies much in length.
+
+    As fancy pigeons are generally confined in aviaries of moderate size,
+    and as even when not confined they do not search for their own food,
+    they must during many generations have used their wings incomparably
+    less than the wild rock-pigeon. Hence it seemed to me probable that all
+    the parts of the skeleton subservient to flight would be found to be
+    reduced in size. With respect to the sternum, I have carefully measured
+    its extreme length in twelve birds of different breeds, and in two wild
+    rock-pigeons from the Shetland Islands. For the proportional comparison
+    I have tried with all twelve birds three standards of measurement,
+    namely, the length from the base of the beak to the oil-gland, to the
+    end of the tail, and from the extreme tip to tip of wings. The result
+    has been in each case nearly the same, the sternum being invariably
+    found to be shorter than in the wild rock-pigeon. I will give only a
+    single table, as calculated by the standard from the base of the beak
+    to the oil-gland; for the result in this case is nearly the mean
+    between the results obtained by the two other standards.
+
+_Length of Sternum._
+
+  +--------------------+-------+-------+-------------------+-------+------+
+  |                    |Actual | Too   |                   |Actual | Too  |
+  | Name of Breed.     |Length.| Short | Name of Breed.    |Length.| Short|
+  |                    |Inches.| by    |                   |Inches.| by   |
+  +--------------------+-------+-------+-------------------+-------+------+
+  | Wild Rock-pigeon   |  2.55 |  ..   | Barb              |  2.35 | 0.34 |
+  | Pied Scanderoon    |  2.80 | 0.60  | Nun               |  2.27 | 0.15 |
+  | Bagadotten Carrier |  2.80 | 0.17  | German Pouter     |  2.36 | 0.54 |
+  | Dragon             |  2.45 | 0.41  | Jacobin           |  2.33 | 0.22 |
+  | Carrier            |  2.75 | 0.35  | English Frill-back|  2.40 | 0.43 |
+  | Short-faced Tumbler|  2.05 | 0.28  | Swallow           |  2.45 | 0.17 |
+  +--------------------+-------+-------+-------------------+-------+------+
+
+{175}
+
+    This table shows that in these twelve breeds the sternum is on an
+    average one-third of an inch (exactly .332) shorter than in the
+    rock-pigeon, proportionally with the size of their bodies; so that the
+    sternum has been reduced by between one-seventh and one-eighth of its
+    entire length; and this is a considerable reduction.
+
+    I have also measured in twenty-one birds, including the above dozen,
+    the prominence of the crest of the sternum relatively to its length,
+    independently of the size of the body. In two of the twenty-one birds
+    the crest was prominent in the same relative degree as in the
+    rock-pigeon; in seven it was more prominent; but in five out of these
+    seven, namely, in a fantail, two scanderoons, and two English carriers,
+    this greater prominence may to a certain extent be explained, as a
+    prominent breast is admired and selected by fanciers; in the remaining
+    twelve birds the prominence was less. Hence it follows that the crest
+    exhibits a slight, though uncertain, tendency to become reduced in
+    prominence in a greater degree than does the length of the sternum
+    relatively to the size of body, in comparison with the rock-pigeon.
+
+    I have measured the length of the scapula in nine different large and
+    small-sized breeds, and in all the scapula is proportionally shorter
+    (taking the same standard as before) than in the wild rock-pigeon. The
+    reduction in length on an average is very nearly one-fifth of an inch,
+    or about one-ninth of the length of the scapula in the rock-pigeon.
+
+    The arms of the furcula in all the specimens which I compared, diverged
+    less, proportionally with the size of body, than in the rock-pigeon;
+    and the whole furcula was proportionally shorter. Thus in a runt, which
+    measured from tip to tip of wings 381/2 inches, the furcula was only a
+    very little longer (with the arms hardly more divergent) than in a
+    rock-pigeon which measured from tip to tip 261/2 inches. In a barb, which
+    in all its measurements was a little larger than the same rock-pigeon,
+    the furcula was a quarter of an inch shorter. In a pouter, the furcula
+    had not been lengthened proportionally with the increased length of the
+    body. In a short-faced tumbler, which measured from tip to tip of wings
+    24 inches, therefore only 21/2 inches less than the rock-pigeon, the
+    furcula was barely two-thirds of the length of that of the rock-pigeon.
+
+We thus clearly see that the sternum, scapulae, and furcula are all reduced
+in proportional length; but when we turn to the wings we find what at first
+appears a wholly different and unexpected result. I may here remark that I
+have not picked out specimens, but have used every measurement made by me.
+Taking the length from the base of beak to the end of the tail as the
+standard of comparison, I find that, out of thirty-five birds of various
+breeds, twenty-five have wings of greater, and ten have them of less
+proportional length, than in the rock-pigeon. But from the frequently
+correlated length of the tail and wing-feathers, it is better to take as
+the standard {176} of comparison the length from the base of the beak to
+the oil-gland; and by this standard, out of twenty-six of the same birds
+which had been thus measured, twenty-one had wings too long, and only five
+had them too short. In the twenty-one birds the wings exceeded in length
+those of the rock-pigeon, on an average, by 1-1/3 inch; whilst in the five
+birds they were less in length by only .8 of an inch. As I was much
+surprised that the wings of closely confined birds should thus so
+frequently have been increased in length, it occurred to me that it might
+be solely due to the greater length of the wing-feathers; for this
+certainly is the case with the jacobin, which has wings of unusual length.
+As in almost every case I had measured the folded wings, I subtracted the
+length of this terminal part from that of the expanded wings, and thus I
+obtained, with a moderate degree of accuracy, the length of the wings from
+the ends of the two radii, answering from wrist to wrist in our arms. The
+wings, thus measured in the same twenty-five birds, now gave a widely
+different result; for they were proportionally with those of the
+rock-pigeon too short in seventeen birds, and in only eight too long. Of
+these eight birds, five were long-beaked,[313] and this fact perhaps
+indicates that there is some correlation between the length of the beak and
+the length of the bones of the wings, in the same manner as with the feet
+and tarsi. The shortening of the humerus and radius in the seventeen birds
+may probably be attributed to disuse, as in the case of the scapulae and
+furcula to which the wing-bones are attached;--the lengthening of the
+wing-feathers, and consequently the expansion of the wings from tip to tip,
+being, on the other hand, as completely independent of use and disuse as is
+the growth of the hair or wool on our long-haired dogs or long-woolled
+sheep.
+
+To sum up: we may confidently admit that the length of the sternum, and
+frequently the prominence of its crest, the length of the scapulae and
+furcula, have all been reduced in size in comparison with the same parts in
+the rock-pigeon. And I {177} presume that this may be safely attributed to
+disuse or lessened exercise. The wings, as measured from the ends of the
+radii, have likewise been generally reduced in length; but, owing to the
+increased growth of the wing-feathers, the wings, from tip to tip, are
+commonly longer than in the rock-pigeon. The feet, as well as the tarsi
+conjointly with the middle toe, have likewise in most cases become reduced;
+and this it is probable has been caused by their lessened use; but the
+existence of some sort of correlation between the feet and beak is shown
+more plainly than the effects of disuse. We have also some faint indication
+of a similar correlation between the main bones of the wing and the beak.
+
+_Summary on the Points of Difference between the several Domestic Races,
+and between the individual Birds._--The beak, together with the bones of
+the face, differ remarkably in length, breadth, shape, and curvature. The
+skull differs in shape, and greatly in the angle formed by the union of the
+premaxillary, nasal, and maxillo-jugal bones. The curvature of the lower
+jaw and the reflexion of its upper margin, as well as the gape of the
+mouth, differ in a highly remarkable manner. The tongue varies much in
+length, both independently and in correlation with the length of the beak.
+The development of the naked, wattled skin over the nostrils and round the
+eyes varies in an extreme degree. The eyelids and the external orifices of
+the nostrils vary in length, and are to a certain extent correlated with
+the degree of development of the wattle. The size and form of the
+oesophagus and crop, and their capacity for inflation, differ immensely.
+The length of the neck varies. With the varying shape of the body, the
+breadth and number of the ribs, the presence of processes, the number of
+the sacral vertebrae, and the length of the sternum, all vary. The number
+and size of the coccygeal vertebrae vary, apparently in correlation with the
+increased size of the tail. The size and shape of the perforations in the
+sternum, and the size and divergence of the arms of the furcula, differ.
+The oil-gland varies in development, and is sometimes quite aborted. The
+direction and length of certain feathers have been much modified, as in the
+hood of the Jacobin and the frill of the Turbit. The wing and tail feathers
+generally vary in {178} length together, but sometimes independently of
+each other and of the size of the body. The number and position of the
+tail-feathers vary to an unparalleled degree. The primary and secondary
+wing-feathers occasionally vary in number, apparently in correlation with
+the length of the wing. The length of the leg and the size of the feet,
+and, in connection with the latter, the number of the scutellae, all vary. A
+web of skin sometimes connects the bases of the two inner toes, and almost
+invariably the two outer toes when the feet are feathered.
+
+The size of the body differs greatly: a runt has been known to weigh more
+than five times as much as a short-faced tumbler. The eggs differ in size
+and shape. According to Parmentier,[314] some races use much straw in
+building their nests, and others use little; but I cannot hear of any
+recent corroboration of this statement. The length of time required for
+hatching the eggs is uniform in all the breeds. The period at which the
+characteristic plumage of some breeds is acquired, and at which certain
+changes of colour supervene, differs. The degree to which the young birds
+are clothed with down when first hatched is different, and is correlated in
+a singular manner with the future colour of the plumage. The manner of
+flight, and certain inherited movements, such as clapping the wings,
+tumbling either in the air or on the ground, and the manner of courting the
+female, present the most singular differences. In disposition the several
+races differ. Some races are very silent; others coo in a highly peculiar
+manner.
+
+Although many different races have kept true in character during several
+centuries, as we shall hereafter more fully see, yet there is far more
+individual variability in the truest breeds than in birds in a state of
+nature. There is hardly any exception to the rule that those characters
+vary most which are now most valued and attended to by fanciers, and which
+consequently are now being improved by continued selection. This is
+indirectly admitted by fanciers when they complain that it is much more
+difficult to breed high fancy pigeons up to the proper standard of
+excellence than the so-called toy pigeons, which differ from {179} each
+other merely in colour; for particular colours when once acquired are not
+liable to continued improvement or augmentation. Some characters become
+attached, from quite unknown causes, more strongly to the male than to the
+female sex; so that we have, in certain races, a tendency towards the
+appearance of secondary sexual characters,[315] of which the aboriginal
+rock-pigeon displays not a trace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{180}
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+PIGEONS--_continued_.
+
+    ON THE ABORIGINAL PARENT-STOCK OF THE SEVERAL DOMESTIC RACES--HABITS OF
+    LIFE--WILD RACES OF THE ROCK-PIGEON--DOVECOT-PIGEONS--PROOFS OF THE
+    DESCENT OF THE SEVERAL RACES FROM COLUMBA LIVIA--FERTILITY OF THE RACES
+    WHEN CROSSED--REVERSION TO THE PLUMAGE OF THE WILD
+    ROCK-PIGEON--CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURABLE TO THE FORMATION OF THE
+    RACES--ANTIQUITY AND HISTORY OF THE PRINCIPAL RACES--MANNER OF THEIR
+    FORMATION--SELECTION--UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION--CARE TAKEN BY FANCIERS IN
+    SELECTING THEIR BIRDS--SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT STRAINS GRADUALLY CHANGE INTO
+    WELL-MARKED BREEDS--EXTINCTION OF INTERMEDIATE FORMS--CERTAIN BREEDS
+    REMAIN PERMANENT, WHILST OTHERS CHANGE--SUMMARY.
+
+The differences described in the last chapter between the eleven chief
+domestic races and between individual birds of the same race, would be of
+little significance, if they had not all descended from a single wild
+stock. The question of their origin is therefore of fundamental importance,
+and must be discussed at considerable length. No one will think this
+superfluous who considers the great amount of difference between the races,
+who knows how ancient many of them are, and how truly they breed at the
+present day. Fanciers almost unanimously believe that the different races
+are descended from several wild stocks, whereas most naturalists believe
+that all are descended from the _Columba livia_ or rock-pigeon.
+
+Temminck[316] has well observed, and Mr. Gould has made the same remark to
+me, that the aboriginal parent must have been a species which roosted and
+built its nest on rocks; and I may add that it must have been a social
+bird. For all the domestic races are highly social, and none are known to
+build or habitually to roost on trees. The awkward manner in which some
+pigeons, kept by me in a summer-house near an old walnut-tree, occasionally
+alighted on the barer branches, was {181} evident.[317] Nevertheless, Mr.
+R. Scot Skirving informs me that he often saw crowds of pigeons in Upper
+Egypt settling on the low trees, but not on the palms, in preference to the
+mud hovels of the natives. In India Mr. Blyth[318] has been assured that
+the wild _C. livia_, var. _intermedia_, sometimes roosts in trees. I may
+here give a curious instance of compulsion leading to changed habits: the
+banks of the Nile above lat. 28 deg. 30' are perpendicular for a long distance,
+so that when the river is full the pigeons cannot alight on the shore to
+drink, and Mr. Skirving repeatedly saw whole flocks settle on the water,
+and drink whilst they floated down the stream. These flocks seen from a
+distance resembled flocks of gulls on the surface of the sea.
+
+If any domestic race had descended from a species which was not social, or
+which built its nest or roosted in trees,[319] the sharp eyes of fanciers
+would assuredly have detected some vestige of so different an aboriginal
+habit. For we have reason to believe that aboriginal habits are long
+retained under domestication. Thus with the common ass we see signs of its
+original desert life in its strong dislike to cross the smallest stream of
+water, and in its pleasure in rolling in the dust. The same strong dislike
+to cross a stream is common to the camel, which has been domesticated from
+a very ancient period. Young pigs, though so tame, sometimes squat when
+frightened, and thus try to conceal themselves even on an open and bare
+place. Young turkeys, and occasionally even young fowls, when the hen gives
+the danger-cry, run away and try to hide themselves, like young partridges
+or pheasants, in order that their mother may take flight, of which she has
+lost the power. The musk-duck (_Dendrocygna viduata_) in its native {182}
+country often perches and roosts on trees,[320] and our domesticated
+musk-ducks, though such sluggish birds, "are fond of perching on the tops
+of barns, walls, &c., and, if allowed to spend the night in the hen-house,
+the female will generally go to roost by the side of the hens, but the
+drake is too heavy to mount thither with ease."[321] We know that the dog,
+however well and regularly fed, often buries, like the fox, any superfluous
+food; and we see him turning round and round on a carpet, as if to trample
+down grass to form a bed; we see him on bare pavements scratching backwards
+as if to throw earth over his excrement, although, as I believe, this is
+never effected even where there is earth. In the delight with which lambs
+and kids crowd together and frisk on the smallest hillock, we see a vestige
+of their former alpine habits.
+
+We have therefore good reason to believe that all the domestic races of the
+pigeon are descended either from some one or from several species which
+both roosted and built their nests on rocks, and were social in
+disposition. As only five or six wild species with these habits and making
+any near approach in structure to the domesticated pigeon are known to
+exist, I will enumerate them.
+
+    Firstly, the _Columba leuconota_ resembles certain domestic varieties
+    in its plumage, with the one marked and never-failing difference of a
+    white band which crosses the tail at some distance from the extremity.
+    This species, moreover, inhabits the Himalaya, close to the limit of
+    perpetual snow; and therefore, as Mr. Blyth has remarked, is not likely
+    to have been the parent of our domestic breeds, which thrive in the
+    hottest countries. Secondly, the _C. rupestris_, of Central Asia, which
+    is intermediate[322] between the _C. leuconota_ and _livia_; but has
+    nearly the same coloured tail with the former species. Thirdly, the
+    _Columba littoralis_ builds and roosts, according to Temminck, on rocks
+    in the Malayan archipelago; it is white, excepting parts of the wing
+    and the tip of the tail, which are black; its legs are livid-coloured,
+    and this is a character not observed in any adult domestic pigeon; but
+    I need not have mentioned this species or the closely-allied _C.
+    luctuosa_, as they in fact belong to the genus Carpophaga. Fourthly,
+    _Columba Guinea_, which ranges from Guinea[323] to the Cape of Good
+    Hope, {183} and roosts either on trees or rocks, according to the
+    nature of the country. This species belongs to the genus Strictoenas of
+    Reichenbach, but is closely allied to true Columba; it is to some
+    extent coloured like certain domestic races, and has been said to be
+    domesticated in Abyssinia; but Mr. Mansfield Parkyns, who collected the
+    birds of that country and knows the species, informs me that this is a
+    mistake. Moreover the _C. Guinea_ is characterized by the feathers of
+    the neck having peculiar notched tips,--a character not observed in any
+    domestic race. Fifthly, the _Columba oenas_ of Europe, which roosts on
+    trees, and builds its nest in holes, either in trees or the ground;
+    this species, as far as external characters go, might be the parent of
+    several domestic races; but, though it crosses readily with the true
+    rock-pigeon, the offspring, as we shall presently see, are sterile
+    hybrids, and of such sterility there is not a trace when the domestic
+    races are intercrossed. It should also be observed that if we were to
+    admit, against all probability, that any of the foregoing five or six
+    species were the parents of some of our domestic pigeons, not the least
+    light would be thrown on the chief differences between the eleven most
+    strongly-marked races.
+
+    We now come to the best known rock-pigeon, the _Columba livia_, which
+    is often designated in Europe pre-eminently as the Rock-pigeon, and
+    which naturalists believe to be the parent of all the domesticated
+    breeds. This bird agrees in every essential character with the breeds
+    which have been only slightly modified. It differs from all other
+    species in being of a slaty-blue colour, with two black bars on the
+    wings, and with the croup (or loins) white. Occasionally birds are seen
+    in Faroe and the Hebrides with the black bars replaced by two or three
+    black spots; this form has been named by Brehm[324] _C. amaliae_, but
+    this species has not been admitted as distinct by other ornithologists.
+    Graba[325] even found a difference between the wing-bars of the same
+    bird in Faroe. Another and rather more distinct form is either truly
+    wild or has become feral on the cliffs of England, and was doubtfully
+    named by Mr. Blyth[326] as _C. affinis_, but is now no longer
+    considered by him as a distinct species. _C. affinis_ is rather smaller
+    than the rock-pigeon of the Scottish islands, and has a very different
+    appearance owing to the wing-coverts being chequered with black, with
+    similar marks often extending over the back. The chequering consists of
+    a large black spot on the two sides, but chiefly on the outer side, of
+    each feather. The wing-bars in the true rock-pigeon and in the
+    chequered variety are, in fact, due to similar though larger spots
+    symmetrically crossing the secondary wing-feather and the larger
+    coverts. Hence the chequering arises merely from an extension of these
+    marks to other parts of the plumage. Chequered birds are not confined
+    to the coasts of England; for {184} they were found by Graba at Faroe;
+    and W. Thompson[327] says that at Islay fully half the wild
+    rock-pigeons were chequered. Colonel King, of Hythe, stocked his
+    dovecot with young wild birds which he himself procured from nests at
+    the Orkney Islands; and several specimens, kindly sent to me by him,
+    were all plainly chequered. As we thus see that chequered birds occur
+    mingled with the true rock-pigeon at three distinct sites, namely,
+    Faroe, the Orkney Islands, and Islay, no importance can be attached to
+    this natural variation in the plumage.
+
+    Prince C. L. Bonaparte,[328] a great divider of species, enumerates,
+    with a mark of interrogation, as distinct from _C. livia_, the _C.
+    turricola_ of Italy, the _C. rupestris_ of Daouria, and the _C.
+    Schimperi_ of Abyssinia; but these birds differ from _C. livia_ in
+    characters of the most trifling value. In the British Museum there is a
+    chequered pigeon, probably the _C. Schimperi_ of Bonaparte, from
+    Abyssinia. To these may be added the _C. gymnocyclus_ of G. R. Gray
+    from W. Africa, which is slightly more distinct, and has rather more
+    naked skin round the eyes than the rock-pigeon; but from information
+    given me by Dr. Daniell, it is doubtful whether this is a wild bird,
+    for dovecot-pigeons (which I have examined) are kept on the coast of
+    Guinea.
+
+    The wild rock-pigeon of India _(C. intermedia_ of Strickland) has been
+    more generally accepted as a distinct species. It chiefly differs in
+    the croup being blue instead of snow-white; but as Mr. Blyth informs
+    me, the tint varies, being sometimes albescent. When this form is
+    domesticated chequered birds appear, just as occurs in Europe with the
+    truly wild _C. livia_. Moreover we shall immediately have proof that
+    the blue and white croup is a highly variable character; and
+    Bechstein[329] asserts that with dovecot-pigeons in Germany this is the
+    most variable of all the characters of the plumage. Hence it may be
+    concluded that _C. intermedia_ cannot be ranked as specifically
+    distinct from _C. livia_.
+
+    In Madeira there is a rock-pigeon which a few ornithologists have
+    suspected to be distinct from _C. livia_. I have examined numerous
+    specimens collected by Mr. E. V. Harcourt and Mr. Mason. They are
+    rather smaller than the rock-pigeon from the Shetland Islands, and
+    their beaks are plainly thinner; but the thickness of the beak varied
+    in the several specimens. In plumage there is remarkable diversity;
+    some specimens are identical in every feather (I speak after actual
+    comparison) with the rock-pigeon of the Shetland Islands; others are
+    chequered, like _C. affinis_ from the cliffs of England, but generally
+    to a greater degree, being almost black over the whole back; others are
+    identical with the so-called _C. intermedia_ of India in the degree of
+    blueness of the croup; whilst others have this part very pale or very
+    dark blue, and are likewise chequered. So much variability raises a
+    strong suspicion that these birds are domestic pigeons which have
+    become feral.
+
+    {185}
+
+    From these facts it can hardly be doubted that _C. livia_, _affinis_,
+    _intermedia_, and the forms marked with an interrogation by Bonaparte,
+    ought all to be included under a single species. But it is quite
+    immaterial whether or not they are thus ranked, and whether some one of
+    these forms or all are the progenitors of the various domestic kinds,
+    as far as any light is thus thrown on the differences between the more
+    strongly-marked races. That common dovecot-pigeons, which are kept in
+    various parts of the world, are descended from one or from several of
+    the above-mentioned wild varieties of _C. livia_, no one who compares
+    them will doubt. But before making a few remarks on dovecot-pigeons, it
+    should be stated that the wild rock-pigeon has been found easy to tame
+    in several countries. We have seen that Colonel King at Hythe stocked
+    his dovecot more than twenty years ago with young wild birds taken at
+    the Orkney Islands, and since this time they have greatly multiplied.
+    The accurate Macgillivray[330] asserts that he completely tamed a wild
+    rock-pigeon in the Hebrides; and several accounts are on record of
+    these pigeons having bred in dovecots in the Shetland Islands. In
+    India, as Captain Hutton informs me, the wild rock-pigeon is easily
+    tamed, and breeds readily with the domestic kind; and Mr. Blyth[331]
+    asserts that wild birds come frequently to the dovecots and mingle
+    freely with their inhabitants. In the ancient 'Ayeen Akbery' it is
+    written that, if a few wild pigeons be taken, "they are speedily joined
+    by a thousand others of their kind."
+
+    Dovecot-pigeons are those which are kept in dovecots in a
+    semi-domesticated state; for no special care is taken of them, and they
+    procure their own food, except during the severest weather. In England,
+    and, judging from MM. Boitard and Corbie's work, in France, the common
+    dovecot-pigeon exactly resembles the chequered variety of _C. livia_;
+    but I have seen dovecots brought from Yorkshire, without any trace of
+    chequering, like the wild rock-pigeon of the Shetland Islands. The
+    chequered dovecots from the Orkney Islands, after having been
+    domesticated by Colonel King for more than twenty years, differed
+    slightly from each other in the darkness of their plumage, and in the
+    thickness of their beaks; the thinnest beak being rather thicker than
+    the thickest one in the Madeira birds. In Germany, according to
+    Bechstein, the common dovecot-pigeon is not chequered. In India they
+    often become chequered, and sometimes pied with white; the croup also,
+    as I am informed by Mr. Blyth, becomes nearly white. I have received
+    from Sir J. Brooke some dovecot-pigeons, {186} which originally came
+    from the S. Natunas Islands in the Malay archipelago, and which had
+    been crossed with the Singapore dovecots; they were small, and the
+    darkest variety was extremely like the dark chequered variety with a
+    blue croup from Madeira; but the beak was not so thin, though decidedly
+    thinner than in the rock-pigeon from the Shetland Islands. A
+    dovecot-pigeon sent to me by Mr. Swinhoe from Foochow, in China, was
+    likewise rather small, but differed in no other respect. I have also
+    received, through the kindness of Dr. Daniell, four living
+    dovecot-pigeons from Sierra Leone;[332] these were fully as large as
+    the Shetland rock-pigeon, with even bulkier bodies. In plumage some of
+    them were identical with the Shetland rock-pigeon, but with the
+    metallic tints apparently rather more brilliant; others had a blue
+    croup and resembled the chequered variety of _C. intermedia_ of India;
+    and some were so much chequered as to be nearly black. In these four
+    birds the beak differed slightly in length, but in all it was decidedly
+    shorter, more massive, and stronger than in the wild rock-pigeon from
+    the Shetland Islands, or in the English dovecot. When the beaks of
+    these African pigeons were compared with the thinnest beaks of the wild
+    Madeira specimens, the contrast was great; the former being fully
+    one-third thicker in a vertical direction than the latter; so that any
+    one at first would have felt inclined to rank these birds as
+    specifically distinct; yet-so perfectly graduated a series could be
+    formed between the above-mentioned varieties, that it was obviously
+    impossible to separate them.
+
+To sum up: the wild _Columba livia_, including under this name _C. affinis,
+intermedia_, and the other still more closely-affined geographical races,
+has a vast range from the southern coast of Norway and the Faroe Islands to
+the shores of the Mediterranean, to Madeira and the Canary Islands, to
+Abyssinia, India, and Japan. It varies greatly in plumage, being in many
+places chequered with black, and having either a white or blue croup or
+loins: it varies also slightly in the size of the beak and body.
+Dovecot-pigeons, which no one disputes are descended from one or more of
+the above wild forms, present a similar but greater range of variation in
+plumage, in the size of body, and in the length and thickness of the beak.
+There seems to be some relation between the croup being blue or white, and
+the temperature of the country inhabited by both wild and dovecot pigeons;
+for nearly all the dovecot-pigeons in the northern parts of Europe have a
+white croup, like that of the wild European {187} rock-pigeon; and nearly
+all the dovecot-pigeons of India have a blue croup like that of the wild
+_C. intermedia_ of India. As in various countries the wild rock-pigeon has
+been found easy to tame, it seems extremely probable that the
+dovecot-pigeons throughout the world are the descendants of at least two
+and perhaps more wild stocks, but these, as we have just seen, cannot be
+ranked as specifically distinct.
+
+With respect to the variation of _C. livia_, we may without fear of
+contradiction go one step further. Those pigeon-fanciers who believe that
+all the chief races, such as Carriers, Pouters, Fantails, &c., are
+descended from distinct aboriginal stocks, yet admit that the so-called
+toy-pigeons, which differ from the rock-pigeon in little except in colour,
+are descended from this bird. By toy-pigeons are meant such birds as Spots,
+Nuns, Helmets, Swallows, Priests, Monks, Porcelains, Swabians, Archangels,
+Breasts, Shields, and others in Europe, and many others in India. It would
+indeed be as puerile to suppose that all these birds are descended from so
+many distinct wild stocks as to suppose this to be the case with the many
+varieties of the gooseberry, heartsease, or dahlia. Yet these pigeons all
+breed true, and many of them present sub-varieties which likewise truly
+transmit their character. They differ greatly from each other and from the
+rock-pigeon in plumage, slightly in size and proportions of body, in size
+of feet, and in the length and thickness of their beaks. They differ from
+each other in these respects more than do dovecot-pigeons. Although we may
+safely admit that the latter, which vary slightly, and that the
+toy-pigeons, which vary in a greater degree in accordance with their more
+highly-domesticated condition, are descended from _C. livia_, including
+under this name the above-enumerated wild geographical races; yet the
+question becomes far more difficult when we consider the eleven principal
+races, most of which have been so profoundly modified. It can, however, be
+shown, by indirect evidence of a perfectly conclusive nature, that these
+principal races are not descended from so many wild stocks; and if this be
+once admitted, few will dispute that they are the descendants of _C.
+livia_, which agrees with them so closely in habits and in most characters,
+which varies in a state of nature, and which has certainly {188} undergone
+a considerable amount of variation, as in the toy-pigeons. We shall
+moreover presently see how eminently favourable circumstances have been for
+a great amount of modification in the more carefully tended breeds.
+
+The reasons for concluding that the several principal races have not
+descended from so many aboriginal and unknown stocks may be grouped under
+the following six heads:--_Firstly_, if the eleven chief races have not
+arisen from the variation of some one species, together with its
+geographical races, they must be descended from several extremely distinct
+aboriginal species; for no amount of crossing between only six or seven
+wild forms could produce races so distinct as pouters, carriers, runts,
+fantails, turbits, short-faced tumblers, jacobins, and trumpeters. How
+could crossing produce, for instance, a pouter or a fantail, unless the two
+supposed aboriginal parents possessed the remarkable characters of these
+breeds? I am aware that some naturalists, following Pallas, believe that
+crossing gives a strong tendency to variation, independently of the
+characters inherited from either parent. They believe that it would be
+easier to raise a pouter or fantail pigeon from crossing two distinct
+species, neither of which possessed the characters of these races, than
+from any single species. I can find few facts in support of this doctrine,
+and believe in it only to a limited degree; but in a future chapter I shall
+have to recur to this subject. For our present purpose the point is not
+material. The question which concerns us is, whether or not many new and
+important characters have arisen since man first domesticated the pigeon.
+On the ordinary view, variability is due to changed conditions of life; on
+the Pallasian doctrine, variability, or the appearance of new characters,
+is due to some mysterious effect from the crossing of two species, neither
+of which possess the characters in question. In some few instances it is
+credible, though for several reasons not probable, that well-marked races
+have been formed by crossing; for instance, a barb might perhaps have been
+formed by a cross between a long-beaked carrier, having large eye-wattles,
+and some short-beaked pigeon. That many races have been in some degree
+modified by crossing, and that certain varieties which are distinguished
+only by peculiar tints have arisen from crosses between
+differently-coloured {189} varieties, may be admitted as almost certain. On
+the doctrine, therefore, that the chief races owe their differences to
+their descent from distinct species, we must admit that at least eight or
+nine, or more probably a dozen species, all having the same habit of
+breeding and roosting on rocks and living in society, either now exist
+somewhere, or formerly existed but have become extinct as wild birds.
+Considering how carefully wild pigeons have been collected throughout the
+world, and what conspicuous birds they are, especially when frequenting
+rocks, it is extremely improbable that eight or nine species, which were
+long ago domesticated and therefore must have inhabited some anciently
+known country, should still exist in the wild state and be unknown to
+ornithologists.
+
+The hypothesis that such species formerly existed, but have become extinct,
+is in some slight degree more probable. But the extinction of so many
+species within the historical period is a bold hypothesis, seeing how
+little influence man has had in exterminating the common rock-pigeon, which
+agrees in all its habits of life with the domestic races. The _C. livia_
+now exists and flourishes on the small northern islands of Faroe, on many
+islands off the coast of Scotland, on Sardinia and the shores of the
+Mediterranean, and in the centre of India. Fanciers have sometimes imagined
+that the several supposed parent-species were originally confined to small
+islands, and thus might readily have been exterminated; but the facts just
+given do not favour the probability of their extinction, even on small
+islands. Nor is it probable, from what is known of the distribution of
+birds, that the islands near Europe should have been inhabited by peculiar
+species of pigeons; and if we assume that distant oceanic islands were the
+homes of the supposed parent-species, we must remember that ancient voyages
+were tediously slow, and that ships were then ill-provided with fresh food,
+so that it would not have been easy to bring home living birds. I have said
+ancient voyages, for nearly all the races of the pigeon were known before
+the year 1600, so that the supposed wild species must have been captured
+and domesticated before that date.
+
+_Secondly._--The doctrine that the chief domestic races have descended from
+several aboriginal species, implies that several {190} species were
+formerly so thoroughly domesticated as to breed readily when confined.
+Although it is easy to tame most wild birds, experience shows us that it is
+difficult to get them to breed freely under confinement; although it must
+be owned that this is less difficult with pigeons than with most other
+birds. During the last two or three hundred years, many birds have been
+kept in aviaries, but hardly one has been added to our list of thoroughly
+reclaimed species; yet on the above doctrine we must admit that in ancient
+times nearly a dozen kinds of pigeons, now unknown in the wild state, were
+thoroughly domesticated.
+
+_Thirdly._--Most of our domesticated animals have run wild in various parts
+of the world; but birds, owing apparently to their partial loss of the
+power of flight, less often than quadrupeds. Nevertheless I have met with
+accounts showing that the common fowl has become feral in South America and
+perhaps in West Africa, and on several islands: the turkey was at one time
+almost feral on the banks of the Parana; and the Guinea-fowl has become
+perfectly wild at Ascension and in Jamaica. In this latter island the
+peacock, also, "has become a maroon bird." The common duck wanders from its
+home and becomes almost wild in Norfolk. Hybrids between the common and
+musk-duck which have become wild have been shot in North America, Belgium,
+and near the Caspian Sea. The goose is said to have run wild in La Plata.
+The common dovecot-pigeon has become wild at Juan Fernandez, Norfolk
+Island, Ascension, probably at Madeira, on the shores of Scotland, and, as
+is asserted, on the banks of the Hudson in North America.[333] But how
+different is the case, when we turn {191} to the eleven chief domestic
+races of the pigeon, which are supposed by some authors to be descended
+from so many distinct species! no one has ever pretended that any one of
+these races has been found wild in any quarter of the world; yet they have
+been transported to all countries, and some of them must have been carried
+back to their native homes. On the view that all the races are the product
+of variation, we can understand why they have not become feral, for the
+great amount of modification which they have undergone shows how long and
+how thoroughly they have been domesticated; and this would unfit them for a
+wild life.
+
+_Fourthly._--If it be assumed that the characteristic differences between
+the various domestic races are due to descent from several aboriginal
+species, we must conclude that man chose for domestication in ancient
+times, either intentionally or by chance, a most abnormal set of pigeons;
+for that species resembling such birds as pouters, fantails, carriers,
+barbs, short-faced tumblers, turbits, &c., would be in the highest degree
+abnormal, as compared with all the existing members of the great
+pigeon-family, cannot be doubted. Thus we should have to believe that man
+not only formerly succeeded in thoroughly domesticating several highly
+abnormal species, but that these same species have since all become
+extinct, or are at least now unknown. This double accident is so extremely
+improbable that the assumed existence of so many abnormal species would
+require to be supported by the strongest evidence. On the other hand, if
+all the races are descended from _C. livia_, we can understand, as will
+hereafter be more fully explained, how any slight deviation in structure
+which first appeared would continually be augmented by the preservation of
+the most strongly marked individuals; and as the power of selection would
+be applied according to man's fancy, and not for the bird's own good, the
+accumulated amount of deviation would certainly be of an abnormal nature in
+comparison with the structure of pigeons living in a state of nature.
+
+I have already alluded to the remarkable fact, that the {192}
+characteristic differences between the chief domestic races are eminently
+variable: we see this plainly in the great difference in the number of the
+tail-feathers in the fantail, in the development of the crop in pouters, in
+the length of the beak in tumblers, in the state of the wattle in carriers,
+&c. If these characters are the result of successive variations added
+together by selection, we can understand why they should be so variable:
+for these are the very parts which have varied since the domestication of
+the pigeon, and therefore would be likely still to vary; these variations
+moreover have been recently, and are still being accumulated by man's
+selection; therefore they have not as yet become firmly fixed.
+
+_Fifthly._--All the domestic races pair readily together, and, what is
+equally important, their mongrel offspring are perfectly fertile. To
+ascertain this fact I made many experiments, which are given in the note
+below; and recently Mr. Tegetmeier has made similar experiments with the
+same result.[334] The accurate Neumeister[335] asserts that when dovecots
+{193} are crossed with pigeons of any other breed, the mongrels are
+extremely fertile and hardy. MM. Boitard and Corbie[336] affirm, after
+their great experience, that with crossed pigeons the more distinct the
+breeds, the more productive are their mongrel offspring. I admit that the
+doctrine first broached by Pallas is highly probable, if not actually
+proved, namely, that closely allied species, which in a state of nature or
+when first captured would have been in some degree sterile when crossed,
+lose this sterility after a long course of domestication; yet when we
+consider the great difference between such races as pouters, carriers,
+runts, fantails, turbits, tumblers, &c., the fact of their perfect, or even
+increased, fertility when intercrossed in the most complicated manner
+becomes a strong argument in favour of their having all descended from a
+single species. This argument is rendered much stronger when we hear (I
+append in a note[337] {194} all the cases which I have collected) that
+hardly a single well-ascertained instance is known of hybrids between two
+true species of pigeons being fertile, _inter se_, or even when crossed
+with one of their pure parents.
+
+_Sixthly._--Excluding certain important characteristic differences, the
+chief races agree most closely both with each other and with _C. livia_ in
+all other respects. As previously observed, all are eminently sociable; all
+dislike to perch or roost, and refuse to build in trees; all lay two eggs,
+and this is not a universal rule with the Columbidae; all, as far as I can
+hear, require the same time for hatching their eggs; all can endure the
+same great range of climate; all prefer the same food, and are passionately
+fond of salt; all exhibit (with the asserted exception of the finnikin and
+turner, which do not differ much in any other character) the same peculiar
+gestures when courting the females; and all (with the exception of
+trumpeters and laughers, which likewise do not differ much in any other
+character) coo in the same peculiar manner, unlike the voice of any other
+wild pigeon. All the coloured breeds display the same peculiar metallic
+tints on the breast, a character far from general with pigeons. Each race
+presents nearly the same range of variation in colour; and in most of the
+races we have the same singular correlation between the development of down
+in the young and the future colour of plumage. All have the proportional
+length of their toes, and of their primary wing-feathers, nearly the
+same,--characters which are apt to differ in the several members of the
+Columbidae. In those races which present some remarkable deviation of
+structure, such as in the tail of fantails, crop of pouters, beak of
+carriers and tumblers, &c., the other parts remain nearly unaltered. Now
+every naturalist will admit that it would be scarcely possible to pick out
+a dozen natural species in any Family, which should agree closely in habits
+and in general structure, and yet should differ greatly in a few {195}
+characters alone. This fact is explicable through the doctrine of natural
+selection; for each successive modification of structure in each natural
+species is preserved, solely because it is of service; and such
+modifications when largely accumulated imply a great change in the habits
+of life, and this will almost certainly lead to other changes of structure
+throughout the whole organisation. On the other hand, if the several races
+of the pigeon have been produced by man through selection and variation, we
+can readily understand how it is that they should still all resemble each
+other in habits and in those many characters which man has not cared to
+modify, whilst they differ to so prodigious a degree in those parts which
+have struck his eye or pleased his fancy.
+
+Besides the points above enumerated, in which all the domestic races
+resemble _C. livia_ and each other, there is one which deserves special
+notice. The wild rock-pigeon is of a slaty-blue colour; the wings are
+crossed by two black bars; the croup varies in colour, being generally
+white in the pigeon of Europe, and blue in that of India; the tail has a
+black bar close to the end, and the outer webs of the outer tail-feathers
+are edged with white, except near the tips. These combined characters are
+not found in any wild pigeon besides _C. livia_. I have looked carefully
+through the great collection of pigeons in the British Museum, and I find
+that a dark bar at the end of the tail is common; that the white edging to
+the outer tail-feathers is not rare; but that the white croup is extremely
+rare, and the two black bars on the wings occur in no other pigeon,
+excepting the alpine _C. leuconota_ and _C. rupestris_ of Asia. Now if we
+turn to the domestic races, it is highly remarkable, as an eminent fancier,
+Mr. Wicking, observed to me, that, whenever a blue bird appears in any
+race, the wings almost invariably show the double black bars.[338] The
+primary wing-feathers may be white or black, and the whole body may be
+{196} of any colour, but if the wing-coverts alone are blue, the two black
+bars surely appear. I have myself seen, or acquired trustworthy evidence,
+as given below,[339] of blue birds with black bars on the wing, with the
+croup either white or very pale or dark blue, with the tail having a
+terminal black bar, and with the outer feathers externally edged with white
+or very pale coloured, in the following races, which, as I carefully
+observed in each case, appeared to be perfectly pure: namely, in Pouters,
+Fantails, Tumblers, Jacobins, Turbits, Barbs, Carriers, Runts of three
+distinct varieties, Trumpeters, Swallows, and in many other toy-pigeons,
+which, as being closely allied to _C. livia_, are not worth enumerating.
+Thus we see that, in purely-bred races of every kind known in Europe, blue
+birds occasionally appear having all the marks which characterise _C.
+livia_, and which concur in no other wild species. Mr. Blyth, also, has
+made the same observation with respect to the various domestic races known
+in India.
+
+Certain variations in the plumage are equally common in the wild _C.
+livia_, in dovecot-pigeons, and in all the most highly modified races.
+Thus, in all, the croup varies from white to {197} blue, being most
+frequently white in Europe, and very generally blue in India.[340] We have
+seen that the wild _C. livia_ in Europe, and dovecots in all parts of the
+world, often have the upper wing-coverts chequered with black; and all the
+most distinct races, when blue, are occasionally chequered in precisely the
+same manner. Thus I have seen Pouters, Fantails, Carriers, Turbits,
+Tumblers (Indian and English), Swallows, Bald-pates, and other toy-pigeons
+blue and chequered; and Mr. Esquilant has seen a chequered Runt. I bred
+from two pure blue Tumblers a chequered bird.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The facts hitherto given refer to the occasional appearance in pure races
+of blue birds with black wing-bars, and likewise of blue and chequered
+birds; but it will now be seen that when two birds belonging to distinct
+races are crossed, neither of which have, nor probably have had during many
+generations, a trace of blue in their plumage, or a trace of wing-bars and
+the other characteristic marks, they very frequently produce mongrel
+offspring of a blue colour, sometimes chequered, with black wing-bars, &c.;
+or if not of a blue colour, yet with the several characteristic marks more
+or less plainly developed. I was led to investigate this subject from MM.
+Boitard and Corbie[341] having asserted that from crosses between certain
+breeds it is rare to get anything but bisets or dovecot-pigeons, which, as
+we know, are blue birds with the usual characteristic marks. We shall
+hereafter see that this subject possesses, independently of our present
+object, considerable interest, so that I will give the results of my own
+trials in full. I selected for experiment races which, when pure, very
+seldom produce birds of a blue colour, or have bars on their wings and
+tail.
+
+The nun is white, with the head, tail, and primary wing-feathers black; it
+is a breed which was established as long ago {198} as the year 1600. I
+crossed a male nun with a female red common tumbler, which latter variety
+generally breeds true. Thus neither parent had a trace of blue in the
+plumage, or of bars on the wing and tail. I should premise that common
+tumblers are rarely blue in England. From the above cross I reared several
+young: one was red over the whole back, but with the tail as blue as that
+of the rock-pigeon; the terminal bar, however, was absent, but the outer
+feathers were edged with white: a second and third nearly resembled the
+first, but the tail in both presented a trace of the bar at the end: a
+fourth was brownish, and the wings showed a trace of the double bar: a
+fifth was pale blue over the whole breast, back, croup, and tail, but the
+neck and primary wing-feathers were reddish; the wings presented two
+distinct bars of a red colour; the tail was not barred, but the outer
+feathers were edged with white. I crossed this last curiously coloured bird
+with a black mongrel of complicated descent, namely, from a black barb, a
+spot, and almond tumbler, so that the two young birds produced from this
+cross included the blood of five varieties, none of which had a trace of
+blue or of wing and tail bars: one of the two young birds was
+brownish-black, with black wing-bars; the other was reddish-dun, with
+reddish wing-bars, paler than the rest of the body, with the croup pale
+blue, the tail bluish, with a trace of the terminal bar.
+
+Mr. Eaton[342] matched two short-faced tumblers, namely, a splash cock and
+kite hen (neither of which are blue or barred), and from the first nest he
+got a perfect blue bird, and from the second a silver or pale blue bird,
+both of which, in accordance with all analogy, no doubt presented the usual
+characteristic marks.
+
+I crossed two male black barbs with two female red spots. These latter have
+the whole body and wings white, with a spot on the forehead, the tail and
+tail-coverts red; the race existed at least as long ago as 1676, and now
+breeds perfectly true, as was known to be the case in the year 1735.[343]
+Barbs are uniformly-coloured birds, with rarely even a trace of bars on the
+wing or tail; they are known to breed very true. The mongrels thus raised
+were black or nearly black, or dark or pale brown, {199} sometimes slightly
+piebald with white: of these birds no less than six presented double
+wing-bars; in two the bars were conspicuous and quite black; in seven some
+white feathers appeared on the croup; and in two or three there was a trace
+of the terminal bar to the tail, but in none were the outer tail-feathers
+edged with white.
+
+I crossed black barbs (of two excellent strains) with purely-bred,
+snow-white fantails. The mongrels were generally quite black, with a few of
+the primary wing and tail-feathers white: others were dark reddish-brown,
+and others snow-white: none had a trace of wing-bars or of the white croup.
+I then paired together two of these mongrels, namely, a brown and black
+bird, and their offspring displayed wing-bars, faint, but of a darker brown
+than the rest of body. In a second brood from the same parents a brown bird
+was produced, with several white feathers confined to the croup.
+
+I crossed a male dun dragon belonging to a family which had been
+dun-coloured without wing-bars during several generations, with a uniform
+red barb (bred from two black barbs); and the offspring presented decided
+but faint traces of wing-bars. I crossed a uniform red male runt with a
+white trumpeter; and the offspring had a slaty-blue tail, with a bar at the
+end, and with the outer feathers edged with white. I also crossed a female
+black and white chequered trumpeter (of a different strain from the last)
+with a male almond-tumbler, neither of which exhibited a trace of blue, or
+of the white croup, or of the bar at end of tail: nor is it probable that
+the progenitors of these two birds had for many generations exhibited any
+of these characters, for I have never even heard of a blue trumpeter in
+this country, and my almond-tumbler was purely bred; yet the tail of this
+mongrel was bluish, with a broad black bar at the end, and the croup was
+perfectly white. It may be observed in several of these cases, that the
+tail first shows a tendency to become by reversion blue; and this fact of
+the persistency of colour in the tail and tail-coverts[344] will surprise
+no one who has attended to the crossing of pigeons.
+
+{200}
+
+The last case which I will give is the most curious. I paired a mongrel
+female barb-fantail with a mongrel male barb-spot; neither of which
+mongrels had the least blue about them. Let it be remembered that blue
+barbs are excessively rare; that spots, as has been already stated, were
+perfectly characterized in the year 1676, and breed perfectly true; this
+likewise is the case with white fantails, so much so that I have never
+heard of white fantails throwing any other colour. Nevertheless the
+offspring from the above two mongrels was of exactly the same blue tint as
+that of the wild rock-pigeon from the Shetland Islands over the whole back
+and wings; the double black wing-bars were equally conspicuous; the tail
+was exactly alike in all its characters, and the croup was pure white; the
+head, however, was tinted with a shade of red, evidently derived from the
+spot, and was of a paler blue than in the rock-pigeon, as was the stomach.
+So that two black barbs, a red spot, and a white fantail, as the four
+purely-bred grandparents, produced a bird of the same general blue colour,
+together with every characteristic mark, as in the wild _Columba livia_.
+
+With respect to crossed breeds frequently producing blue birds chequered
+with black, and resembling in all respects both the dovecot-pigeon and the
+chequered wild variety of the rock-pigeon, the statement before referred to
+by MM. Boitard and Corbie would almost suffice; but I will give three
+instances of the appearance of such birds from crosses in which one alone
+of the parents or great-grandparents was blue, but not chequered. I crossed
+a male blue turbit with a snow-white trumpeter, and the following year with
+a dark, leaden-brown, short-faced tumbler; the offspring from the first
+cross were as perfectly chequered as any dovecot-pigeon; and from the
+second, so much so as to be nearly as black as the most darkly chequered
+rock-pigeon from Madeira. Another bird, whose great-grandparents were a
+white trumpeter, a white fantail, a white red-spot, a red runt, and a blue
+pouter, was slaty-blue and chequered exactly like a dovecot-pigeon. I may
+here {201} add a remark made to me by Mr. Wicking, who has had more
+experience than any other person in England in breeding pigeons of various
+colours: namely, that when a blue, or a blue and chequered bird, having
+black wing-bars, once appears in any race and is allowed to breed, these
+characters are so strongly transmitted that it is extremely difficult to
+eradicate them.
+
+What, then, are we to conclude from this tendency in all the chief domestic
+races, both when purely bred and more especially when intercrossed, to
+produce offspring of a blue colour, with the same characteristic marks,
+varying in the same manner, as in _Columba livia_? If we admit that these
+races have all descended from _C. livia_, no breeder will doubt that the
+occasional appearance of blue birds thus characterised is accounted for on
+the well-known principle of "throwing back" or reversion. Why crossing
+should give so strong a tendency to reversion, we do not with certainty
+know; but abundant evidence of this fact will be given in the following
+chapters. It is probable that I might have bred even for a century pure
+black barbs, spots, nuns, white fantails, trumpeters, &c., without
+obtaining a single blue or barred bird; yet by crossing these breeds I
+reared in the first and second generation, during the course of only three
+or four years, a considerable number of young birds, more or less plainly
+coloured blue, and with most of the characteristic marks. When black and
+white, or black and red birds, are crossed, it would appear that a slight
+tendency exists in both parents to produce blue offspring, and that this,
+when combined, overpowers the separate tendency in either parent to produce
+black, or white, or red offspring.
+
+If we reject the belief that all the races of the pigeon are the modified
+descendants of _C. livia_, and suppose that they are descended from several
+aboriginal stocks, then we must choose between the three following
+assumptions: firstly, that at least eight or nine species formerly existed
+which were aboriginally coloured in various ways, but have since varied in
+so exactly the same manner as to assume the colouring of _C. livia_; but
+this assumption throws not the least light on the appearance of such
+colours and marks when the races are crossed. Or secondly, we may assume
+that the aboriginal species {202} were all coloured blue, and had the
+wing-bars and other characteristic marks of _C. livia_,--a supposition
+which is highly improbable, as besides this one species no existing member
+of the Columbidae presents these combined characters; and it would not be
+possible to find any other instance of several species identical in
+plumage, yet as different in important points of structure as are pouters,
+fantails, carriers, tumblers, &c. Or lastly, we may assume that all the
+races, whether descended from _C. livia_ or from several aboriginal
+species, although they have been bred with so much care and are so highly
+valued by fanciers, have all been crossed within a dozen or score of
+generations with _C. livia_, and have thus acquired their tendency to
+produce blue birds with the several characteristic marks. I have said that
+it must be assumed that each race has been crossed with _C. livia_ within a
+dozen, or, at the utmost, within a score of generations; for there is no
+reason to believe that crossed offspring ever revert to one of their
+ancestors when removed by a greater number of generations. In a breed which
+has been crossed only once, the tendency to reversion will naturally become
+less and less in the succeeding generations, as in each there will be less
+and less of the blood of the foreign breed; but when there has been no
+cross with a distinct breed, and there is a tendency in both parents to
+revert to some long-lost character, this tendency, for all that we can see
+to the contrary, may be transmitted undiminished for an indefinite number
+of generations. These two distinct cases of reversion are often confounded
+together by those who have written on inheritance.
+
+Considering, on the one hand, the improbability of the three assumptions
+which have just been discussed, and, on the other hand, how simply the
+facts are explained on the principle of reversion, we may conclude that the
+occasional appearance in all the races, both when purely bred and more
+especially when crossed, of blue birds, sometimes chequered, with double
+wing-bars, with white or blue croups, with a bar at the end of the tail,
+and with the outer tail-feathers edged with white, affords an argument of
+the greatest weight in favour of the view that all are descended from
+_Columba livia_, including under this name the three or four wild varieties
+or sub-species before enumerated. {203}
+
+To sum up the six foregoing arguments, which are opposed to the belief that
+the chief domestic races are the descendants of at least eight or nine or
+perhaps a dozen species; for the crossing of any less number would not
+yield the characteristic differences between the several races. _Firstly_,
+the improbability that so many species should still exist somewhere, but be
+unknown to ornithologists, or that they should have become within the
+historical period extinct, although man has had so little influence in
+exterminating the wild _C. livia_. _Secondly_, the improbability of man in
+former times having thoroughly domesticated and rendered fertile under
+confinement so many species. _Thirdly_, these supposed species having
+nowhere become feral. _Fourthly_, the extraordinary fact that man should,
+intentionally or by chance, have chosen for domestication several species,
+extremely abnormal in character; and furthermore, the points of structure
+which render these supposed species so abnormal being now highly variable.
+_Fifthly_, the fact of all the races, though differing in many important
+points of structure, producing perfectly fertile mongrels; whilst all the
+hybrids which have been produced between even closely allied species in the
+pigeon-family are sterile. _Sixthly_, the remarkable statements just given
+on the tendency in all the races, both when purely bred and when crossed,
+to revert in numerous minute details of colouring to the character of the
+wild rock-pigeon, and to vary in a similar manner. To these arguments may
+be added the extreme improbability that a number of species formerly
+existed, which differed greatly from each other in some few points, but
+which resembled each other as closely as do the domestic races in other
+points of structure, in voice, and in all their habits of life. When these
+several facts and arguments are fairly taken into consideration, it would
+require an overwhelming amount of evidence to make us admit that the chief
+domestic races are descended from several aboriginal stocks; and of such
+evidence there is absolutely none.
+
+The belief that the chief domestic races are descended from several wild
+stocks no doubt has arisen from the apparent improbability of such great
+modifications of structure having been effected since man first
+domesticated the rock-pigeon. Nor am I surprised at any degree of
+hesitation in admitting their common {204} origin: formerly, when I went
+into my aviaries and watched such birds as pouters, carriers, barbs,
+fantails, and short-faced tumblers, &c., I could not persuade myself that
+they had all descended from the same wild stock, and that man had
+consequently in one sense created these remarkable modifications. Therefore
+I have argued the question of their origin at great, and, as some will
+think, superfluous length.
+
+Finally, in favour of the belief that all the races are descended from a
+single stock, we have in _Columba livia_ a still existing and widely
+distributed species, which can be and has been domesticated in various
+countries. This species agrees in most points of structure and in all its
+habits of life, as well as occasionally in every detail of plumage, with
+the several domestic races. It breeds freely with them, and produces
+fertile offspring. It varies in a state of nature,[345] and still more so
+when semi-domesticated, as shown by comparing the Sierra Leone pigeons with
+those of India, or with those which apparently have run wild in Madeira. It
+has undergone a still greater amount of variation in the case of the
+numerous toy-pigeons, which no one supposes to be descended from distinct
+species; yet some of these toy-pigeons have transmitted their character
+truly for centuries. Why, then, should we hesitate to believe in that
+greater amount of variation which is necessary for the production of the
+eleven chief races? It should be borne in mind that in two of the most
+strongly-marked races, namely, carriers and short-faced tumblers, the
+extreme forms can be connected with the parent-species by graduated
+differences not greater than those which may be observed between the
+dovecot-pigeons inhabiting different countries, or between the various
+kinds of toy-pigeons,--gradations which must certainly be attributed to
+variation.
+
+That circumstances have been eminently favourable for the modification of
+the pigeon through variation and selection will now be shown. The earliest
+record, as has been pointed out to me by Professor Lepsius, of pigeons in a
+domesticated condition, occurs in the fifth Egyptian dynasty, about {205}
+3000 B.C.;[346] but Mr. Birch, of the British Museum, informs me that the
+pigeon appears in a bill of fare in the previous dynasty. Domestic pigeons
+are mentioned in Genesis, Leviticus, and Isaiah.[347] In the time of the
+Romans, as we hear from Pliny,[348] immense prices were given for pigeons;
+"nay, they are come to this pass, that they can reckon up their pedigree
+and race." In India, about the year 1600, pigeons were much valued by Akber
+Khan: 20,000 birds were carried about with the court, and the merchants
+brought valuable collections. "The monarchs of Iran and Turan sent him some
+very rare breeds. His Majesty," says the courtly historian, "by crossing
+the breeds, which method was never practised before, has improved them
+astonishingly."[349] Akber Khan possessed seventeen distinct kinds, eight
+of which were valuable for beauty alone. At about this same period of 1600
+the Dutch, according to Aldrovandi, were as eager about pigeons as the
+Romans had formerly been. The breeds which were kept during the fifteenth
+century in Europe and in India apparently differed from each other.
+Tavernier, in his Travels in 1677, speaks, as does Chardin in 1735, of the
+vast number of pigeon-houses in Persia; and the former remarks that, as
+Christians were not permitted to keep pigeons, some of the vulgar actually
+turned Mahometans for this sole purpose. The Emperor of Morocco had his
+favourite keeper of pigeons, as is mentioned in Moore's treatise, published
+1737. In England, from the time of Willughby in 1678 to the present day, as
+well as in Germany and in France, numerous treatises have been published on
+the pigeon. In India, about a hundred years ago, a Persian treatise was
+written; and the writer thought it no light affair, for he begins with a
+solemn invocation, "in the name of God, the gracious and merciful." Many
+large towns, in Europe and the United States, now have their societies of
+devoted pigeon-fanciers: at present there are three such societies in
+London. In India, as I hear from {206} Mr. Blyth, the inhabitants of Delhi
+and of some other great cities are eager fanciers. Mr. Layard informs me
+that most of the known breeds are kept in Ceylon. In China, according to
+Mr. Swinhoe of Amoy, and Dr. Lockhart of Shangai, carriers, fantails,
+tumblers, and other varieties are reared with care, especially by the
+bonzes or priests. The Chinese fasten a kind of whistle to the
+tail-feathers of their pigeons, and as the flock wheels through the air
+they produce a sweet sound. In Egypt the late Abbas Pacha was a great
+fancier of fantails. Many pigeons are kept at Cairo and Constantinople, and
+these have lately been imported by native merchants, as I hear from Sir W.
+Elliot, into Southern India, and sold at high prices.
+
+The foregoing statements show in how many countries, and during how long a
+period, many men have been passionately devoted to the breeding of pigeons.
+Hear how an enthusiastic fancier at the present day writes: "If it were
+possible for noblemen and gentlemen to know the amazing amount of solace
+and pleasure derived from Almond Tumblers, when they begin to understand
+their properties, I should think that scarce any nobleman or gentleman
+would be without their aviaries of Almond Tumblers."[350] The pleasure thus
+taken is of paramount importance, as it leads amateurs carefully to note
+and preserve each slight deviation of structure which strikes their fancy.
+Pigeons are often closely confined during their whole lives; they do not
+partake of their naturally varied diet; they have often been transported
+from one climate to another; and all these changes in their conditions of
+life would be likely to cause variability. Pigeons have been domesticated
+for nearly 5000 years, and have been kept in many places, so that the
+numbers reared under domestication must have been enormous; and this is
+another circumstance of high importance, for it obviously favours the
+chance of rare modifications of structure occasionally appearing. Slight
+variations of all kinds would almost certainly be observed, and, if valued,
+would, owing to the following circumstances, be preserved and propagated
+with unusual facility. Pigeons, differently from any other domesticated
+animal, can easily be mated for life, and, though kept with other pigeons,
+they rarely prove unfaithful to each other. Even when the {207} male does
+break his marriage-vow, he does not permanently desert his mate. I have
+bred in the same aviaries many pigeons of different kinds, and never reared
+a single bird of an impure strain. Hence a fancier can with the greatest
+ease select and match his birds. He will also soon see the good results of
+his care; for pigeons breed with extraordinary rapidity. He may freely
+reject inferior birds, as they serve at an early age as excellent food. To
+sum up, pigeons are easily kept, paired, and selected; vast numbers have
+been reared; great zeal in breeding them has been shown by many men in
+various countries; and this would lead to their close discrimination, and
+to a strong desire to exhibit some novelty, or to surpass other fanciers in
+the excellence of already established breeds.
+
+_History of the principal Races of the Pigeon_.[351]
+
+    Before discussing the means and steps by which the chief races have
+    been formed, it will be advisable to give some historical details, for
+    more is known of the history of the pigeon, little though this be, than
+    of any other domesticated animal. Some of the cases are interesting as
+    proving how long domestic varieties may be propagated with exactly the
+    same or nearly the same characters; and other cases are still more
+    interesting as showing how slowly but steadily races have been greatly
+    modified during successive generations. In the last chapter I stated
+    that Trumpeters and Laughers, both so remarkable for their voices, seem
+    to have been perfectly characterized in 1735; and Laughers were
+    apparently known in India before the year 1600. Spots in 1676, and Nuns
+    in the time of Aldrovandi, before 1600, were coloured exactly as they
+    now are. Common Tumblers and Ground Tumblers exhibited in India, before
+    the year 1600, the same extraordinary peculiarities of flight as at the
+    present day, for they are well described in the 'Ayeen Akbery.' These
+    breeds may all have existed for a much longer period; we know only that
+    they were perfectly characterized at the dates above given. The
+    _average_ length of life of the domestic pigeon is probably about five
+    or six years; if so, some of these races have retained their character
+    perfectly for at least forty or fifty generations.
+
+    _Pouters._--These birds, as far as a very short description serves for
+    comparison, appear to have been well characterized in Aldrovandi's
+    time,[352] before the year 1600. Length of body and length of leg are
+    at the present time the two chief points of excellence. In 1735 Moore
+    said (see Mr. J. M. Eaton's edition)--and Moore was a first-rate
+    fancier--that he once saw a bird with {208} a body 20 inches in length,
+    "though 17 or 18 inches is reckoned a very good length;" and he has
+    seen the legs very nearly 7 inches in length, yet a leg 61/2 or 63/4 long
+    "must be allowed to be a very good one." Mr. Bult, the most successful
+    breeder of Pouters in the world, informs me that at present (1858) the
+    standard length of the body is not less than 18 inches; but he has
+    measured one bird 19 inches in length, and has heard of 20 and 22
+    inches, but doubts the truth of these latter statements. The standard
+    length of the leg is now 7 inches, but Mr. Bult has recently measured
+    two of his own birds with legs 71/2 long. So that in the 123 years which
+    have elapsed since 1735 there has been hardly any increase in the
+    standard length of the body; 17 or 18 inches was formerly reckoned a
+    very good length, and now 18 inches is the minimum standard; but the
+    length of leg seems to have increased, as Moore never saw one quite 7
+    inches long; now the standard is 7, and two of Mr. Bult's birds
+    measured 71/2 inches in length. The extremely slight improvement in
+    Pouters, except in the length of the leg, during the last 123 years,
+    may be partly accounted for by the neglect which they suffered, as I am
+    informed by Mr. Bult, until within the last 20 or 30 years. About
+    1765[353] there was a change of fashion, stouter and more feathered
+    legs being preferred to thin and nearly naked legs.
+
+    _Fantails._--The first notice of the existence of this breed is in
+    India, before the year 1600, as given in the 'Ayeen Akbery;'[354] at
+    this date, judging from Aldrovandi, the breed was unknown in Europe. In
+    1677 Willughby speaks of a Fantail with 26 tail-feathers; in 1735 Moore
+    saw one with 36 feathers; and in 1824 MM. Boitard and Corbie assert
+    that in France birds can easily be found with 42 tail-feathers. In
+    England, the number of the tail-feathers is not at present so much
+    regarded as their upward direction and expansion. The general carriage
+    of the bird is likewise now much regarded. The old descriptions do not
+    suffice to show whether in these latter respects there has been much
+    improvement; but if fantails had formerly existed with their heads and
+    tails touching each other, as at the present time, the fact would
+    almost certainly have been noticed. The Fantails which are now found in
+    India probably show the state of the race, as far as carriage is
+    concerned, at the date of their introduction into Europe; and some,
+    said to have been brought from Calcutta, which I kept alive, were in a
+    marked manner inferior to our exhibition birds. The Java Fantail shows
+    the same difference in carriage; and although Mr. Swinhoe has counted
+    18 and 24 tail-feathers in his birds, a first-rate specimen sent to me
+    had only 14 tail-feathers.
+
+    _Jacobins._--This breed existed before 1600, but the hood, judging from
+    the figure given by Aldrovandi, did not enclose the head nearly so
+    perfectly as at present: nor was the head then white; nor were the
+    wings and tail so long, but this last character might have been
+    overlooked by the rude artist. In Moore's time, in 1735, the Jacobin
+    was considered the {209} smallest kind of pigeon, and the bill is said
+    to be very short. Hence either the Jacobin, or the other kinds with
+    which it was then compared, must have been since considerably modified;
+    for Moore's description (and it must be remembered that he was a
+    first-rate judge) is clearly not applicable, as far as size of body and
+    length of beak are concerned, to our present Jacobins. In 1795, judging
+    from Bechstein, the breed had assumed its present character.
+
+    _Turbits._--It has generally been supposed by the older writers on
+    pigeons, that the Turbit is the Cortbeck of Aldrovandi; but if this be
+    the case, it is an extraordinary fact that the characteristic frill
+    should not have been noticed. The beak, moreover, of the Cortbeck is
+    described as closely resembling that of the Jacobin, which shows a
+    change in the one or the other race. The Turbit, with its
+    characteristic frill and bearing its present name, is described by
+    Willughby in 1677; and the bill is said to be like that of the
+    bullfinch,--a good comparison, but now more strictly applicable to the
+    beak of the Barb. The sub-breed called the Owl was well known in
+    Moore's time, in 1735.
+
+    _Tumblers._--Common Tumblers, as well as Ground Tumblers, perfect as
+    far as tumbling is concerned, existed in India before the year 1600;
+    and at this period diversified modes of flight, such as flying at
+    night, the ascent to a great height, and manner of descent, seem to
+    have been much attended to, as at the present time, in India.
+    Belon[355] in 1555 saw in Paphlagonia what he describes as "a very new
+    thing, viz. pigeons which flew so high in the air that they were lost
+    to view, but returned to their pigeon-house without separating." This
+    manner of flight is characteristic of our present Tumblers, but it is
+    clear that Belon would have mentioned the act of tumbling if the
+    pigeons described by him had tumbled. Tumblers were not known in Europe
+    in 1600, as they are not mentioned by Aldrovandi, who discusses the
+    flight of pigeons. They are briefly alluded to by Willughby, in 1687,
+    as small pigeons "which show like footballs in the air." The
+    short-faced race did not exist at this period, as Willughby could not
+    have overlooked birds so remarkable for their small size and short
+    beaks. We can even trace some of the steps by which this race has been
+    produced. Moore in 1735 enumerates correctly the chief points of
+    excellence, but does not give any description of the several
+    sub-breeds; and from this fact Mr. Eaton infers[356] that the
+    short-faced Tumbler had not then come to full perfection. Moore even
+    speaks of the Jacobin as being the smallest pigeon. Thirty years
+    afterwards, in 1765, in the Treatise dedicated to Mayor, short-faced
+    Almond Tumblers are fully described, but the author, an excellent
+    fancier, expressly states in his Preface (p. xiv.) that, "from great
+    care and expense in breeding them, they have arrived to so great
+    perfection and are so different from what they were 20 or 30 years
+    past, that an old fancier would have condemned them for no other reason
+    than because they are not like what used to be thought good when he was
+    in the fancy before." {210} Hence it would appear that there was a
+    rather sudden change in the character of the short-faced Tumbler at
+    about this period; and there is reason to suspect that a dwarfed and
+    half-monstrous bird, the parent-form of the several short-faced
+    sub-breeds, then appeared. I suspect this because short-faced Tumblers
+    are born with their beaks (ascertained by careful measurement) as
+    short, proportionally with the size of their bodies, as in the adult
+    bird; and in this respect they differ greatly from all other breeds,
+    which slowly acquire during growth their various characteristic
+    qualities.
+
+    Since the year 1765 there has been some change in one of the chief
+    characters of the short-faced Tumbler, namely, in the length of the
+    beak. Fanciers measure the "head and beak" from the tip of the beak to
+    the front corner of the eyeball. About the year 1765 a "head and beak"
+    was considered good,[357] which, measured in the usual manner, was 7/8
+    of an inch in length; now it ought not to exceed 5/8 of an inch; "it is
+    however possible," as Mr. Eaton candidly confesses, "for a bird to be
+    considered as pleasant or neat even at 6/8 of an inch, but exceeding
+    that length it must be looked upon as unworthy of attention." Mr. Eaton
+    states that he has never seen in the course of his life more than two
+    or three birds with the "head and beak" not exceeding half an inch in
+    length; "still I believe in the course of a few years that the head and
+    beak will be shortened, and that half-inch birds will not be considered
+    so great a curiosity as at the present time." That Mr. Eaton's opinion
+    deserves attention cannot be doubted, considering his success in
+    winning prizes at our exhibitions. Finally in regard to the Tumbler it
+    may be concluded from the facts above given that it was originally
+    introduced into Europe, probably first into England, from the East; and
+    that it then resembled our common English Tumbler, or more probably the
+    Persian or Indian Tumbler, with a beak only just perceptibly shorter
+    than that of the common dovecot-pigeon. With respect to the short-faced
+    Tumbler, which is not known to exist in the East, there can hardly be a
+    doubt that the whole wonderful change in the size of the head, beak,
+    body, and feet, and in general carriage, has been produced during the
+    last two centuries by continued selection, aided probably by the birth
+    of a semi-monstrous bird somewhere about the year 1750.
+
+    _Runts._--Of their history little can be said. In the time of Pliny the
+    pigeons of Campania were the largest known; and from this fact alone
+    some authors assert that they were Runts. In Aldrovandi's time, in
+    1600, two sub-breeds existed; but one of them, the short-beaked, is now
+    extinct in Europe.
+
+    _Barbs._--Notwithstanding statements to the contrary, it seems to me
+    impossible to recognise the barb in Aldrovandi's descriptions and
+    figures; four breeds, however, existed in the year 1600 which were
+    evidently allied both to Barbs and Carriers. To show how difficult it
+    is to recognise some of the breeds described by Aldrovandi, I will give
+    the different opinions in regard to the above four kinds, named by him
+    _C. Indica_, _Cretensis_, _Gutturosa_, and _Persica_. Willughby thought
+    that the _Columba Indica_ was a {211} Turbit, but the eminent fancier
+    Mr. Brent believes that it was an inferior Barb: _C. Cretensis_, with a
+    short beak and a swelling on the upper mandible, cannot be recognised:
+    _C._ (falsely called) _gutturosa_, which from its _rostrum_, _breve_,
+    _crassum_, et _tuberosum_ seems to me to come nearest to the Barb, Mr.
+    Brent believes to be a Carrier; and lastly, the _C. Persica et
+    Turcica,_ Mr. Brent thinks, and I quite concur with him, was a
+    short-beaked Carrier with very little wattle. In 1687 the Barb was
+    known in England, and Willughby describes the beak as like that of the
+    Turbit; but it is not credible that his Barb should have had a beak
+    like that of our present birds, for so accurate an observer could not
+    have overlooked its great breadth.
+
+    _English Carrier._--We may look in vain in Aldrovandi's work for any
+    bird resembling our prize Carriers; the _C. Persica et Turcica_ of this
+    author comes the nearest, but is said to have had a short thick beak;
+    therefore it must have approached in character a Barb, and have
+    differed greatly from our Carriers. In Willughby's time, in 1677, we
+    can clearly recognise the Carrier, but he adds, "the bill is not short,
+    but of a moderate length," a description which no one would apply to
+    our present Carriers, so conspicuous for the extraordinary length of
+    their beaks. The old names given in Europe to the Carrier, and the
+    several names now in use in India, indicate that Carriers originally
+    came from Persia; and Willughby's description would perfectly apply to
+    the Bussorah Carrier as it now exists in Madras. In later times we can
+    partially trace the progress of change in our English Carriers: Moore
+    in 1735 says "an inch and a half is reckoned a long beak, though there
+    are very good Carriers that are found not to exceed an inch and a
+    quarter." These birds must have resembled, or perhaps been a little
+    superior to, the Carriers, previously described, which are now found in
+    Persia. In England at the present day "there are," as Mr. Eaton[358]
+    states, "beaks that would measure (from edge of eye to tip of beak) one
+    inch and three-quarters, and some few even two inches in length."
+
+From these historical details we see that nearly all the chief domestic
+races existed before the year 1600. Some remarkable only for colour appear
+to have been identical with our present breeds, some were nearly the same,
+some considerably different, and some have since become extinct. Several
+breeds, such as Finnikins and Turners, the swallow-tailed pigeon of
+Bechstein and the Carmelite, seem both to have originated and to have
+disappeared within this same period. Any one now visiting a well-stocked
+English aviary would certainly pick out as the most distinct kinds, the
+massive Runt, the Carrier with its wonderfully elongated beak and great
+wattles, the Barb with its short broad beak and eye-wattles, the
+short-faced Tumbler {212} with its small conical beak, the Pouter with its
+great crop, long legs and body, the Fantail with its upraised,
+widely-expanded, well-feathered tail, the Turbit with its frill and short
+blunt beak, and the Jacobin with its hood. Now, if this same person could
+have viewed the pigeons kept before 1600 by Akber Khan in India and by
+Aldrovandi in Europe, he would have seen the Jacobin with a less perfect
+hood; the Turbit apparently without its frill; the Pouter with shorter
+legs, and in every way less remarkable--that is, if Aldrovandi's Pouter
+resembled the old German kind; the Fantail would have been far less
+singular in appearance, and would have had much fewer feathers in its tail;
+he would have seen excellent flying Tumblers, but he would in vain have
+looked for the marvellous short-faced breeds; he would have seen birds
+allied to barbs, but it is extremely doubtful whether he would have met
+with our actual Barbs; and lastly, he would have found Carriers with beaks
+and wattle incomparably less developed than in our English Carriers. He
+might have classed most of the breeds in the same groups as at present; but
+the differences between the groups were then far less strongly pronounced
+than at present. In short, the several breeds had at this early period not
+diverged in so great a degree from their aboriginal common parent, the wild
+rock-pigeon.
+
+_Manner of Formation of the chief Races._
+
+We will now consider more closely the probable steps by which the chief
+races have been formed. As long as pigeons are kept semi-domesticated in
+dovecots in their native country, without any care in selecting and
+matching them, they are liable to little more variation than the wild _C.
+livia_, namely, in the wings becoming chequered with black, in the croup
+being blue or white, and in the size of the body. When, however,
+dovecot-pigeons are transported into diversified countries, such as Sierra
+Leone, the Malay archipelago, and Madeira (where the wild _C. livia_ is not
+known to exist), they are exposed to new conditions of life; and apparently
+in consequence they vary in a somewhat greater degree. When closely
+confined, either for the pleasure of watching them, or to prevent their
+straying, they must be exposed, even under their native climate, to {213}
+considerably different conditions; for they cannot obtain their natural
+diversity of food; and, what is probably more important, they are
+abundantly fed, whilst debarred from taking much exercise. Under these
+circumstances we might expect to find, from the analogy of all other
+domesticated animals, a greater amount of individual variability than with
+the wild pigeon; and this is the case. The want of exercise apparently
+tends to reduce the size of the feet and organs of flight; and then, from
+the law of correlation of growth, the beak apparently becomes affected.
+From what we now see occasionally taking place in our aviaries, we may
+conclude that sudden variations or sports, such as the appearance of a
+crest of feathers on the head, of feathered feet, of a new shade of colour,
+of an additional feather in the tail or wing, would occur at rare intervals
+during the many centuries which have elapsed since the pigeon was first
+domesticated. At the present day such "sports" are generally rejected as
+blemishes; and there is so much mystery in the breeding of pigeons that, if
+a valuable sport did occur, its history would often be concealed. Before
+the last hundred and fifty years, there is hardly a chance of the history
+of any such sport having been recorded. But it by no means follows from
+this that such sports in former times, when the pigeon had undergone much
+less variation, would have been rejected. We are profoundly ignorant of the
+cause of each sudden and apparently spontaneous variation, as well as of
+the infinitely numerous shades of difference between the birds of the same
+family. But in a future chapter we shall see that all such variations
+appear to be the indirect result of changes of some kind in the conditions
+of life.
+
+Hence, after a long course of domestication, we might expect to see in the
+pigeon much individual variability, and occasional sudden variations, as
+well as slight modifications from the lessened use of certain parts,
+together with the effects of correlation of growth. But without selection
+all this would produce only a trifling or no result; for without such aid
+differences of all kinds would, from the two following causes, soon
+disappear. In a healthy and vigorous lot of pigeons many more young birds
+are killed for food or die than are reared to maturity; so that an
+individual having any peculiar character, if not selected, would run a good
+chance of being destroyed; and if not destroyed, the {214} peculiarity in
+question would almost certainly be obliterated by free intercrossing. It
+might, however, occasionally happen that the same variation repeatedly
+occurred, owing to the action of peculiar and uniform conditions of life,
+and in this case it would prevail independently of selection. But when
+selection is brought into play all is changed; for this is the
+foundation-stone in the formation of new races; and with the pigeon,
+circumstances, as we have already seen, are eminently favourable for
+selection. When a bird presenting some conspicuous variation has been
+preserved, and its offspring have been selected, carefully matched, and
+again propagated, and so onwards during successive generations, the
+principle is so obvious that nothing more need be said about it. This may
+be called _methodical selection_, for the breeder has a distinct object in
+view, namely, to preserve some character which has actually appeared; or to
+create some improvement already pictured in his mind.
+
+Another form of selection has hardly been noticed by those authors who have
+discussed this subject, but is even more important. This form may be called
+_unconscious selection_, for the breeder selects his birds unconsciously,
+unintentionally, and without method, yet he surely though slowly produces a
+great result. I refer to the effects which follow from each fancier at
+first procuring and afterwards rearing as good birds as he can, according
+to his skill, and according to the standard of excellence at each
+successive period. He does not wish permanently to modify the breed; he
+does not look to the distant future, or speculate on the final result of
+the slow accumulation during many generations of successive slight changes:
+he is content if he possesses a good stock, and more than content if he can
+beat his rivals. The fancier in the time of Aldrovandi, when in the year
+1600 he admired his own jacobins, pouters, or carriers, never reflected
+what their descendants in the year 1860 would become; he would have been
+astonished could he have seen our jacobins, our improved English carriers,
+and our pouters; he would probably have denied that they were the
+descendants of his own once admired stock, and he would perhaps not have
+valued them, for no other reason, as was written in 1765, "than because
+they were not like what used to be thought good when he was in the fancy."
+No one will attribute the lengthened beak of the {215} carrier, the
+shortened beak of the short-faced tumbler, the lengthened leg of the
+pouter, the more perfectly-enclosed hood of the jacobin, &c.,--changes
+effected since the time of Aldrovandi, or even since a much later
+period,--to the direct and immediate action of the conditions of life. For
+these several races have been modified in various and even in directly
+opposite ways, though kept under the same climate and treated in all
+respects in as nearly uniform a manner as possible. Each slight change in
+the length or shortness of the beak, in the length of leg, &c., has no
+doubt been indirectly and remotely caused by some change in the conditions
+to which the bird has been subjected, but we must attribute the final
+result, as is manifest in those cases of which we have any historical
+record, to the continued selection and accumulation of many slight
+successive variations.
+
+The action of unconscious selection, as far as pigeons are concerned,
+depends on a universal principle in human nature, namely, on our rivalry,
+and desire to outdo our neighbours. We see this in every fleeting fashion,
+even in our dress, and it leads the fancier to endeavour to exaggerate
+every peculiarity in his breeds. A great authority on pigeons[359] says,
+"Fanciers do not and will not admire a medium standard, that is, half and
+half, which is neither here nor there, but admire extremes." After
+remarking that the fancier of short-faced beard tumblers wishes for a very
+short beak, and that the fancier of long-faced beard tumblers wishes for a
+very long beak, he says, with respect to one of intermediate length, "Don't
+deceive yourself. Do you suppose for a moment the short or the long-faced
+fancier would accept such a bird as a gift? Certainly not; the short-faced
+fancier could see no beauty in it; the long-faced fancier would swear there
+was no use in it, &c." In these comical passages, written seriously, we see
+the principle which has ever guided fanciers, and has led to such great
+modifications in all the domestic races which are valued solely for their
+beauty or curiosity.
+
+Fashions in pigeon-breeding endure for long periods; we cannot change the
+structure of a bird as quickly as we can the fashion of our dress. In the
+time of Aldrovandi, no doubt the more the pouter inflated his crop, the
+more he was valued. Nevertheless, fashions do to a certain extent change;
+first one {216} point of structure and then another is attended to; or
+different breeds are admired at different times and in different countries.
+As the author just quoted remarks, "the fancy ebbs and flows; a thorough
+fancier now-a-days never stoops to breed toy-birds;" yet these very "toys"
+are now most carefully bred in Germany. Breeds which at the present time
+are highly valued in India are considered worthless in England. No doubt,
+when breeds are neglected, they degenerate; still we may believe that, as
+long as they are kept under the same conditions of life, characters once
+gained will be partially retained for a long time, and may form, the
+starting-point for a future course of selection.
+
+Let it not be objected to this view of the action of unconscious selection
+that fanciers would not observe or care for extremely slight differences.
+Those alone who have associated with fanciers can be thoroughly aware of
+their accurate powers of discrimination acquired by long practice, and of
+the care and labour which they bestow on their birds. I have known a
+fancier deliberately study his birds day after day to settle which to match
+together and which to reject. Observe how difficult the subject appears to
+one of the most eminent and experienced fanciers. Mr. Eaton, the winner of
+many prizes, says, "I would here particularly guard you against keeping too
+great a variety of pigeons, otherwise you will know a little about all the
+kinds, but nothing about one as it ought to be known." "It is possible
+there may be a few fanciers that have a good general knowledge of the
+several fancy pigeons, but there are many who labour under the delusion of
+supposing they know what they do not." Speaking exclusively of one
+sub-variety of one race, namely, the short-faced almond tumbler, and after
+saying that some fanciers sacrifice every property to obtain a good head
+and beak, and that other fanciers sacrifice everything for plumage, he
+remarks: "Some young fanciers who are over covetous go in for all the five
+properties at once, and they have their reward by getting nothing." In
+India, as I hear from Mr. Blyth, pigeons are likewise selected and matched
+with the greatest care. But we must not judge of the slight differences
+which would have been valued in ancient days, by those which are now valued
+after the formation of many races, each with its own standard of
+perfection, kept uniform by our numerous {217} Exhibitions. The ambition of
+the most energetic fancier may be fully satisfied by the difficulty of
+excelling other fanciers in the breeds already established, without trying
+to form a new one.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A difficulty with respect to the power of selection will perhaps already
+have occurred to the reader, namely, what could have led fanciers first to
+attempt to make such singular breeds as pouters, fantails, carriers, &c.?
+But it is this very difficulty which the principle of unconscious selection
+removes. Undoubtedly no fancier ever did intentionally make such an
+attempt. All that we need suppose is that a variation occurred sufficiently
+marked to catch the discriminating eye of some ancient fancier, and then
+unconscious selection carried on for many generations, that is, the wish of
+succeeding fanciers to excel their rivals, would do the rest. In the case
+of the fantail we may suppose that the first progenitor of the breed had a
+tail only slightly erected, as may now be seen in certain runts,[360] with
+some increase in the number of the tail-feathers, as now occasionally
+occurs with nuns. In the case of the pouter we may suppose that some bird
+inflated its crop a little more than other pigeons, as is now the case in a
+slight degree with the oesophagus of the turbit. We do not in the least
+know the origin of the common tumbler, but we may suppose that a bird was
+born with some affection of the brain, leading it to make somersaults in
+the air; and the difficulty in this case is lessened, as we know that,
+before the year 1600, in India, pigeons remarkable for their diversified
+manner of flight were much valued, and by the order of the Emperor Akber
+Khan were sedulously trained and carefully matched.
+
+In the foregoing cases we have supposed that a sudden variation,
+conspicuous enough to catch a fancier's eye, first appeared; but even this
+degree of abruptness in the process of variation is not necessary for the
+formation of a new breed. When the same kind of pigeon has been kept pure,
+and has been bred during a long period by two or more fanciers, slight
+differences in the strain can often be recognised. Thus I have seen
+first-rate jacobins in one man's possession which certainly {218} differed
+slightly in several characters from those kept by another. I possessed some
+excellent barbs descended from a pair which had won a prize, and another
+lot descended from a stock formerly kept by that famous fancier Sir John
+Sebright, and these plainly differed in the form of the beak; but the
+differences were so slight, that they could hardly be described by words.
+Again, the common English and Dutch tumbler differ in a somewhat greater
+degree, both in length of beak and shape of head. What first caused these
+slight differences cannot be explained any more than why one man has a long
+nose and another a short one. In the strains long kept distinct by
+different fanciers, such differences are so common that they cannot be
+accounted for by the accident of the birds first chosen for breeding having
+been originally as different as they now are. The explanation no doubt lies
+in selection of a slightly different nature having been applied in each
+case; for no two fanciers have exactly the same taste, and consequently no
+two, in choosing and carefully matching their birds, prefer or select
+exactly the same. As each man naturally admires his own birds, he goes on
+continually exaggerating by selection whatever slight peculiarities they
+may possess. This will more especially happen with fanciers living in
+different countries, who do not compare their stocks and aim at a common
+standard of perfection. Thus, when a mere strain has once been formed,
+unconscious selection steadily tends to augment the amount of difference,
+and thus converts the strain into a sub-breed, and this ultimately into a
+well-marked breed or race.
+
+The principle of correlation of growth should never be lost sight of. Most
+pigeons have small feet, apparently caused by their lessened use, and from
+correlation, as it would appear, their beaks have likewise become reduced
+in length. The beak is a conspicuous organ, and, as soon as it had thus
+become perceptibly shortened, fanciers would almost certainly strive to
+reduce it still more by the continued selection of birds with the shortest
+beaks; whilst at the same time other fanciers, as we know has actually been
+the case, would, in other sub-breeds, strive to increase its length. With
+the increased length of the beak, the tongue would become greatly
+lengthened, as would the eyelids with the increased development {219} of
+the eye-wattles; with the reduced or increased size of the feet the number
+of the scutellae would vary; with the length of the wing the number of the
+primary wing-feathers would differ; and with the increased length of the
+body in the pouter the number of the sacral vertebrae would be augmented.
+These important and correlated differences of structure do not invariably
+characterise any breed; but if they had been attended to and selected with
+as much care as the more conspicuous external differences, there can hardly
+be a doubt that they would have been rendered constant. Fanciers could
+assuredly have made a race of tumblers with nine instead of ten primary
+wing-feathers, seeing how often the number nine appears without any wish on
+their part, and indeed in the case of the white-winged varieties in
+opposition to their wish. In a similar manner, if the vertebrae had been
+visible and had been attended to by fanciers, assuredly an additional
+number might easily have been fixed in the pouter. If these latter
+characters had once been rendered constant we should never have suspected
+that they had at first been highly variable, or that they had arisen from
+correlation, in the one case with the shortness of the wings, and in the
+other case with the length of the body.
+
+In order to understand how the chief domestic races have become distinctly
+separated from each other, it is important to bear in mind, that fanciers
+constantly try to breed from the best birds, and consequently that those
+which are inferior in the requisite qualities are in each generation
+neglected; so that after a time the less improved parent-stocks and many
+subsequently formed intermediate grades become extinct. This has occurred
+in the case of the pouter, turbit, and trumpeter, for these highly improved
+breeds are now left without any links closely connecting them either with
+each other or with the aboriginal rock-pigeon. In other countries, indeed,
+where the same care has not been applied, or where the same fashion has not
+prevailed, the earlier forms may long remain unaltered or altered only in a
+slight degree, and we are thus sometimes enabled to recover the connecting
+links. This is the case in Persia and India with the tumbler and carrier,
+which there differ but slightly from the rock-pigeon in the {220}
+proportions of their beaks. So again in Java, the fantail sometimes has
+only fourteen caudal feathers, and the tail is much less elevated and
+expanded than in our improved birds; so that the Java bird forms a link
+between a first-rate fantail and the rock-pigeon.
+
+Occasionally a breed may be retained for some particular quality in a
+nearly unaltered condition in the same country, together with highly
+modified offshoots or sub-breeds, which are valued for some distinct
+property. We see this exemplified in England, where the common tumbler,
+which is valued only for its flight, does not differ much from its
+parent-form, the Eastern tumbler; whereas the short-faced tumbler has been
+prodigiously modified, from being valued, not for its flight, but for other
+qualities. But the common-flying tumbler of Europe has already begun to
+branch out into slightly different sub-breeds, such as the common English
+tumbler, the Dutch roller, the Glasgow house-tumbler, and the long-faced
+beard tumbler, &c.; and in the course of centuries, unless fashions greatly
+change, these sub-breeds will diverge through the slow and insensible
+process of unconscious selection, and become modified, in a greater and
+greater degree. After a time the perfectly graduated links, which now
+connect all these sub-breeds together, will be lost, for there would be no
+object and much difficulty in retaining such a host of intermediate
+sub-varieties.
+
+The principle of divergence, together with the extinction of the many
+previously existing intermediate forms, is so important for understanding
+the origin of domestic races, as well as of species in a state of nature,
+that I will enlarge a little more on this subject. Our third main group
+includes carriers, barbs, and runts, which are plainly related to each
+other, yet wonderfully distinct in several important characters. According
+to the view given in the last chapter, these three races have probably
+descended from an unknown race having an intermediate character, and this
+from the rock-pigeon. Their characteristic differences are believed to be
+due to different breeders having at an early period admired different
+points of structure; and then, on the acknowledged principle of admiring
+extremes, having gone on breeding, without any thought of the future, as
+good birds as they could,--carrier-fanciers preferring {221} long beaks
+with much wattle,--barb-fanciers preferring short thick beaks with much
+eye-wattle,--and runt-fanciers not caring about the beak or wattle, but
+only for the size and weight of the body. This process will have led to the
+neglect and final extinction of the earlier, inferior, and intermediate
+birds; and thus it has come to pass, that in Europe these three races are
+now so extraordinarily distinct from each other. But in the East, whence
+they were originally brought, the fashion has been different, and we there
+see breeds which connect the highly modified English carrier with the
+rock-pigeon, and others which to a certain extent connect carriers and
+runts. Looking back to the time of Aldrovandi, we find that there existed
+in Europe, before the year 1600, four breeds which were closely allied to
+carriers and barbs, but which competent authorities cannot now identify
+with our present barbs and carriers; nor can Aldrovandi's runts be
+identified with our present runts. These four breeds certainly did not
+differ from each other nearly so much as do our existing English carriers,
+barbs, and runts. All this is exactly what might have been anticipated. If
+we could collect all the pigeons which have ever lived, from before the
+time of the Romans to the present day, we should be able to group them in
+several lines, diverging from the parent rock-pigeon. Each line would
+consist of almost insensible steps, occasionally broken by some slightly
+greater variation or sport, and each would culminate in one of our present
+highly modified forms. Of the many former connecting links, some would be
+found to have become absolutely extinct without having left any issue,
+whilst others though extinct would be seen to be the progenitors of the
+existing races.
+
+I have heard it remarked as a strange circumstance that we occasionally
+hear of the local or complete extinction of domestic races, whilst we hear
+nothing of their origin. How, it has been asked, can these losses be
+compensated, and more than compensated, for we know that with almost all
+domesticated animals the races have largely increased in number since the
+time of the Romans? But on the view here given, we can understand this
+apparent contradiction. The extinction of a race within historical times is
+an event likely to be noticed; but its gradual and scarcely sensible
+modification through unconscious selection, {222} and its subsequent
+divergence, either in the same or more commonly in distant countries, into
+two or more strains, and their gradual conversion into sub-breeds, and
+these into well-marked breeds, are events which would rarely be noticed.
+The death of a tree, that has attained gigantic dimensions, is recorded;
+the slow growth of smaller trees and their increase in number excite no
+attention.
+
+In accordance with the belief of the great power of selection, and of the
+little direct power of changed conditions of life, except in causing
+general variability or plasticity of organisation, it is not surprising
+that dovecot-pigeons have remained unaltered from time immemorial; and that
+some toy-pigeons, which differ in little else besides colour from the
+dovecot-pigeon, have retained the same character for several centuries. For
+when one of these toy-pigeons had once become beautifully and symmetrically
+coloured,--when, for instance, a Spot had been produced with the crown of
+its head, its tail, and tail-coverts of a uniform colour, the rest of the
+body being snow-white,--no alteration or improvement would be desired. On
+the other hand, it is not surprising that during this same interval of time
+our highly-bred pigeons have undergone an astonishing amount of change; for
+in regard to them there is no defined limit to the wish of the fancier, and
+there is no known limit to the variability of their characters. What is
+there to stop the fancier desiring to give to his carrier a longer and
+longer beak, or to his tumbler a shorter and shorter beak? nor has the
+extreme limit of variability in the beak, if there be any such limit, as
+yet been reached. Notwithstanding the great improvement effected within
+recent times in the short-faced almond tumbler, Mr. Eaton remarks, "the
+field is still as open for fresh competitors as it was one hundred years
+ago;" but this is perhaps an exaggerated assertion, for the young of all
+highly improved fancy birds are extremely liable to disease and death.
+
+I have heard it objected that the formation of the several domestic races
+of the pigeon throws no light on the origin of the wild species of the
+Columbidae, because their differences are not of the same nature. The
+domestic races for instance do not differ, or differ hardly at all, in the
+relative lengths and shapes of the primary wing-feathers, in the relative
+length of the hind {223} toe, or in habits of life, as in roosting and
+building in trees. But the above objection shows how completely the
+principle of selection has been misunderstood. It is not likely that
+characters selected by the caprice of man should resemble differences
+preserved under natural conditions, either from being of direct service to
+each species, or from standing in correlation with other modified and
+serviceable structures. Until man selects birds differing in the relative
+length of the wing-feathers or toes, &c., no sensible change in these parts
+should be expected. Nor could man do anything unless these parts happened
+to vary under domestication: I do not positively assert that this is the
+case, although I have seen traces of such variability in the wing-feathers,
+and certainly in the tail-feathers. It would be a strange fact if the
+relative length of the hind toe should never vary, seeing how variable the
+foot is both in size and in the number of the scutellae. With respect to the
+domestic races not roosting or building in trees, it is obvious that
+fanciers would never attend to or select such changes in habits; but we
+have seen that the pigeons in Egypt, which do not for some reason like
+settling on the low mud hovels of the natives, are led, apparently by
+compulsion, to perch in crowds on the trees. We may even affirm that, if
+our domestic races had become greatly modified in any of the above
+specified respects, and it could be shown that fanciers had never attended
+to such points, or that they did not stand in correlation with other
+selected characters, the fact, on the principles advocated in this chapter,
+would have offered a serious difficulty.
+
+Let us briefly sum up the last two chapters on the pigeon. We may conclude
+with confidence that all the domestic races, notwithstanding their great
+amount of difference, are descended from the _Columba livia_, including
+under this name certain wild races. But the differences between these
+latter forms throw no light whatever on the characters which distinguish
+the domestic races. In each breed or sub-breed the individual birds are
+more variable than birds in a state of nature; and occasionally they vary
+in a sudden and strongly-marked manner. This plasticity of organisation
+apparently results from changed conditions of life. Disuse has reduced
+certain parts of the body. Correlation of growth so ties the organisation
+together, that when one part varies other parts {224} vary at the same
+time. When several breeds have once been formed, their intercrossing aids
+the progress of modification, and has even produced new sub-breeds. But as,
+in the construction of a building, mere stones or bricks are of little
+avail without the builder's art, so, in the production of new races,
+selection has been the presiding power. Fanciers can act by selection on
+excessively slight individual differences, as well as on those greater
+differences which are called sports. Selection is followed methodically
+when the fancier tries to improve and modify a breed according to a
+prefixed standard of excellence; or he acts unmethodically and
+unconsciously, by merely trying to rear as good birds as he can, without
+any wish or intention to alter the breed. The progress of selection almost
+inevitably leads to the neglect and ultimate extinction of the earlier and
+less improved forms, as well as of many intermediate links in each long
+line of descent. Thus it has come to pass that most of our present races
+are so marvellously distinct from each other, and from the aboriginal
+rock-pigeon.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{225}
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+FOWLS.
+
+    BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CHIEF BREEDS--ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF THEIR
+    DESCENT FROM SEVERAL SPECIES--ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF ALL THE BREEDS
+    HAVING DESCENDED FROM GALLUS BANKIVA--REVERSION TO THE PARENT-STOCK IN
+    COLOUR--ANALOGOUS VARIATIONS--ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE FOWL--EXTERNAL
+    DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SEVERAL BREEDS--EGGS--CHICKENS--SECONDARY
+    SEXUAL CHARACTERS--WING- AND TAIL-FEATHERS, VOICE, DISPOSITION,
+    ETC.--OSTEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES IN THE SKULL, VERTEBRAE, ETC.--EFFECTS OF
+    USE AND DISUSE ON CERTAIN PARTS--CORRELATION OF GROWTH.
+
+As some naturalists may not be familiar with the chief breeds of the fowl,
+it will be advisable to give a condensed description of them.[361] From
+what I have read and seen of specimens brought from several quarters of the
+world, I believe that most of the chief kinds have been imported into
+England, but many sub-breeds are probably still here unknown. The following
+discussion on the origin of the various breeds and on their characteristic
+differences does not pretend to completeness, but may be of some interest
+to the naturalist. The classification of the breeds cannot, as far as I can
+see, be made natural. They differ from each other in different degrees, and
+do not afford characters in subordination to each other, by which they can
+be ranked in group under group. They seem all to have diverged by
+independent and different roads from a single type. Each chief breed
+includes differently coloured sub-varieties, most of which can be truly
+propagated, but it would be superfluous to describe them. I have classed
+the various crested fowls {226} as sub-breeds under the Polish fowl; but I
+have great doubts whether this is a natural arrangement, showing true
+affinity or blood relationship. It is scarcely possible to avoid laying
+stress on the commonness of a breed; and if certain foreign sub-breeds had
+been largely kept in this country they would perhaps have been raised to
+the rank of main-breeds. Several breeds are abnormal in character; that is,
+they differ in certain points from all wild Gallinaceous birds. At first I
+made a division of the breeds into normal and abnormal, but the result was
+wholly unsatisfactory.
+
+[Illustration: Fig. 30.--Spanish Fowl.]
+
+    1. GAME BREED.--This may be considered as the typical breed, as it
+    deviates only slightly from the wild _Gallus bankiva_, or, as perhaps
+    more correctly named, _ferrugineus_. Beak strong; comb single and
+    upright. Spurs long and sharp. Feathers closely adpressed to the body.
+    Tail with the normal number of 14 feathers. Eggs often pale-buff.
+    Disposition {227} indomitably courageous, exhibited even in the hens
+    and chickens. An unusual number of differently coloured varieties
+    exist, such as black and brown-breasted reds, duckwings, blacks,
+    whites, piles, &c., with their legs of various colours.
+
+    2. MALAY BREED.--Body of great size, with head, neck, and legs
+    elongated; carriage erect; tail small, sloping downwards, generally
+    formed of 16 feathers; comb and wattle small; ear-lobe and face red;
+    skin yellowish; feathers closely adpressed to the body; neck-hackles
+    short, narrow, and hard. Eggs often pale buff. Chickens feather late.
+    Disposition savage. Of Eastern origin.
+
+    3. COCHIN, OR SHANGAI BREED.--Size great; wing-feathers short, arched,
+    much hidden in the soft downy plumage; barely capable of flight; tail
+    short, generally formed of 16 feathers, developed at a late period in
+    the young males; legs thick, feathered; spurs short, thick; nail of
+    middle toe flat and broad; an additional toe not rarely developed; skin
+    yellowish. Comb and wattle well developed. Skull with deep medial
+    furrow; occipital foramen, sub-triangular, vertically elongated. Voice
+    peculiar. Eggs rough, buff-coloured. Disposition extremely quiet. Of
+    Chinese origin.
+
+    4. DORKING BREED.--Size great; body square, compact; feet with an
+    additional toe; comb well developed, but varies much in form; wattles
+    well developed; colour of plumage various. Skull remarkably broad
+    between the orbits. Of English origin.
+
+    The white Dorking may be considered as a distinct sub-breed, being a
+    less massive bird.
+
+    5. SPANISH BREED.--Tall, with stately carriage; tarsi long; comb
+    single, deeply serrated, of immense size; wattles largely developed;
+    the large ear-lobes and sides of face white. Plumage black glossed with
+    green. Do not incubate. Tender in constitution, the comb being often
+    injured by frost. Eggs white, smooth, of large size. Chickens feather
+    late, but the young cocks show their masculine characters, and crow at
+    an early age. Of Mediterranean origin.
+
+    The _Andalusians_ may be ranked as a sub-breed: they are of a slaty
+    blue colour, and their chickens are well feathered. A smaller,
+    short-legged Dutch sub-breed has been described by some authors as
+    distinct.
+
+    6. HAMBURGH BREED (fig. 31).--Size moderate; comb flat, produced
+    backwards, covered with numerous small points; wattle of moderate
+    dimensions; ear-lobe white; legs blueish, thin. Do not incubate. Skull,
+    with the tips of the ascending branches of the premaxillary and with
+    the nasal bones standing a little separate from each other; anterior
+    margin of the frontal bones less depressed than usual.
+
+    There are two sub-breeds; the _spangled_ Hamburgh, of English origin,
+    with the tips of the feathers marked with a dark spot; and the
+    _pencilled_ Hamburgh, of Dutch origin, with dark transverse lines
+    across each feather, and with the body rather smaller. Both these
+    sub-breeds include gold and silver varieties, as well as some other
+    sub-varieties. Black Hamburghs have been produced by a cross with the
+    Spanish breed.
+
+    7. CRESTED OR POLISH BREED (fig. 32).--Head with a large, rounded crest
+    of feathers, supported on a hemispherical protuberance of the frontal
+    bones, {228} which includes the anterior part of the brain. The
+    ascending branches of the premaxillary bones and the inner nasal
+    processes are much shortened. The orifice of the nostrils raised and
+    crescentic. Beak short. Comb absent, or small and of crescentic shape;
+    wattles either present or replaced by a beard-like tuft of feathers.
+    Legs leaden-blue. Sexual differences appear late in life. Do not
+    incubate. There are several beautiful varieties which differ in colour
+    and slightly in other respects.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 31.--Hamburgh Fowl.]
+
+    The following sub-breeds agree in having a crest, more or less
+    developed, with the comb, when present, of crescentic shape. The skull
+    presents nearly the same remarkable peculiarities of structure as in
+    the true Polish fowl.
+
+    Sub-breed (_a_) _Sultans_.--A Turkish breed, resembling white Polish
+    fowls, with a large crest and beard, with short and well-feathered
+    legs. The tail is furnished with additional sickle feathers. Do not
+    incubate.[362]
+
+    Sub-breed (_b_) _Ptarmigans_.--An inferior breed closely allied to the
+    last, white, rather small, legs much feathered, with the crest pointed;
+    comb small, cupped; wattles small.
+
+    {229}
+
+    Sub-breed (_c_) _Ghoondooks_.--Another Turkish breed having an
+    extraordinary appearance; black and tailless; crest and beard large;
+    legs feathered. The inner processes of the two nasal bones come into
+    contact with each other, owing to the complete absorption of the
+    ascending branches of the premaxillaries. I have seen an allied, white,
+    tailless breed from Turkey.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 32.--Polish Fowl.]
+
+    Sub-breed (_d_) _Creve-coeur_.--A French breed of large size, barely
+    capable of flight, with short black legs, head crested, comb produced
+    into two points or horns, sometimes a little branched like the horns of
+    a stag; both beard and wattles present. Eggs large. Disposition
+    quiet.[363]
+
+    Sub-breed (_e_) _Horned fowl_.--With a small crest; comb produced into
+    two great points, supported on two bony protuberances.
+
+    Sub-breed (_f_) _Houdan_.--A French breed; of moderate size,
+    short-legged with five toes, wings well developed; plumage invariably
+    mottled with {230} black, white, and straw-yellow; head furnished with
+    a crest, and a triple comb placed transversely; both wattles and beard
+    present.[364]
+
+    Sub-breed (_g_) _Guelderlands_.--No comb, head said to be surmounted by
+    a longitudinal crest of soft velvety feathers; nostrils said to be
+    crescentic; wattles well developed; legs feathered; colour black. From
+    North America. The Breda fowl seems to be closely allied to the
+    Guelderland.
+
+    8. BANTAM BREED.--Originally from Japan,[365] characterized by small
+    size alone; carriage bold and erect. There are several sub-breeds, such
+    as the Cochin, Game, and Sebright Bantams, some of which have been
+    recently formed by various crosses. The Black Bantam has a differently
+    shaped skull, with the occipital foramen like that of the Cochin fowl.
+
+    9. RUMP-LESS FOWLS.--These are so variable in character[366] that they
+    hardly deserve to be called a breed. Any one who will examine the
+    caudal vertebrae will see how monstrous the breed is.
+
+    10. CREEPERS OR JUMPERS.--These are characterized by an almost
+    monstrous shortness of legs, so that they move by jumping rather than
+    by walking; they are said not to scratch up the ground. I have examined
+    a Burmese variety, which had a skull of rather unusual shape.
+
+    11. FRIZZLED OR CAFFRE FOWLS.--Not uncommon in India, with the feathers
+    curling backwards, and with the primary feathers of the wing and tail
+    imperfect; periosteum of bones black.
+
+    12. SILK FOWLS.--Feathers silky, with the primary wing and
+    tail-feathers imperfect; skin and periosteum of bones black; comb and
+    wattles dark leaden-blue; ear-lappets tinged with blue; legs thin,
+    often furnished with an additional toe. Size rather small.
+
+    13. SOOTY FOWLS.--An Indian breed, of a white colour stained with soot,
+    with black skin and periosteum. The hens alone are thus characterized.
+
+From this synopsis we see that the several breeds differ considerably, and
+they would have been nearly as interesting for us as pigeons, if there had
+been equally good evidence that all had descended from one parent-species.
+Most fanciers believe that they are descended from several primitive
+stocks. The Rev. E. S. Dixon[367] argues strongly on this side of the
+question; and one fancier even denounces the opposite conclusion by asking,
+"Do we not perceive pervading this spirit, the spirit of the _Deist_?" Most
+naturalists, with the exception of a few, such as Temminck, believe that
+all the breeds have proceeded from a single species; but authority on such
+a point {231} goes for little. Fanciers look to all parts of the world as
+the possible sources of their unknown stocks; thus ignoring the laws of
+geographical distribution. They know well that the several kinds breed
+truly even in colour. They assert, but, as we shall see, on very weak
+grounds, that most of the breeds are extremely ancient. They are strongly
+impressed with the great difference between the chief kinds, and they ask
+with force, can differences in climate, food, or treatment have produced
+birds so different as the black stately Spanish, the diminutive elegant
+Bantam, the heavy Cochin with its many peculiarities, and the Polish fowl
+with its great top-knot and protuberant skull? But fanciers, whilst
+admitting and even overrating the effects of crossing the various breeds,
+do not sufficiently regard the probability of the occasional birth, during
+the course of centuries, of birds with abnormal and hereditary
+peculiarities; they overlook the effects of correlation of growth--of the
+long-continued use and disuse of parts, and of some direct result from
+changed food and climate, though on this latter head I have found no
+sufficient evidence; and lastly, they all, as far as I know, entirely
+overlook the all-important subject of unconscious or unmethodical
+selection, though they are well aware that their birds differ individually,
+and that by selecting the best birds for a few generations they can improve
+their stocks.
+
+An amateur writes[368] as follows. "The fact that poultry have until lately
+received but little attention at the hands of the fancier, and been
+entirely confined to the domains of the producer for the market, would
+alone suggest the improbability of that constant and unremitting attention
+having been observed in breeding, which is requisite to the consummating,
+in the offspring of any two birds, transmittable forms not exhibited by the
+parents." This at first sight appears true. But in a future chapter on
+Selection, abundant facts will be given showing not only that careful
+breeding, but that actual selection was practised during ancient periods,
+and by barely civilised races of man. In the case of the fowl I can adduce
+no direct facts showing that selection was anciently practised; but the
+Romans at the commencement of the Christian era kept six or seven breeds,
+and Columella "particularly recommends as the best, those sorts {232} that
+have five toes and white ears."[369] In the fifteenth century several
+breeds were known and described in Europe; and in China, at nearly the same
+period, seven kinds were named. A more striking case is that at present, in
+one of the Philippine Islands, the semi-barbarous inhabitants have distinct
+native names for no less than nine sub-breeds of the Game Fowl.[370]
+Azara,[371] who wrote towards the close of the last century, states that in
+the interior parts of South America, where I should not have expected that
+the least care would have been taken of poultry, a black-skinned and
+black-boned breed is kept, from being considered fertile and its flesh good
+for sick persons. Now every one who has kept poultry knows how impossible
+it is to keep several breeds distinct unless the utmost care be taken in
+separating the sexes. Will it then be pretended that those persons who in
+ancient times and in semi-civilized countries took pains to keep the breeds
+distinct, and who therefore valued them, would not occasionally have
+destroyed inferior birds and occasionally have preserved their best birds?
+This is all that is required. It is not pretended that any one in ancient
+times intended to form a new breed, or to modify an old breed according to
+some ideal standard of excellence. He who cared for poultry would merely
+wish to obtain, and afterwards to rear, the best birds which he could; but
+this occasional preservation of the best birds would in the course of time
+modify the breed, as surely, though by no means as rapidly, as does
+methodical selection at the present day. If one person out of a hundred or
+out of a thousand attended to the breeding of his birds, this would be
+sufficient; for the birds thus tended would soon become superior to others,
+and would form a new strain; and this strain would, as explained in the
+last chapter, slowly have its characteristic differences augmented, and at
+last be converted into a new sub-breed or breed. But breeds would often be
+for a time neglected and would deteriorate; they would, however, partially
+retain their character, and afterwards might again come into fashion and be
+raised to a standard of perfection {233} higher than their former standard;
+as has actually occurred quite recently with Polish fowls. If, however, a
+breed were utterly neglected, it would become extinct, as has recently
+happened with one of the Polish sub-breeds. Whenever in the course of past
+centuries a bird appeared with some slight abnormal structure, such as with
+a lark-like crest on its head, it would probably often have been preserved
+from that love of novelty which leads some persons in England to keep
+rump-less fowls, and others in India to keep frizzled fowls. And after a
+time any such abnormal appearance would be carefully preserved, from being
+esteemed a sign of the purity and excellence of the breed; for on this
+principle the Romans eighteen centuries ago valued the fifth toe and the
+white ear-lobe in their fowls.
+
+Thus from the occasional appearance of abnormal characters, though at first
+only slight in degree; from the effects of the use and the disuse of parts;
+possibly from the direct effects of changed climate and food; from
+correlation of growth; from occasional reversions to old and long-lost
+characters; from the crossing of breeds, when more than one had once been
+formed; but, above all, from unconscious selection carried on during many
+generations, there is no insuperable difficulty, to the best of my
+judgment, in believing that all the breeds have descended from some one
+parent-source. Can any single species be named from which we may reasonably
+suppose that all have descended? The _Gallus bankiva_ apparently fulfils
+every requirement. I have already given as fair an account as I could of
+the arguments in favour of the multiple origin of the several breeds; and
+now I will give those in favour of their common descent from _G. bankiva_.
+
+    But it will be convenient first briefly to describe all the known
+    species of Gallus. The _G. Sonneratii_ does not range into the northern
+    parts of India; according to Colonel Sykes,[372] it presents at
+    different heights on the Ghauts, two strongly marked varieties, perhaps
+    deserving to be called species. It was at one time thought to be the
+    primitive stock of all our domestic breeds, and this shows that it
+    closely approaches the common fowl in general structure; but its
+    hackles partially consist of highly peculiar, horny laminae,
+    transversely banded with three colours; and I have met with no
+    authentic account of any such character having been observed {234} in
+    any domestic breed.[373] This species also differs greatly from the
+    common fowl, in the comb being finely serrated, and in the loins being
+    destitute of true hackles. Its voice is utterly different. It crosses
+    readily in India with domestic hens; and Mr. Blyth [374] raised nearly
+    100 hybrid chickens; but they were tender and mostly died whilst young.
+    Those which were reared were absolutely sterile when crossed _inter
+    se_, or with either parent. At the Zoological Gardens, however, some
+    hybrids of the same parentage were not quite so sterile: Mr. Dixon, as
+    he informed me, made, with Mr. Yarrell's aid, particular inquiries on
+    this subject, and was assured that out of 50 eggs only five or six
+    chickens were reared. Some, however, of these half-bred birds were
+    crossed with one of their parents, namely, a Bantam, and produced a few
+    extremely feeble chickens. Mr. Dixon also procured some of these same
+    birds and crossed them in several ways, but all were more or less
+    infertile. Nearly similar experiments have recently been tried on a
+    great scale in the Zoological Gardens with almost the same result.[375]
+    Out of 500 eggs, raised from various first crosses and hybrids, between
+    _G. Sonneratii, bankiva_, and _varius_, only 12 chickens were reared,
+    and of these only three were the product of hybrids _inter se_. From
+    these facts, and from the above-mentioned strongly-marked differences
+    in structure between the domestic fowl and _G. Sonneratii_, we may
+    reject this latter species as the parent of any domestic breed.
+
+    Ceylon possesses a fowl peculiar to the island, viz. _G. Stanleyii_;
+    this species approaches so closely (except in the colouring of the
+    comb) to the domestic fowl, that Messrs. E. Layard and Kellaert[376]
+    would have considered it, as they inform me, as one of the
+    parent-stocks, had it not been for its singularly different voice. This
+    bird, like the last, crosses readily with tame hens, and even visits
+    solitary farms and ravishes them. Two hybrids, a male and female, thus
+    produced, were found by Mr. Mitford to be quite sterile: both inherited
+    the peculiar voice of _G. Stanleyii_. This species, then, may in all
+    probability be rejected as one of the primitive stocks of the domestic
+    fowl.
+
+    Java and the islands eastward as far as Flores are inhabited by _G.
+    varius_ (or _furcatus_), which differs in so many characters--green
+    plumage, unserrated comb, and single median wattle--that no one
+    supposes it to have been the parent of any one of our breeds; yet, as I
+    am informed by Mr. Crawfurd,[377] hybrids are commonly raised between
+    the male _G. varius_ and the common hen, and are kept for their great
+    beauty, but are invariably sterile; this, however, was not the case
+    with some bred in the Zoological Gardens. These hybrids were at one
+    time thought to {235} be specifically distinct, and were named _G.
+    aeneus_. Mr. Blyth and others believe that the _G. Temminckii_[378] (of
+    which the history is not known) is a similar hybrid. Sir J. Brooke sent
+    me some skins of domestic fowls from Borneo, and across the tail of one
+    of these, as Mr. Tegetmeier observed, there were transverse blue bands
+    like those which he had seen on the tail-feathers of hybrids from _G.
+    varius_, reared in the Zoological Gardens. This fact apparently
+    indicates that some of the fowls of Borneo have been slightly affected
+    by crosses with _G. varius_, but the case may possibly be one of
+    analogous variation. I may just allude to the _G. giganteus_, so often
+    referred to in works on poultry as a wild species; but Marsden,[379]
+    the first describer, speaks of it as a tame breed; and the specimen in
+    the British Museum evidently has the aspect of a domestic variety.
+
+    The last species to be mentioned, namely, _Gallus bankiva_, has a much
+    wider geographical range than the three previous species; it inhabits
+    Northern India as far west as Sinde, and ascends the Himalaya to a
+    height of 4000 ft.; it inhabits Burmah, the Malay peninsula, the
+    Indo-Chinese countries, the Philippine Islands, and the Malayan
+    archipelago as far eastward as Timor. This species varies considerably
+    in the wild state. Mr. Blyth informs me that the specimens, both male
+    and female, brought from near the Himalaya, are rather paler coloured
+    than those from other parts of India; whilst those from the Malay
+    peninsula and Java are brighter coloured than the Indian birds. I have
+    seen specimens from these countries, and the difference of tint in the
+    hackles was conspicuous. The Malayan hens were a shade redder on the
+    breast and neck than the Indian hens. The Malayan males generally had a
+    red ear-lappet, instead of a white one as in India; but Mr. Blyth has
+    seen one Indian specimen without the white ear-lappet. The legs are
+    leaden blue in the Indian, whereas they show some tendency to be
+    yellowish in the Malayan and Javan specimens. In the former Mr. Blyth
+    finds the tarsus remarkably variable in length. According to
+    Temminck[380] the Timor specimens differ as a local race from that of
+    Java. These several wild varieties have not as yet been ranked as
+    distinct species; if they should, as is not unlikely, be hereafter thus
+    ranked, the circumstance would be quite immaterial as far as the
+    parentage and differences of our domestic breeds are concerned. The
+    wild _G. bankiva_ agrees most closely with the black-breasted red
+    Game-breed, in colouring and in all other respects, except in being
+    smaller, and in the tail being carried more horizontally. But the
+    manner in which the tail is carried is highly variable in many of our
+    breeds, for, as Mr. Brent informs me, the tail slopes much in the
+    Malays, is erect in the Games and some other breeds, and is more than
+    erect in Dorkings, Bantams, &c. There is one other difference, namely,
+    that in _G. bankiva_, according to Mr. Blyth, the neck-hackles when
+    first moulted are replaced during two or three months, not by other
+    {236} hackles, as with our domestic poultry, but by short blackish
+    feathers.[381] Mr. Brent, however, has remarked that these black
+    feathers remain in the wild bird after the development of the lower
+    hackles, and appear in the domestic bird at the same time with them; so
+    that the only difference is that the lower hackles are replaced more
+    slowly in the wild than in the tame bird; but as confinement is known
+    sometimes to affect the masculine plumage, this slight difference
+    cannot be considered of any importance. It is a significant fact that
+    the voice of both the male and female _G. bankiva_ closely resembles,
+    as Mr. Blyth and others have noted, the voice of both sexes of the
+    common domestic fowl; but the last note of the crow of the wild bird is
+    rather less prolonged. Captain Hutton, well known for his researches
+    into the natural history of India, informs me that he has seen several
+    crossed fowls from the wild species and the Chinese bantam; these
+    crossed fowls _bred freely_ with bantams, but unfortunately were not
+    crossed _inter se_. Captain Hutton reared chickens from the eggs of the
+    _Gallus bankiva_; and these, though at first very wild, afterwards
+    became so tame that they would crowd round his feet. He did not succeed
+    in rearing them to maturity; but, as he remarks, "no wild gallinaceous
+    bird thrives well at first on hard grain." Mr. Blyth also found much
+    difficulty in keeping _G. bankiva_ in confinement. In the Philippine
+    Islands, however, the natives must succeed better, as they keep wild
+    cocks to fight with their domestic game-birds.[382] Sir Walter Elliot
+    informs me that the hen of a native domestic breed of Pegu is
+    undistinguishable from the hen of the wild _G. bankiva_; and the
+    natives constantly catch wild cocks by taking tame cocks to fight with
+    them in the woods.[383] Mr. Crawfurd remarks that from etymology it
+    might be argued that the fowl was first domesticated by the Malays and
+    Javanese.[384] It is also a curious fact, of which I have been assured
+    by Mr. Blyth, that wild specimens of the _Gallus bankiva_, brought from
+    the countries east of the Bay of Bengal, are far more easily tamed than
+    those of India; nor is this an unparalleled fact, for, as Humboldt long
+    ago remarked, the same species sometimes evinces a more tameable
+    disposition in one country than in another. If we suppose that the _G.
+    bankiva_ was first tamed in Malaya and afterwards imported into India,
+    we can understand an observation made to me by Mr. Blyth, that the
+    domestic fowls of India do not resemble the wild _G. bankiva_ more
+    closely than do those of Europe.
+
+From the extremely close resemblance in colour, general structure, and
+especially in voice, between _Gallus bankiva_ and the Game fowl; from their
+fertility, as far as this has been ascertained, when crossed; from the
+possibility of the wild species being tamed, and from its varying in the
+wild state, we may confidently look at it as the parent of the most typical
+of all the {237} domestic breeds, namely, the Game-fowl. It is a
+significant fact, that almost all the naturalists in India, namely, Sir W.
+Elliot, Mr. S. N. Ward, Mr. Layard, Mr. J. C. Jerdon, and Mr. Blyth,[385]
+who are familiar with _G. bankiva_, believe that it is the parent of most
+or all our domestic breeds. But even if it be admitted that _G. bankiva_ is
+the parent of the Game breed, yet it may be urged that other wild species
+have been the parents of the other domestic breeds; and that these species
+still exist, though unknown, in some country, or have become extinct. The
+extinction, however, of several species of fowls, is an improbable
+hypothesis, seeing that the four known species have not become extinct in
+the most anciently and thickly peopled regions of the East. There is, in
+fact, only one kind of domesticated bird, namely, the Chinese goose or
+_Anser cygnoides_, of which the wild parent-form is said to be still
+unknown, or extinct. For the discovery of new, or the rediscovery of old
+species of Gallus, we must not look, as fanciers often look, to the whole
+world. The larger gallinaceous birds, as Mr. Blyth has remarked,[386]
+generally have a restricted range: we see this well illustrated in India,
+where the genus Gallus inhabits the base of the Himalaya, and is succeeded
+higher up by Gallophasis, and still higher up by Phasianus. Australia, with
+its islands, is out of the question as the home for unknown species of the
+genus. It is, also, as improbable that Gallus should inhabit South
+America[387] as that a humming-bird should be found in the Old World. From
+the character of the other gallinaceous {238} birds of Africa, it is not
+probable that Gallus is an African genus. We need not look to the western
+parts of Asia, for Messrs. Blyth and Crawfurd, who have attended to this
+subject, doubt whether Gallus ever existed in a wild state even as far west
+as Persia. Although the earliest Greek writers speak of the fowl as a
+Persian bird, this probably merely indicates its line of importation. For
+the discovery of unknown species we must look to India, to the Indo-Chinese
+countries, and to the northern parts of the Malay Archipelago. The southern
+portion of China is the most likely country; but as Mr. Blyth informs me,
+skins have been exported from China during a long period, and living birds
+are largely kept there in aviaries, so that any native species of Gallus
+would probably have become known. Mr. Birch, of the British Museum, has
+translated for me passages from a Chinese Encyclopaedia published in 1609,
+but compiled from more ancient documents, in which it is said that fowls
+are creatures of the West, and were introduced into the East (_i.e._ China)
+in a dynasty 1400 B.C. Whatever may be thought of so ancient a date, we see
+that the Indo-Chinese and Indian regions were formerly considered by the
+Chinese as the source of the domestic fowl. From these several
+considerations we must look to the present metropolis of the genus, namely,
+to the south-eastern parts of Asia, for the discovery of species which were
+formerly domesticated, but are now unknown in the wild state; and the most
+experienced ornithologists do not consider it probable that such species
+will be discovered.
+
+In considering whether the domestic breeds are descended from one species,
+namely, _G. bankiva_, or from several, we must {239} not quite overlook,
+though we must not exaggerate, the importance of the test of fertility.
+Most of our domestic breeds have been so often crossed, and their mongrels
+so largely kept, that it is almost certain, if any degree of infertility
+had existed between them, it would have been detected. On the other hand,
+the four known species of Gallus when crossed with each other, or when
+crossed, with the exception of _G. bankiva_, with the domestic fowl,
+produce infertile hybrids.
+
+Finally, we have not such good evidence with fowls as with pigeons, of all
+the breeds having descended from a single primitive stock. In both cases
+the argument of fertility must go for something; in both we have the
+improbability of man having succeeded in ancient times in thoroughly
+domesticating several supposed species,--most of these supposed species
+being extremely abnormal as compared with their natural allies,--all being
+now either unknown or extinct, though the parent-form of scarcely any other
+domesticated bird has been lost. But in searching for the supposed
+parent-stocks of the various breeds of the pigeon, we were enabled to
+confine our search to species having peculiar habits of life; whilst with
+fowls there is nothing in their habits in any marked manner distinct from
+those of other gallinaceous birds. In the case of pigeons, I have shown
+that purely-bred birds of every race and the crossed offspring of distinct
+races frequently resemble, or revert to, the wild rock-pigeon in general
+colour and in each characteristic mark. With fowls we have facts of a
+similar nature, but less strongly pronounced, which we will now discuss.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Reversion and Analogous Variation._--Purely-bred Game, Malay, Cochin,
+Dorking, Bantam, and, as I hear from Mr. Tegetmeier, Silk fowls, may
+frequently or occasionally be met with, which are almost identical in
+plumage with the wild _G. bankiva_. This is a fact well deserving
+attention, when we reflect that these breeds rank amongst the most
+distinct. Fowls thus coloured are called by amateurs black-breasted reds.
+Hamburghs properly have a very different plumage; nevertheless, as Mr.
+Tegetmeier informs me, "the great difficulty in breeding cocks of the
+golden-spangled variety is their tendency to have black breasts and red
+backs." The males of white Bantams and {240} white Cochins, as they come to
+maturity, often assume a yellowish or saffron tinge; and the longer neck
+hackles of black bantam cocks,[388] when two or three years old, not
+uncommonly become ruddy; these latter bantams occasionally "even moult
+brassy winged, or actually red shouldered." So that in these several cases
+we see a plain tendency to reversion to the hues of _G. bankiva_, even
+daring the lifetime of the individual bird. With Spanish, Polish, pencilled
+Hamburgh, silver-spangled Hamburgh fowls, and with some other less common
+breeds, I have never heard of a black-breasted red bird having appeared.
+
+From my experience with pigeons, I made the following crosses. I first
+killed all my own poultry, no others living near my house, and then
+procured, by Mr. Tegetmeier's assistance, a first-rate black Spanish cock,
+and hens of the following pure breeds,--white Game, white Cochin,
+silver-spangled Polish, silver-spangled Hamburgh, silver-pencilled
+Hamburgh, and white Silk. In none of these breeds is there a trace of red,
+nor when kept pure have I ever heard of the appearance of a red feather;
+though such an occurrence would perhaps not be very improbable with white
+Games and white Cochins. Of the many chickens reared from the above six
+crosses the majority were black, both in the down and in the first plumage;
+some were white, and a very few were mottled black and white. In one lot of
+eleven mixed eggs from the white Game and white Cochin by the black Spanish
+cock, seven of the chickens were white, and only four black: I mention this
+fact to show that whiteness of plumage is strongly inherited, and that the
+belief in the prepotent power in the male to transmit his colour is not
+always correct. The chickens were hatched in the spring, and in the latter
+part of August several of the young cocks began to exhibit a change, which
+with some of them increased during the following years. Thus a young male
+bird from the silver-spangled Polish hen was in its first plumage
+coal-black, and combined in its comb, crest, wattle, and beard, the
+characters of both parents; but when two years old the secondary
+wing-feathers became largely and symmetrically marked with white, and,
+wherever in _G. bankiva_ the hackles are red, they were in this bird
+greenish-black along the shaft, narrowly bordered {241} with
+brownish-black, and this again broadly bordered with very pale
+yellowish-brown; so that in general appearance the plumage had become
+pale-coloured instead of black. In this case, with advancing age there was
+a great change, but no reversion to the red colour of _G. bankiva_.
+
+A cock with a regular rose comb derived either from the spangled or
+pencilled silver Hamburgh was likewise at first quite black; but in less
+than a year the neck-hackles, as in the last case, became whitish, whilst
+those on the loins assumed a decided reddish-yellow tint; and here we see
+the first symptom of reversion; this likewise occurred with some other
+young cocks, which need not here be described. It has also been
+recorded[389] by a breeder, that he crossed two silver-pencilled Hamburgh
+hens with a Spanish cock, and reared a number of chickens, all of which
+were black, the cocks having _golden_ and the hens brownish hackles; so
+that in this instance likewise there was a clear tendency to reversion.
+
+Two young cocks from my white Game hen were at first snow white; of these,
+one subsequently assumed pale orange-coloured hackles, chiefly on the
+loins, and the other an abundance of fine orange-red hackles on the neck,
+loins, and upper wing-coverts. Here again, we have a more decided, though
+partial, reversion to the colours of _G. bankiva_. This second cock was in
+fact coloured like an inferior "pile Game cock;"--now this sub-breed can be
+produced, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, by crossing a black-breasted
+red Game cock with a white Game hen, and the "pile" sub-breed thus produced
+can afterwards be truly propagated. So that we have the curious fact of the
+glossy-black Spanish cock and the black-breasted red Game cock when crossed
+with white Game-hens producing offspring of nearly the same colours.
+
+I reared several birds from the white Silk-hen by the Spanish cock: all
+were coal-black, and all plainly showed their parentage in having blackish
+combs and bones; none inherited the so-called silky feathers, and the
+non-inheritance of this character has been observed by others. The hens
+never varied in their plumage. As the young cocks grew old, one of them
+assumed yellowish-white hackles, and thus resembled in a considerable {242}
+degree the cross from the Hamburgh hen; the other became a gorgeous bird,
+so much so that an acquaintance had it preserved and stuffed simply from
+its beauty. When stalking about it closely resembled the wild _Gallus
+bankiva_, but with the red feathers rather darker. On close comparison one
+considerable difference presented itself, namely, that the primary and
+secondary wing-feathers were edged with greenish-black, instead of being
+edged, as in _G. bankiva_, with fulvous and red tints. The space, also,
+across the back, which bears dark-green feathers, was broader, and the comb
+was blackish. In all other respects, even in trifling details of plumage,
+there was the closest accordance. Altogether it was a marvellous sight to
+compare this bird first with _G. bankiva_, and then with its father, the
+glossy green-black Spanish cock, and with its diminutive mother, the white
+Silk hen. This case of reversion is the more extraordinary as the Spanish
+breed has long been known to breed true, and no instance is on record of
+its throwing a single red feather. The Silk hen likewise breeds true, and
+is believed to be ancient, for Aldrovandi, before 1600, alludes probably to
+this breed, and describes it as covered with wool. It is so peculiar in
+many characters that some writers have considered it as specifically
+distinct; yet, as we now see, when crossed with the Spanish fowl, it yields
+offspring closely resembling the wild _G. bankiva_.
+
+Mr. Tegetmeier has been so kind as to repeat, at my request, the cross
+between a Spanish cock and Silk hen, and he obtained similar results; for
+he thus raised, besides a black hen, seven cocks, all of which were
+dark-bodied with more or less orange-red hackles. In the ensuing year he
+paired the black hen with one of her brothers, and raised three young
+cocks, all coloured like their father, and a black hen mottled with white.
+
+The hens from the six above-described crosses showed hardly any tendency to
+revert to the mottled-brown plumage of the female _G. bankiva_: one hen,
+however, from the white Cochin, which was at first coal-black, became
+slightly brown or sooty. Several hens, which were for a long time
+snow-white, acquired as they grew old a few black feathers. A hen from the
+white Game, which was for a long time entirely black glossed with green,
+when two years old had some of the primary wing-feather greyish-white, and
+a multitude of feathers over her body {243} narrowly and symmetrically
+tipped or laced with white. I had expected that some of the chickens whilst
+covered with down would have assumed the longitudinal stripes so general
+with gallinaceous birds; but this did not occur in a single instance. Two
+or three alone were reddish-brown about their heads. I was unfortunate in
+losing nearly all the white chickens from the first crosses; so that black
+prevailed with the grandchildren; but they were much diversified in colour,
+some being sooty, others mottled, and one blackish chicken had its feathers
+oddly tipped and barred with brown.
+
+I will here add a few miscellaneous facts connected with reversion, and
+with the law of analogous variation. This law implies, as stated in a
+previous chapter, that the varieties of one species frequently mock
+distinct but allied species; and this fact is explained, according to the
+views which I maintain, on the principle of allied species having descended
+from one primitive form. The white Silk fowl with black skin and bones
+degenerates, as has been observed by Mr. Hewitt and Mr. R. Orton, in our
+climate; that is, it reverts to the ordinary colour of the common fowl in
+its skin and bones, due care having been taken to prevent any cross. In
+Germany[390] a distinct breed with black bones, and with black, not silky
+plumage, has likewise been observed to degenerate.
+
+Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that, when distinct breeds are crossed, fowls are
+frequently produced with their feathers marked or pencilled by narrow
+transverse lines of a darker colour. This may be in part explained by
+direct reversion to the parent-form, the Bankiva hen; for this bird has all
+its upper plumage finely mottled with dark and rufous brown, with the
+mottling partially and obscurely arranged in transverse lines. But the
+tendency to pencilling is probably much strengthened by the law of
+analogous variation, for the hens of some other species of Gallus are more
+plainly pencilled, and the hens of many gallinaceous birds belonging to
+other genera, as the partridge, have pencilled feathers. Mr. Tegetmeier has
+{244} also remarked to me, that, although with domestic pigeons we have so
+great a diversity of colouring, we never see either pencilled or spangled
+feathers; and this fact is intelligible on the law of analogous variation,
+as neither the wild rock-pigeon nor any closely-allied species has such
+feathers. The frequent appearance of pencilling in crossed birds probably
+accounts for the existence of "cuckoo" sub-breeds in the Game, Polish,
+Dorking, Cochin, Andalusian, and Bantam breeds. The plumage of these birds
+is slaty-blue or grey, with each feather transversely barred with darker
+lines, so as to resemble in some degree the plumage of the cuckoo. It is a
+singular fact, considering that the male of no species of Gallus is in the
+least barred, that the cuckoo-like plumage has often been transferred to
+the male, more especially in the cuckoo Dorking; and the fact is all the
+more singular, as in gold and silver pencilled Hamburghs, in which
+pencilling is characteristic of the breed, the male is hardly at all
+pencilled, this kind of plumage being confined to the female.
+
+Another case of analogous variation is the occurrence of spangled
+sub-breeds of Hamburgh, Polish, Malay, and Bantam fowls. Spangled feathers
+have a dark mark, properly crescent-shaped, on their tips; whilst pencilled
+feathers have several transverse bars. The spangling cannot be due to
+reversion to _G. bankiva_; nor does it often follow, as I hear from Mr.
+Tegetmeier, from crossing distinct breeds; but it is a case of analogous
+variation, for many gallinaceous birds have spangled feathers,--for
+instance, the common pheasant. Hence spangled breeds are often called
+"pheasant"-fowls. Another case of analogous variation in several domestic
+breeds is inexplicable; it is, that the chickens, whilst covered with down,
+of the black Spanish, black Game, black Polish, and black Bantam, all have
+white throats and breasts, and often have some white on their wings.[391]
+The editor of the 'Poultry Chronicle'[392] remarks that all the breeds
+which properly have red ear-lappets occasionally produce birds with white
+ear-lappets. This remark more especially applies to the Game breed, which
+of all comes nearest to the {245} _G. bankiva_; and we have seen that with
+this species living in a state of nature, the ear-lappets vary in colour,
+being red in the Malayan countries, and generally, but not invariably,
+white in India.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In concluding this part of my subject I may repeat that there exists one
+widely-ranging, varying, and common species of Gallus, namely _G. bankiva_,
+which can be tamed, produces fertile offspring when crossed with common
+fowls, and closely resembles in its whole structure, plumage, and voice the
+Game breed; hence it may be safely ranked as the parent of this, the most
+typical domesticated breed. We have seen that there is much difficulty in
+believing that other, now unknown, species have been the parents of the
+other domestic breeds. We know that all the breeds are most closely allied,
+as shown by their similarity in most points of structure and in habits, and
+by the analogous manner in which they vary. We have also seen that several
+of the most distinct breeds occasionally or habitually closely resemble in
+plumage _G. bankiva_, and that the crossed offspring of other breeds, which
+are not thus coloured, show a stronger or weaker tendency to revert to this
+same plumage. Some of the breeds, which appear the most distinct and the
+least likely to have proceeded from _G. bankiva_, such as Polish fowls,
+with their protuberant and little ossified skulls, and Cochins, with their
+imperfect tail and small wings, bear in these characters the plain marks of
+their artificial origin. We know well that of late years methodical
+selection has greatly improved and fixed many characters; and we have every
+reason to believe that unconscious selection, carried on for many
+generations, will have steadily augmented each new peculiarity and thus
+have given rise to new breeds. As soon as two or three breeds had once been
+formed, crossing would come into play in changing their character and in
+increasing their number. Brahma Pootras, according to an account lately
+published in America, offer a good instance of a breed, lately formed by a
+cross, which can be truly propagated. The well-known Sebright Bantams offer
+another and similar instance. Hence it may be concluded that not only the
+Game-breed but that all our breeds are probably the descendants of the
+{246} Malayan or Indian variety of _G. bankiva_. If so, this species has
+varied greatly since it was first domesticated; but there has been ample
+time, as we shall now show.
+
+_History of the Fowl._--Ruetimeyer found no remains of the fowl in the
+ancient Swiss lake-dwellings. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament; nor
+is it figured on the ancient Egyptian monuments.[393] It is not referred to
+by Homer or Hesiod (about 900 B.C.); but is mentioned by Theognis and
+Aristophanes between 400 and 500 B.C. It is figured on some of the
+Babylonian cylinders, of which Mr. Layard sent me an impression, between
+the sixth and seventh centuries B.C.; and on the Harpy Tomb in Lycia, about
+600 B.C.: so that we may feel pretty confident that the fowl reached Europe
+somewhere near the sixth century B.C. It had travelled still farther
+westward by the time of the Christian era, for it was found in Britain by
+Julius Caesar. In India it must have been domesticated when the Institutes
+of Manu were written, that is, according to Sir W. Jones, 1200 B.C., but,
+according to the later authority of Mr. H. Wilson, only 800 B.C., for the
+domestic fowl is forbidden, whilst the wild is permitted to be eaten. If,
+as before remarked, we may trust the old Chinese Encyclopaedia, the fowl
+must have been domesticated several centuries earlier, as it is said to
+have been introduced from the West into China 1400 B.C.
+
+Sufficient materials do not exist for tracing the history of the separate
+breeds. About the commencement of the Christian era, {247} Columella
+mentions a five-toed fighting breed, and some provincial breeds; but we
+know nothing more about them. He also alludes to dwarf fowls; but these
+cannot have been the same with our Bantams, which, as Mr. Crawfurd has
+shown, were imported from Japan into Bantam in Java. A dwarf fowl, probably
+the true Bantam, is referred to in an old Japanese Encyclopaedia, as I am
+informed by Mr. Birch. In the Chinese Encyclopaedia published in 1596, but
+compiled from various sources, some of high antiquity, seven breeds are
+mentioned, including what we should now call jumpers or creepers, and
+likewise fowls with black feathers, bones, and flesh. In 1600 Aldrovandi
+describes seven or eight breeds of fowls, and this is the most ancient
+record from which the age of our European breeds can be inferred. The
+_Gallus Turcicus_ certainly seems to be a pencilled Hamburgh; but Mr.
+Brent, a most capable judge, thinks that Aldrovandi "evidently figured what
+he happened to see, and not the best of the breed." Mr. Brent, indeed,
+considers all Aldrovandi's fowls as of impure breed; but it is a far more
+probable view that all our breeds since his time have been much improved
+and modified; for, as he went to the expense of so many figures, he
+probably would have secured characteristic specimens. The Silk fowl,
+however, probably then existed in its present state, as did almost
+certainly the fowl with frizzled or reversed feathers. Mr. Dixon[394]
+considers Aldrovandi's Paduan fowl as "a variety of the Polish," whereas
+Mr. Brent believes it to have been more nearly allied to the Malay. The
+anatomical peculiarities of the skull of the Polish breed were noticed by
+P. Borelli in 1656. I may add that in 1737 one Polish sub-breed, viz. the
+golden spangled, was known; but judging from Albin's description, the comb
+was then larger, the crest of feathers much smaller, the breast more
+coarsely spotted, and the stomach and thighs much blacker: a
+golden-spangled Polish fowl in this condition would now be of no value.
+
+_Differences in External and Internal Structure between the {248} Breeds:
+Individual Variability._--Fowls have been exposed to diversified conditions
+of life, and as we have just seen there has been ample time for much
+variability and for the slow action of unconscious selection. As there are
+good grounds for believing that all the breeds are descended from _Gallus
+bankiva,_ it will be worth while to describe in some detail the chief
+points of difference. Beginning with the eggs and chickens, I will pass on
+to the secondary sexual characters, and then to the differences in external
+structure and in the skeleton. I enter on the following details chiefly to
+show how variable almost every character has become under domestication.
+
+    _Eggs._--Mr. Dixon remarks[395] that "to every hen belongs an
+    individual peculiarity in the form, colour, and size of her egg, which
+    never changes during her life-time, so long as she remains in health,
+    and which is as well known to those who are in the habit of taking her
+    produce, as the handwriting of their nearest acquaintance." I believe
+    that this is generally true, and that, if no great number of hens be
+    kept, the eggs of each can almost always be recognised. The eggs of
+    differently sized breeds naturally differ much in size; but,
+    apparently, not always in strict relation to the size of the hen: thus
+    the Malay is a larger bird than the Spanish, but _generally_ she
+    produces not such large eggs; white Bantams are said to lay smaller
+    eggs than other Bantams;[396] white Cochins, on the other hand, as I
+    hear from Mr. Tegetmeier, certainly lay larger eggs than buff Cochins.
+    The eggs, however, of the different breeds vary considerably in
+    character; for instance, Mr. Ballance states[397] that his Malay
+    "pullets of last year laid eggs equal in size to those of any duck, and
+    other Malay hens, two or three years old, laid eggs very little larger
+    than a good-sized Bantam's egg. Some were as white as a Spanish hen's
+    egg, and others varied from a light cream-colour to a deep rich buff,
+    or even to a brown." The shape also varies, the two ends being much
+    more equally rounded in Cochins than in Games or Polish. Spanish fowls
+    lay smoother eggs than Cochins, of which the eggs are generally
+    granulated. The shell in this latter breed, and more especially in
+    Malays, is apt to be thicker than in Games or Spanish; but the
+    Minorcas, a sub-breed of Spanish, are said to lay harder eggs than true
+    Spanish.[398] The colour differs considerably,--the Cochins laying
+    buff-coloured eggs; the Malays {249} a paler variable buff; and Games a
+    still paler buff. It would appear that darker-coloured eggs
+    characterise the breeds which have lately come from the East, or are
+    still closely allied to those now living there. The colour of the yolk,
+    according to Ferguson, as well as of the shell, differs slightly in the
+    sub-breeds of the Game, and stands in some degree of correlation with
+    the colour of the plumage. I am also informed by Mr. Brent that dark
+    partridge-coloured Cochin hens lay darker coloured eggs than the other
+    Cochin sub-breeds. The flavour and richness of the egg certainly differ
+    in different breeds. The productiveness of the several breeds is very
+    different. Spanish, Polish, and Hamburgh hens have lost the incubating
+    instinct.
+
+    _Chickens._--As the young of almost all gallinaceous birds, even of the
+    black curassow and black grouse, whilst covered with down, are
+    longitudinally striped on the back,--of which character, when adult,
+    neither sex retains a trace,--it might have been expected that the
+    chickens of all our domestic fowls would have been similarly
+    striped.[399] This could, however, hardly have been expected, when the
+    adult plumage in both sexes has undergone so great a change as to be
+    wholly white or black. In white fowls of various breeds the chickens
+    are uniformly yellowish white, passing in the black-boned Silk fowl
+    into bright canary-yellow. This is also generally the case with the
+    chickens of white Cochins, but I hear from Mr. Zurhost that they are
+    sometimes of a buff or oak colour, and that all those of this latter
+    colour, which were watched, turned out males. The chickens of buff
+    Cochins are of a golden-yellow, easily distinguishable from the paler
+    tint of the white Cochins, and are often longitudinally streaked with
+    dark shades: the chickens of silver-cinnamon Cochins are almost always
+    of a buff colour. The chickens of the white Game and white Dorking
+    breeds, when held in particular lights, sometimes exhibit (on the
+    authority of Mr. Brent) faint traces of longitudinal stripes. Fowls
+    which are entirely black, namely Spanish, black Game, black Polish, and
+    black Bantams, display a new character, for their chickens have their
+    breasts and throats more or less white, with sometimes a little white
+    elsewhere. Spanish chickens also, occasionally (Brent), have, where the
+    down was white, their first true feathers tipped for a time with white.
+    The primordially striped character is retained by the chickens of most
+    of the Game sub-breeds (Brent, Dixon); by Dorkings; by the partridge
+    and grouse-coloured sub-breeds of Cochins (Brent), but not, as we have
+    seen, by all the other sub-breeds; by the pheasant-Malay (Dixon), but
+    apparently not (at which I am much surprised) by other Malays. The
+    following breeds and sub-breeds are barely, or not at all,
+    longitudinally striped; viz. gold and silver pencilled Hamburghs, which
+    can hardly be distinguished from each other (Brent) in the down, both
+    having a few {250} dark spots on the head and rump, with occasionally a
+    longitudinal stripe (Dixon) on the back of the neck. I have seen only
+    one chicken of the silver-spangled Hamburgh, and this was obscurely
+    striped along the back. Gold-spangled Polish chickens (Tegetmeier) are
+    of a warm russet brown; and silver-spangled Polish chickens are grey,
+    sometimes (Dixon) with dashes of ochre on the head, wings, and breast.
+    Cuckoo and blue-dun fowls (Dixon) are grey in the down. The chickens of
+    Sebright Bantams (Dixon) are uniformly dark brown, whilst those of the
+    brown-breasted red Game Bantam are black, with some white on the throat
+    and breast. From these facts we see that the chickens of the different
+    breeds, and even of the same main breed, differ much in their downy
+    plumage; and, although longitudinal stripes characterise the young of
+    all wild gallinaceous birds, they disappear in several domestic breeds.
+    Perhaps it may be accepted as a general rule that the more the adult
+    plumage differs from that of the adult _G. bankiva,_ the more
+    completely the chickens have lost their proper stripes.
+
+With respect to the period of life at which the characters proper to each
+breed first appear, it is obvious that such structures as additional toes
+must be formed long before birth. In Polish fowls, the extraordinary
+protuberance of the anterior part of the skull is well developed before the
+chickens come out of the egg;[400] but the crest, which is supported on the
+protuberance, is at first feebly developed, nor does it attain its full
+size until the second year. The Spanish cock is pre-eminent for his
+magnificent comb, and this is developed at an unusually early age; so that
+the young males can be distinguished from the females when only a few weeks
+old, and therefore earlier than in other breeds; they likewise crow very
+early, namely, when about six weeks old. In the Dutch sub-breed of the
+Spanish fowl the white ear-lappets are developed earlier than in the common
+Spanish breed.[401] Cochins are characterised by a small tail, and in the
+young cocks the tail is developed at an unusually late period.[402] Game
+fowls are notorious for their pugnacity; and the young cocks crow, clap
+their little wings, and obstinately fight with each other, even whilst
+under their mother's care.[403] "I have often had," says one {251}
+author,[404] "whole broods, scarcely feathered, stone-blind from fighting;
+the rival couples moping in corners, and renewing their battles on
+obtaining the first ray of light." With the males of all gallinaceous birds
+the use of their weapons and pugnacity is to fight for the possession of
+the females; so that the tendency in our Game chickens to fight at an
+extremely early age is not only useless, but is injurious, as they suffer
+so much from their wounds. The training for battle during an early period
+may be natural to the wild _Gallus bankiva_; but as man during many
+generations has gone on selecting the most obstinately pugnacious cocks, it
+is more probable that their pugnacity has been unnaturally increased, and
+unnaturally transferred to the young male chickens. In the same manner, it
+is probable that the extraordinary development of the comb in the Spanish
+cock has been unintentionally transferred to the young cocks; for fanciers
+would not care whether their young birds had large combs, but would select
+for breeding the adults which had the finest combs, whether or not
+developed at an early period. The last point which need here be noticed is
+that, though the chickens of Spanish and Malay fowls are well covered with
+down, the true feathers are acquired at an unusually late age; so that for
+a time the young birds are partially naked, and are liable to suffer from
+cold.
+
+_Secondary Sexual Characters._--The two sexes in the parent-form, the
+_Gallus bankiva_, differ much in colour. In our domestic breeds the
+difference is never greater, but is often less, and varies much in degree
+even in the sub-breeds of the same main breed. Thus in certain Game fowls
+the difference is as great as in the parent-form, whilst in the black and
+white sub-breeds there is no difference in plumage. Mr. Brent informs me
+that he has seen two strains of black-breasted red Games, in which the
+cocks could not be distinguished, whilst the hens in one were
+partridge-brown and in the other fawn-brown. A similar case has been
+observed in the strains of the brown-breasted red Game. The hen of the
+"duck-winged Game" is "extremely beautiful," and differs much from the hens
+of all the other Game sub-breeds; but generally, as with the blue and grey
+Game and {252} with some sub-varieties of the pile-game, a moderately close
+relation may be observed between the males and females in the variation of
+their plumage.[405] A similar relation is also evident when we compare the
+several varieties of Cochins. In the two sexes of gold and silver-spangled
+and of buff Polish fowls, there is much general similarity in the colouring
+and marks of the whole plumage, excepting of course in the hackles, crest,
+and beard. In spangled Hamburghs, there is likewise a considerable degree
+of similarity between the two sexes. In pencilled Hamburghs, on the other
+hand, there is much dissimilarity; the pencilling which is characteristic
+of the hens being almost absent in the males of both the golden and silver
+varieties. But, as we have already seen, it cannot be given as a general
+rule that male fowls never have pencilled feathers, for Cuckoo Dorkings are
+"remarkable from having nearly similar markings in both sexes."
+
+It is a singular fact that the males in certain sub-breeds have lost some
+of their secondary masculine characters, and, from their close resemblance
+in plumage to the females, are often called hennies. There is much
+diversity of opinion whether these males are in any degree sterile; that
+they sometimes are partially sterile seems clear,[406] but this may have
+been caused by too close interbreeding. That they are not quite sterile,
+and that the whole case is widely different from that of old females
+assuming masculine characters, is evident from several of these hen-like
+sub-breeds having been long propagated. The males and females of gold and
+silver-laced Sebright Bantams can be barely distinguished from each other,
+except by their combs, wattles, and spurs, for they are coloured alike, and
+the males have not hackles, nor the flowing sickle-like tail-feathers. A
+hen-tailed sub-breed of Hamburghs was recently much esteemed. There is also
+a breed of Game-fowls, in which the males and females resemble each other
+so closely that the cocks have often mistaken their hen-feathered opponents
+in the cock-pit for real hens, and by the mistake have lost their
+lives.[407] The cocks, {253} though dressed in the feathers of the hen,
+"are high-spirited birds, and their courage has been often proved:" an
+engraving even has been published of one celebrated hen-tailed victor. Mr.
+Tegetmeier[408] has recorded the remarkable case of a brown-breasted red
+Game-cock which, after assuming its perfect masculine plumage, became
+hen-feathered in the autumn of the following year; but he did not lose
+voice, spurs, strength, nor productiveness. This bird has now retained the
+same character during five seasons, and has begot both hen-feathered and
+male-feathered offspring. Mr. Grantley F. Berkeley relates the still more
+singular case of a celebrated strain of "polecat Game-fowls," which
+produced in nearly every brood a single hen-cock. "The great peculiarity in
+one of these birds was that he, as the seasons succeeded each other, was
+not always a hen-cock, and not always of the colour called the polecat,
+which is black. From the polecat and hen-cock feather in one season he
+moulted to a full male-plumaged black-breasted red, and in the following
+year he returned to the former feather."[409]
+
+I have remarked in my 'Origin of Species' that secondary sexual characters
+are apt to differ much in the species of the same genus, and to be
+unusually variable in the individuals of the same species. So it is with
+the breeds of the fowl, as we have already seen, as far as the colour of
+plumage is concerned, and so it is with the other secondary sexual
+characters. Firstly, the comb differs much in the various breeds,[410] and
+its form is eminently characteristic of each kind, with the exception of
+the Dorkings, in which the form has not been as yet determined on by
+fanciers, and fixed by selection. A single, deeply-serrated comb is the
+typical and most common form. It differs much in size, being immensely
+developed in Spanish fowls; and in a local breed called Red-caps, it is
+sometimes "upwards of three inches in breadth at the front, and more than
+four inches in length, measured to the end of the peak behind."[411] In
+some breeds the comb is double, and when the two ends are cemented {254}
+together it forms a "cup-comb;" in the "rose-comb" it is depressed, covered
+with small projections, and produced backwards; in the horned and
+creve-coeur fowl it is produced into two horns; it is triple in the
+pea-combed Brahmas, short and truncated in the Malays, and absent in the
+Guelderlands. In the tasselled Game a few long feathers arise from the back
+of the comb; in many breeds a crest of feathers replaces the comb. The
+crest, when little developed, arises from a fleshy mass, but, when much
+developed, from a hemispherical protuberance of the skull. In the best
+Polish fowls it is so largely developed, that I have seen birds which could
+hardly pick up their food; and a German writer asserts[412] that they are
+in consequence liable to be struck by hawks. Monstrous structures of this
+kind would thus be suppressed in a state of nature. The wattles, also, vary
+much in size, being small in Malays and some other breeds; they are
+replaced in certain Polish sub-breeds by a great tuft of feathers called a
+beard.
+
+The hackles do not differ much in the various breeds, but are short and
+stiff in Malays, and absent in Hennies. As in some orders of birds the
+males display extraordinarily-shaped feathers, such as naked shafts with
+discs at the end, &c., the following case may be worth giving. In the wild
+_Gallus bankiva_ and in our domestic fowls, the barbs which arise from each
+side of the extremities of the hackles are naked or not clothed with
+barbules, so that they resemble bristles; but Mr. Brent sent me some
+scapular hackles from a young Birchen Duckwing Game cock, in which the
+naked barbs became densely reclothed with barbules towards their tips; so
+that these tips, which were dark coloured with a metallic lustre, were
+separated from the lower parts by a symmetrically-shaped transparent zone
+formed of the naked portions of the barbs. Hence the coloured tips appeared
+like little separate metallic discs.
+
+The sickle-feathers in the tail, of which there are three pair, and which
+are eminently characteristic of the male sex, differ much in the various
+breeds. They are scimitar-shaped in some Hamburghs, instead of being long
+and flowing as in the typical breeds. They are extremely short in Cochins,
+and are not at {255} all developed in Hennies. They are carried, together
+with the whole tail, erect in Dorkings and Games; but droop much in Malays
+and in some Cochins. Sultans are characterized by an additional number of
+lateral sickle-feathers. The spurs vary much, being placed higher or lower
+on the shank; being extremely long and sharp in Games, and blunt and short
+in Cochins. These latter birds seem aware that their spurs are not
+efficient weapons; for though they occasionally use them, they more
+frequently fight, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, by seizing and
+shaking each other with their beaks. In some Indian Game-cocks, received by
+Mr. Brent from Germany, there are, as he informs me, three, four, or even
+five spurs on each leg. Some Dorkings also have two spurs on each leg;[413]
+and in birds of this breed the spur is often placed almost on the outside
+of the leg. Double spurs are mentioned in the ancient Chinese Encyclopaedia.
+Their occurrence may be considered as a case of analogous variation, for
+some wild gallinaceous birds, for instance, the Polyplectron, have double
+spurs.
+
+Judging from the differences which generally distinguish the sexes in the
+Gallinaceae, certain characters in our domestic fowls appear to have been
+transferred from the one sex to the other. In all the species (except in
+Turnix), when there is any conspicuous difference in plumage between the
+male and female, the male is always the most beautiful; but in
+golden-spangled Hamburghs the hen is equally beautiful with the cock, and
+incomparably more beautiful than the hen in any natural species of Gallus;
+so that here a masculine character has been transferred to the female. On
+the other hand, in cuckoo Dorkings and in other cuckoo breeds the
+pencilling, which in Gallus is a female attribute, has been transferred to
+the male: nor, on the principle of analogous variation, is this
+transference surprising, as the males in many gallinaceous genera are
+barred or pencilled. With most of these birds head ornaments of all kinds
+are more fully developed in the male than in the female; but in Polish
+fowls the crest or top-knot, which in the male replaces the comb, is
+equally developed in both sexes. In certain {256} sub-breeds, which, from
+the hen having a small crest, are called lark-crested, "a single upright
+comb sometimes almost entirely takes the place of the crest in the
+male."[414] From this latter case, and from some facts presently to be
+given with respect to the protuberance of the skull in Polish fowls, the
+crest in this breed ought perhaps to be viewed as a feminine character
+which has been transferred to the male. In the Spanish breed the male, as
+we know, has an immense comb, and this has been partially transferred to
+the female, for her comb is unusually large, though not upright. In
+Game-fowls the bold and savage disposition of the male has likewise been
+largely transferred to the female;[415] and she sometimes even possesses
+the eminently masculine character of spurs. Many cases are on record of
+hens being furnished with spurs; and in Germany, according to
+Bechstein,[416] the spurs in the Silk-hen are sometimes very long. He
+mentions also another breed similarly characterized, in which the hens are
+excellent layers, but are apt to disturb and break their eggs owing to
+their spurs.
+
+Mr. Layard[417] has given an account of a breed of fowls in Ceylon with
+black skin, bones, and wattle, but with ordinary feathers, and which cannot
+"be more aptly described than by comparing them to a white fowl drawn down
+a sooty chimney; it is, however," adds Mr. Layard, "a remarkable fact that
+a male bird of the pure sooty variety is almost as rare as a tortoise-shell
+tom-cat." Mr. Blyth finds that the same rule holds good with this breed
+near Calcutta. The males and females, on the other hand, of the black-boned
+European breed, with silky feathers, do not differ from each other; so that
+in the one breed black skin and bones, and the same kind of plumage, are
+common to both sexes, whilst in the other breed these characters are
+confined to the female sex.
+
+At the present day all the breeds of Polish fowls have the great bony
+protuberance on their skulls, which includes part of the brain and supports
+the crest, equally developed in both sexes. {257} But formerly in Germany
+the skull of the hen alone was protuberant: Blumenbach,[418] who
+particularly attended to abnormal peculiarities in domestic animals,
+states, in 1813, that this was the case; and Bechstein had previously, in
+1793, observed the same fact. This latter author has carefully described
+the effects of a crest on the skull not only in fowls, but in ducks, geese,
+and canaries. He states that with fowls, when the crest is not much
+developed, it is supported on a fatty mass; but when much developed, it is
+always supported on a bony protuberance of variable size. He well describes
+the peculiarities of this protuberance, and he attended to the effects of
+the modified shape of the brain on the intellect of these birds, and
+disputes Pallas' statement that they are stupid. He then expressly states
+that he never observed this protuberance in male fowls. Hence there can be
+no doubt that this remarkable character in the skulls of Polish fowls was
+formerly in Germany confined to the female sex, but has now been
+transferred to the males, and has thus become common to both sexes.
+
+_External Differences, not connected with the sexes, between the breeds and
+between individual birds._
+
+    The size of the body differs greatly. Mr. Tegetmeier has known a Brahma
+    to weigh 17 pounds; a fine Malay cock 10 pounds; whilst a first-rate
+    Sebright Bantam weighs hardly more than 1 pound. During the last 20
+    years the size of some of our breeds has been largely increased by
+    methodical selection, whilst that of other breeds has been much
+    diminished. We have already seen how greatly colour varies even within
+    the same breed; we know that the wild _G. bankiva_ varies slightly in
+    colour; we know that colour is variable in all our domestic animals;
+    nevertheless some eminent fanciers have so little faith in variability,
+    that they have actually argued that the chief Game sub-breeds, which
+    differ from each other in nothing but colour, are descended from
+    distinct wild species! Crossing often causes strange modifications of
+    colour. Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that when buff and white Cochins are
+    crossed, some of the {258} chickens are almost invariably black.
+    According to Mr. Brent, black and white Cochins occasionally produce
+    chickens of a slaty-blue tint; and this same tint appears, as Mr.
+    Tegetmeier tells me, from crossing white Cochins with black Spanish
+    fowls, or white Dorkings with black Minorcas.[419] A good observer[420]
+    states that a first-rate silver-spangled Hamburgh hen gradually lost
+    the most characteristic qualities of the breed, for the black lacing to
+    her feathers disappeared, and her legs changed from leaden-blue to
+    white; but what makes the case remarkable is, that this tendency ran in
+    the blood, for her sister changed in a similar but less strongly marked
+    manner; and chickens produced from this latter hen were at first almost
+    pure white, "but on moulting acquired black collars and some spangled
+    feathers with almost obliterated markings;" so that a new variety arose
+    in this singular manner. The skin in the different breeds differs much
+    in colour, being white in common kinds, yellow in Malays and Cochins,
+    and black in Silk fowls; thus mocking, as M. Godron[421] remarks, the
+    three principal types of skin in mankind. The same author adds, that,
+    as different kinds of fowls living in distant and isolated parts of the
+    world have black skin and bones, this colour must have appeared at
+    various times and places.
+
+    The shape and carriage of the body and the shape of the head differ
+    much. The beak varies slightly in length and curvature, but
+    incomparably less than with pigeons. In most crested fowls the nostrils
+    offer a remarkable peculiarity in being raised with a crescentic
+    outline. The primary wing-feathers are short in Cochins; in a male,
+    which must have been more than twice as heavy as _G. bankiva_, these
+    feathers were in both birds of the same length. I have counted, with
+    Mr. Tegetmeier's aid, the primary wing-feathers in thirteen cocks and
+    hens of various breeds; in four of them, namely in two Hamburghs, a
+    Cochin, and Game Bantam, there were 10, instead of the normal number 9;
+    but in counting these feathers I have followed the practice of
+    fanciers, and have _not_ included the first minute primary feather,
+    barely three-quarters of an inch in length. These feathers differ
+    considerably in relative length, the fourth, or the fifth, or the
+    sixth, being the longest; with the third either equal to, or
+    considerably shorter than the fifth. In wild gallinaceous species the
+    relative length and number of the main wing and tail-feathers are
+    extremely constant.
+
+    The tail differs much in erectness and size, being small in Malays and
+    very small in Cochins. In thirteen fowls of various breeds which I have
+    examined, five had the normal number of 14 feathers, including in this
+    number the two middle sickle-feathers; six others (viz. a Caffre cock,
+    Gold-spangled Polish cock, Cochin hen, Sultan hen, Game hen, and Malay
+    hen) had 16; {259} and two (an old Cochin cock and Malay hen) had 17
+    feathers. The rumpless fowl has no tail, and in a bird which I kept
+    alive the oil-gland had aborted; but this bird, though the os coccygis
+    was extremely imperfect, had a vestige of a tail with two rather long
+    feathers in the position of the outer caudals. This bird came from a
+    family where, as I was told, the breed had kept true for twenty years;
+    but rumpless fowls often produce chickens with tails.[422] An eminent
+    physiologist[423] has recently spoken of this breed as a distinct
+    species; had he examined the deformed state of the os coccyx he would
+    never have come to this conclusion; he was probably misled by the
+    statement, which may be found in some works, that tailless fowls are
+    wild in Ceylon; but this statement, as I have been assured by Mr.
+    Layard and Dr. Kellaert, who have so closely studied the birds of
+    Ceylon, is utterly false.
+
+    The tarsi vary considerably in length, being relatively to the femur
+    considerably longer in the Spanish and Frizzled, and shorter in the
+    Silk and Bantam breeds, than in the wild _G. bankiva_; but in the
+    latter, as we have seen, the tarsi vary in length. The tarsi are often
+    feathered. The feet in many breeds are furnished with additional toes.
+    Golden-spangled Polish fowls are said[424] to have the skin between
+    their toes much developed; Mr. Tegetmeier observed this in one bird,
+    but it was not so in one which I examined. In Cochins the middle toe is
+    said[425] to be nearly double the length of the lateral toes, and
+    therefore much longer than in _G. bankiva_ or in other fowls; but this
+    was not the case in two which I examined. The nail of the middle toe in
+    this same breed is surprisingly broad and flat, but in a variable
+    degree in two birds which I examined; of this structure in the nail
+    there is only a trace in _G. bankiva_.
+
+    The voice differs slightly, as I am informed by Mr. Dixon, in almost
+    every breed. The Malays[426] have a loud, deep, somewhat prolonged
+    crow, but with considerable individual differences. Colonel Sykes
+    remarks that the domestic Kulm cock in India has not the shrill clear
+    pipe of the English bird, and "his scale of notes appears more
+    limited." Dr. Hooker was struck with the "prolonged howling screech" of
+    the cocks in Sikhim.[427] The crow of the Cochin is notoriously and
+    ludicrously different from that of the common cock. The disposition of
+    the different breeds is widely different, varying from the savage and
+    defiant temper of the Game-cock to the extremely peaceable temper of
+    the Cochin. The latter, it has been asserted, "graze to a much greater
+    extent than any other varieties." The Spanish fowls suffer more from
+    frost than other breeds.
+
+Before we pass on to the skeleton, the degree of distinctness of the
+several breeds from _G. bankiva_ ought to be noticed. Some {260} writers
+speak of the Spanish as one of the most distinct breeds, and so it is in
+general aspect; but its characteristic differences are not important. The
+Malay appears to me more distinct, from its tall stature, small drooping
+tail with more than fourteen tail-feathers, and from its small comb and
+wattles; nevertheless one Malay sub-breed is coloured almost exactly like
+_G. bankiva._ Some authors consider the Polish fowl as very distinct; but
+this is a semi-monstrous breed, as shown by the protuberant and irregularly
+perforated skull. The Cochin, with its deeply furrowed frontal bones,
+peculiarly shaped occipital foramen, short wing-feathers, short tail
+containing more than fourteen feathers, broad nail to the middle toe,
+fluffy plumage, rough and dark-coloured eggs, and especially from its
+peculiar voice, is probably the most distinct of all the breeds. If any one
+of our breeds has descended from some unknown species, distinct from _G.
+bankiva,_ it is probably the Cochin; but the balance of evidence does not
+favour this view. All the characteristic differences of the Cochin breed
+are more or less variable, and may be detected in a greater or lesser
+degree in other breeds. One sub-breed is coloured closely like _G.
+bankiva._ The feathered legs, often furnished with an additional toe, the
+wings incapable of flight, the extremely quiet disposition, indicate a long
+course of domestication; and these fowls come from China, where we know
+that plants and animals have been tended from a remote period with
+extraordinary care, and where consequently we might expect to find
+profoundly modified domestic races.
+
+_Osteological Differences._--I have examined twenty-seven skeletons and
+fifty-three skulls of various breeds, including three of _G. bankiva_:
+nearly half of these skulls I owe to the kindness of Mr. Tegetmeier, and
+three of the skeletons to Mr. Eyton.
+
+    The _Skull_ differs greatly in size in different breeds, being nearly
+    twice as long in the largest Cochins, but not nearly twice as broad, as
+    in Bantams. The bones at the base, from the occipital foramen to the
+    anterior end (including the quadrates and pterygoids), are absolutely
+    identical in _shape_ in all the skulls. So is the lower jaw. In the
+    forehead slight differences are often perceptible between the males and
+    females, evidently caused by the presence of the comb. In every case I
+    take the skull of _G. bankiva_ as the standard of comparison. In four
+    Games, in one Malay hen, in an {261} African cock, in a Frizzled cock
+    from Madras, in two black-boned Silk hens, no differences occur worth
+    notice. In three _Spanish_ cocks, the form of the forehead between the
+    orbits differs considerably; in one it is considerably depressed,
+    whilst in the two others it is rather prominent, with a deep medial
+    furrow; the skull of the hen is smooth. In three skulls of _Sebright
+    Bantams_ the crown is more globular, and slopes more abruptly to the
+    occiput, than in _G. bankiva_. In a Bantam or Jumper from Burmah these
+    same characters are more strongly pronounced, and the supra-occiput is
+    more pointed. In a black Bantam the skull is not so globular, and the
+    occipital foramen is very large, and has nearly the same sub-triangular
+    outline presently to be described in Cochins; and in this skull the two
+    ascending branches of the premaxillary are overlapped in a singular
+    manner by the processes of the nasal bone, but, as I have seen only one
+    specimen, some of these differences may be individual. Of Cochins and
+    Brahmas (the latter a crossed race approaching closely to Cochins) I
+    have examined seven skulls; at the point where the ascending branches
+    of the premaxillary rest on the frontal bone the surface is much
+    depressed, and from this depression a deep medial furrow extends
+    backwards to a variable distance; the edges of this fissure are rather
+    prominent, as is the top of the skull behind and over the orbits. These
+    characters are less developed in the hens. The pterygoids, and the
+    processes of the lower jaw, relatively to the size of the head, are
+    broader than in _G. bankiva_; and this is likewise the case with
+    Dorkings when of large size. The terminal fork of the hyoid bone in
+    Cochins is twice as wide as in _G. bankiva_, whereas the length of the
+    other hyoid bones is only as three to two. But the most remarkable
+    character is the shape of the occipital foramen: in _G. bankiva_ (A)
+    the breadth in a horizontal line exceeds the height in a vertical line,
+    and the outline is nearly circular; whereas in Cochins (B) the outline
+    is sub-triangular, and the vertical line exceeds the horizontal line in
+    length. This same form likewise occurs in the black Bantam above
+    referred to, and an approach to it may be seen in some Dorkings, and in
+    a slight degree in certain other breeds.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 33.--Occipital Foramen, of natural size. A. Wild
+    _Gallus bankiva_. B. Cochin Cock.]
+
+    Of _Dorkings_ I have examined three skulls, one belonging to the white
+    sub-breed; the one character deserving notice is the breadth of the
+    frontal bones, which are moderately furrowed in the middle; thus in a
+    skull which was less than once and a half the length of that of _G.
+    bankiva_, the breadth between the orbits was exactly double. Of
+    _Hamburghs_ I have examined four skulls (male and female) of the
+    pencilled sub-breed, and one (male) of the spangled sub-breed; the
+    nasal bones stand remarkably wide apart, but in a variable degree;
+    consequently narrow membrane-covered spaces fare left between the tips
+    of the two ascending branches of the premaxillary {262} bones, which
+    are rather short, and between these branches and the nasal bones. The
+    surface of the frontal bone, on which the branches of the premaxillary
+    rest, is very little depressed. These peculiarities no doubt stand in
+    close relation with the broad flattened rose-comb characteristic of the
+    Hamburgh breed.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 34.--Skulls of natural size, viewed from above, a
+    little obliquely. A. Wild _Gallus bankiva_. B. White-crested Polish
+    Cock.]
+
+    I have examined fourteen skulls of _Polish and other crested breeds_.
+    Their differences are extraordinary. First for nine skulls of different
+    sub-breeds of English Polish fowls. The hemispherical protuberance of
+    the frontal bones[428] may be seen in the accompanying drawings, in
+    which (B) the skull of a white-crested Polish fowl is shown obliquely
+    from above, with the skull (A) of _G. bankiva_ in the same position. In
+    fig. 35 longitudinal sections are given of the skulls of a Polish fowl,
+    and, for comparison, of a Cochin of the same size. The protuberance in
+    all Polish fowls occupies the same position, but differs much in size.
+    In one of my nine specimens it was extremely slight. The degree to
+    which the protuberance is ossified varies greatly, larger or smaller
+    portions of bone being replaced by membrane. In one specimen there was
+    only a single open pore; generally, there are many variously-shaped
+    open spaces, the bone forming an irregular reticulation. A medial,
+    longitudinal, arched ribbon of bone is generally retained, but in one
+    specimen there was no bone whatever over the whole protuberance, and
+    the skull when cleaned and viewed from above presented the appearance
+    of an open basin. The change in the whole internal form of the skull is
+    surprisingly great. The brain is modified in a corresponding manner, as
+    is shown in the two longitudinal sections, {263} which deserve
+    attentive consideration. The upper and anterior cavity of the three
+    into which the skull may be divided, is the one which is so greatly
+    modified; it is evidently much larger than in the Cochin skull of the
+    same size, and extends much further beyond the interorbital septum, but
+    laterally is less deep. Whether this cavity is entirely filled by the
+    brain, may be doubted. In the skull of the Cochin and of all ordinary
+    fowls a strong internal ridge of bone separates the anterior from the
+    central cavity; but this ridge is entirely absent in the Polish skull
+    here figured. The shape of the central cavity is circular in the
+    Polish, and lengthened in the Cochin skull. The shape of the posterior
+    cavity, together with the position, size, and number of the pores for
+    the nerves, differ much in these two skulls. A pit deeply penetrating
+    the occipital bone of the Cochin is entirely absent in this Polish
+    skull, whilst in another specimen it was well developed. In this second
+    specimen the whole internal surface of the posterior cavity likewise
+    differs to a certain extent in shape. I made sections of two other
+    skulls,--namely, of a Polish fowl with the protuberance singularly
+    little developed, and of a Sultan in which it was a little more
+    developed; and when these two skulls were placed between the two above
+    figured (fig. 35), a perfect gradation in the configuration of each
+    part of the internal surface could be traced. In the Polish skull, with
+    a small protuberance, the ridge between the anterior and middle
+    cavities was present, but low; and in the Sultan this ridge was
+    replaced by a narrow furrow standing on a broad raised eminence.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 35.--Longitudinal sections of Skull, of natural
+    size, viewed laterally. A. Polish Cock. B. Cochin Cock, selected for
+    comparison with the above from being of nearly the same size.]
+
+    {264}
+
+    It may naturally be asked whether these remarkable modifications in the
+    form of the brain affect the intellect of Polish fowls; some writers
+    have stated that they are extremely stupid, but Bechstein and Mr.
+    Tegetmeier have shown that this is by no means generally the case.
+    Nevertheless Bechstein[429] states that he had a Polish hen which "was
+    crazy, and anxiously wandered about all day long." A hen in my
+    possession was solitary in her habits, and was often so absorbed in
+    reverie that she could be touched; she was also deficient in the most
+    singular manner in the faculty of finding her way, so that, if she
+    strayed a hundred yards from her feeding-place, she was completely
+    lost, and would then obstinately try to proceed in a wrong direction. I
+    have received other and similar accounts of Polish fowls appearing
+    stupid or half-idiotic.[430]
+
+    To return to the skull. The posterior part, viewed externally, differs
+    little from that of _G. bankiva_. In most fowls the posterior-lateral
+    process of the frontal bone and the process of the squamosal bone run
+    together and are ossified near their extremities: this union of the two
+    bones, however, is not constant in any breed; and in eleven out of
+    fourteen skulls of crested breeds, these processes were quite distinct.
+    These processes, when not united, instead of being inclined anteriorly
+    as in all common breeds, descend at right angles to the lower jaw; and
+    in this case the longer axis of the bony cavity of the ear is likewise
+    more perpendicular than in other breeds. When the squamosal process is
+    free, instead of expanding at the tip, it is reduced to an extremely
+    fine and pointed style, of variable length. The pterygoid and quadrate
+    bones present no difference. The palatine bones are a little more
+    curved upwards at their posterior ends. The frontal bones, anteriorly
+    to the protuberance, are, as in Dorkings, very broad, but in a variable
+    degree. The nasal bones either stand far apart, as in Hamburghs, or
+    almost touch each other, and in one instance were ossified together.
+    Each nasal bone properly sends out in front two long processes of equal
+    lengths, forming a fork; but in all the Polish skulls, except one, the
+    inner process was considerably, but in a variable degree, shortened and
+    somewhat upturned. In all the skulls, except one, the two ascending
+    branches of the premaxillary, instead of running up between the
+    processes of the nasal bones and resting on the ethmoid bone, are much
+    shortened and terminate in a blunt, somewhat upturned point. In those
+    skulls in which the nasal bones approach quite close to each other or
+    are ossified together, it would be impossible for the ascending
+    branches of the premaxillary to reach the ethmoid and frontal bones;
+    hence we see that even the relative connection of the bones has been
+    changed. Apparently in consequence of the branches of the premaxillary
+    and of the inner processes of the nasal bones being somewhat upturned,
+    the external orifices of the nostrils are upraised and assume a
+    crescentic outline.
+
+    I must still say a few words on some of the foreign Crested breeds. The
+    skull of a crested, rumpless, white Turkish fowl is very slightly
+    protuberant, and but little perforated; the ascending branches of the
+    premaxillary {265} are well developed. In another Turkish breed, called
+    Ghoondooks, the skull is considerably protuberant and perforated; the
+    ascending branches of the premaxillary are so much aborted that they
+    project only 1/15th of an inch; and the inner processes of the nasal
+    bone are so completely aborted, that the surface where they should have
+    projected is quite smooth. Here then we see these two bones modified to
+    an extreme degree. Of Sultans (another Turkish breed) I examined two
+    skulls; in that of the female the protuberance was much larger than in
+    the male. In both skulls the ascending branches of the premaxillary
+    were very short, and in both the basal portion of the inner processes
+    of the nasal bones were ossified together. These Sultan skulls differed
+    from those of English Polish fowls in the frontal bones, anteriorly to
+    the protuberance, not being broad.
+
+    The last skull which I need describe is a unique one, lent to me by Mr.
+    Tegetmeier: it resembles a Polish skull in most of its characters, but
+    has not the great frontal protuberance; it has, however, two rounded
+    knobs of a different nature, which stand more in front, above the
+    lachrymal bones. These curious knobs, into which the brain does not
+    enter, are separated from each other by a deep medial furrow; and this
+    is perforated by a few minute pores. The nasal bones stand rather wide
+    apart, with their inner processes, and the ascending branches of the
+    premaxillary, upturned and shortened. The two knobs no doubt supported
+    the two great horn-like projections of the comb.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 36.--Skull of Horned Fowl, of natural size, viewed
+    from above, a little obliquely. (In the possession of Mr. Tegetmeier.)]
+
+    From the foregoing facts we see in how astonishing a manner some of the
+    bones of the skull vary in Crested fowls. The protuberance may
+    certainly be called in one sense a monstrosity, as being wholly unlike
+    anything observed in nature: but as in ordinary cases it is not
+    injurious to the bird, and as it is strictly inherited, it can hardly
+    in another sense be called a monstrosity. A series may be formed
+    commencing with the black-boned Silk fowl, which has a very small crest
+    with the skull beneath penetrated only by a few minute orifices, but
+    with no other change in its structure; and from this first stage we may
+    proceed to fowls with a moderately large crest, which rests, according
+    to Bechstein, on a fleshy mass, but without any {266} protuberance in
+    the skull. I may add that I have seen a similar fleshy or fibrous mass
+    beneath the tuft of feathers on the head of the Tufted duck; and in
+    this case there was no actual protuberance in the skull, but it had
+    become a little more globular. Lastly, when we come to fowls with a
+    largely developed crest, the skull becomes largely protuberant and is
+    perforated by a multitude of irregular open spaces. The close relation
+    between the crest and the size of the bony protuberance is shown in
+    another way; for Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that if chickens lately
+    hatched be selected with a large bony protuberance, when adult they
+    will have a large crest. There can be no doubt that in former times the
+    breeder of Polish fowls attended solely to the crest, and not to the
+    skull; nevertheless, by increasing the crest, in which he has
+    wonderfully succeeded, he has unintentionally made the skull
+    protuberant to an astonishing degree; and through correlation of
+    growth, he has at the same time affected the form and relative
+    connexion of the premaxillary and nasal bones, the shape of the orifice
+    of the nose, the breadth of the frontal bones, the shape of the
+    post-lateral processes of the frontal and squamosal bones, the
+    direction of the axis of the bony cavity of the ear, and lastly the
+    internal configuration of the whole skull together with the shape of
+    the brain.
+
+    _Vertebrae._--In _G. bankiva_ there are fourteen cervical, seven dorsal
+    with ribs, apparently fifteen lumbar and sacral, and six caudal
+    vertebrae;[431] but the lumbar and sacral are so much anchylosed that I
+    am not sure of their number, and this makes the comparison of the total
+    number of vertebrae in the several breeds difficult. I have spoken of
+    six caudal vertebrae, because the basal one is almost completely
+    anchylosed with the pelvis; but if we consider the number as seven, the
+    caudal vertebrae agree in all the skeletons. The cervical vertebrae are,
+    as just stated, in appearance fourteen; but out of twenty-three
+    skeletons in a fit state for examination, in five of them, namely, in
+    two Games, in two pencilled Hamburghs, and in a Polish, the fourteenth
+    vertebra bore ribs, which, though small, were perfectly developed with
+    a double articulation. The presence of these little ribs cannot be
+    considered as a fact of much importance, for all the cervical vertebrae
+    bear representatives of ribs; but their development in the fourteenth
+    vertebra reduces the size of the passages in the transverse processes,
+    and makes this vertebra exactly like the first dorsal vertebra. The
+    addition of these little ribs does not affect the fourteenth cervical
+    alone, for properly the ribs of the first true dorsal vertebra are
+    destitute of processes; but in some of the skeletons in which the
+    fourteenth cervical bore little ribs, the first pair of true ribs had
+    well-developed processes. When we know that the sparrow has only nine,
+    and the swan twenty-three cervical vertebrae,[432] we need feel no
+    surprise at the number of the cervical vertebrae in the fowl being, as
+    it appears, variable.
+
+    There are seven dorsal vertebrae bearing ribs; the first dorsal is never
+    {267} anchylosed with the succeeding four, which are generally
+    anchylosed together. In one Sultan fowl, however, the two first dorsal
+    vertebrae were free. In two skeletons, the fifth dorsal was free;
+    generally the sixth is free (as in _G. bankiva_), but sometimes only at
+    its posterior end, where in contact with the seventh. The seventh
+    dorsal vertebra, in every case excepting in one Spanish cock, was
+    anchylosed with the lumbar vertebrae. So that the degree to which these
+    middle dorsal vertebrae are anchylosed together is variable.
+
+    Seven is the normal number of true ribs, but in two skeletons of the
+    Sultan fowl (in which the fourteenth cervical vertebra was not
+    furnished with little ribs) there were eight pairs; the eighth pair
+    seemed to be developed on a vertebra corresponding with the first
+    lumbar in _G. bankiva_; the sternal portion of both the seventh and
+    eighth ribs did not reach the sternum. In four skeletons in which ribs
+    were developed on the fourteenth cervical vertebra, there were, when
+    these cervical ribs are included, eight pairs; but in one Game-cock, in
+    which the fourteenth cervical was furnished with ribs, there were only
+    six pairs of true dorsal ribs; the sixth pair in this case did not have
+    processes, and thus resembled the seventh pair in other skeletons; in
+    this game-cock, as far as could be judged from the appearance of the
+    lumbar vertebrae, a whole dorsal vertebra with its ribs was missing. We
+    thus see that the ribs (whether or not the little pair attached to the
+    fourteenth cervical vertebra be counted) vary from six to eight pair.
+    The sixth pair is frequently not furnished with processes. The sternal
+    portion of the seventh pair is extremely broad in Cochins, and is
+    completely ossified. As previously stated, it is scarcely possible to
+    count the lumbo-sacral vertebrae; but they certainly do not correspond
+    in shape or number in the several skeletons. The caudal vertebrae are
+    closely similar in all the skeletons, the only difference being,
+    whether or not the basal one is anchylosed to the pelvis; they hardly
+    vary even in length, not being shorter in Cochins, with their short
+    tail-feathers, than in other breeds; in a Spanish cock, however, the
+    caudal vertebrae were a little elongated. In three rumpless fowls the
+    caudal vertebrae were few in number, and anchylosed together into a
+    misformed mass.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 37.--Sixth Cervical Vertebra, of natural size,
+    viewed laterally. A. Wild _Gallus bankiva_. B. Cochin Cock.]
+
+    In the individual vertebrae the differences in structure are very
+    slight. In the atlas the cavity for the occipital condyle is either
+    ossified into a ring, or is, as in Bankiva, open on its upper margin.
+    The upper arc of the spinal canal is a little more arched in Cochins,
+    in conformity with the shape of occipital foramen, than in _G.
+    bankiva_. In several skeletons a difference, but not of much
+    importance, may be observed, which commences a the fourth cervical
+    vertebra, and is greatest at about the sixth, seventh, or eighth
+    vertebra; this consists in the haemal descending processes being united
+    to the body of the vertebra by a sort of buttress. This structure may
+    be observed in Cochins, Polish, some Hamburgh, and probably other
+    breeds; but is absent, or barely developed, in Game, Dorking, Spanish,
+    Bantam, and {268} several other breeds examined by me. On the dorsal
+    surface of the sixth cervical vertebra in Cochins three prominent
+    points are more strongly developed than in the corresponding vertebra
+    of the Game-fowl or _G. bankiva_.
+
+    _Pelvis._--This differs in some few points in the several skeletons.
+    The anterior margin of the ilium seems at first to vary much in
+    outline, but this is chiefly due to the degree to which the margin in
+    the middle part is ossified to the crest of the spine; the outline,
+    however, does differ in being more truncated in Bantams, and more
+    rounded in certain breeds, as in Cochins. The outline of the ischiadic
+    foramen differs considerably, being nearly circular in Bantams, instead
+    of egg-shaped as in the Bankiva, and more regularly oval in some
+    skeletons, as in the Spanish. The obturator notch is also much less
+    elongated in some skeletons than in others. The end of the pubic bone
+    presents the greatest difference; being hardly enlarged in the Bankiva;
+    considerably and gradually enlarged in Cochins, and in a lesser degree
+    in some other breeds; and abruptly enlarged in Bantams. In one Bantam
+    this bone extended very little beyond the extremity of the ischium. The
+    whole pelvis in this latter bird differed widely in its proportions,
+    being far broader proportionally to its length than in Bankiva.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 38.--Extremity of the Furcula, of natural size,
+    viewed laterally. A. Wild _Gallus bankiva_. B. Spangled Polish Fowl. C.
+    Spanish Fowl. D. Dorking Fowl.]
+
+    _Sternum._--This bone is generally so much deformed that it is scarcely
+    possible to compare its form strictly in the several breeds. The shape
+    of the triangular extremity of the lateral processes differs
+    considerably, being either almost equilateral or much elongated. The
+    front margin of the crest is more or less perpendicular and varies
+    greatly, as does the curvature of the posterior end, and the flatness
+    of the lower surface. The outline of the manubrial process also varies,
+    being wedge-shaped in the Bankiva, and rounded in the Spanish breed.
+    The _furcula_ differs in being more or less arched, and greatly, as may
+    be seen in the accompanying outlines, in the shape of the terminal
+    plate; but the shape of this part differed a little in two skeletons of
+    the wild Bankiva. The _coracoids_ present no difference worth notice.
+    The _scapula_ varies in shape, being of nearly uniform breadth in
+    Bankiva, much broader in the middle in the Polish fowl, and abruptly
+    narrowed towards the apex in the two Sultan fowls.
+
+    I carefully compared each separate bone of the leg and wing, relatively
+    to the same bones in the wild Bankiva, in the following breeds, which I
+    thought were the most likely to differ; namely, in Cochin, Dorking,
+    {269} Spanish, Polish, Burmese Bantam, Frizzled Indian, and black-boned
+    Silk fowls; and it was truly surprising to see how absolutely every
+    process, articulation, and pore agreed, though the bones differed
+    greatly in size. The agreement is far more absolute than in other parts
+    of the skeleton. In stating this, I do not refer to the relative
+    thickness and length of the several bones; for the tarsi varied
+    considerably in both these respects. But the other limb-bones varied
+    little even in relative length.
+
+Finally, I have not examined a sufficient number of skeletons to say
+whether any of the foregoing differences, except in the skull, are
+characteristic of the several breeds. Apparently some differences are more
+common in certain breeds than in others,--as an additional rib to the
+fourteenth cervical vertebra in Hamburghs and Games, and the breadth of the
+end of the pubic bone in Cochins. Both skeletons of the Sultan fowl had
+eight dorsal vertebrae, and the end of the scapula in both was somewhat
+attenuated. In the skull, the deep medial furrow in the frontal bones and
+the vertically elongated occipital foramen seem to be characteristic of
+Cochins; as is the great breadth of the frontal bones in Dorkings; the
+separation and open spaces between the tips of the ascending branches of
+the premaxillaries and nasal bones, as well as the front part of the skull
+being but little depressed, characterise Hamburghs; the globular shape of
+the posterior part of the skull seems to be characteristic of laced
+Bantams; and lastly, the protuberance of the skull with the ascending
+branches of the premaxillaries partially aborted, together with the other
+differences before specified, are eminently characteristic of Polish and
+other Crested fowls.
+
+But the most striking result of our examination of the skeleton is the
+great variability of all the bones except those of the extremities. To a
+certain extent we can understand why the skeleton fluctuates so much in
+structure; fowls have been exposed to unnatural conditions of life, and
+their whole organisation has thus been rendered variable; but the breeder
+is quite indifferent to, and never intentionally selects, any modifications
+in the skeleton. External characters, if not attended to by man,--such as
+the number of the tail and wing feathers and their relative lengths, which
+in wild birds are generally constant points,--fluctuate in our domestic
+fowls in the same manner as the several parts of the skeleton. An
+additional toe is a "point" in Dorkings, and has become a fixed character,
+but is variable in {270} Cochins and Silk-fowls. The colour of the plumage
+and the form of the comb are in most breeds, or even sub-breeds, eminently
+fixed characters; but in Dorkings these points have not been attended to,
+and are variable. When any modification in the skeleton is related to some
+external character which man values, it has been, unintentionally on his
+part, acted on by selection, and has become more or less fixed. We see this
+in the wonderful protuberance of the skull, which supports the crest of
+feathers in Polish fowls, and which by correlation has affected other parts
+of the skull. We see the same result in the two protuberances which support
+the horns in the horned fowl, and in the flattened shape of the front of
+the skull in Hamburghs consequent on their flattened and broad
+"rose-combs." We know not in the least whether additional ribs, or the
+changed outline of the occipital foramen, or the changed form of the
+scapula, or of the extremity of the furcula, are in any way correlated with
+other structures, or have arisen from the changed conditions and habits of
+life to which our fowls have been subjected; but there is no reason to
+doubt that these various modifications in the skeleton could be rendered,
+either by direct selection, or by the selection of correlated structures,
+as constant and as characteristic of each breed, as are the size and shape
+of the body, the colour of the plumage, and the form of the comb.
+
+_Effects of the Disuse of Parts._
+
+    Judging from the habits of our European gallinaceous birds, _Gallus
+    bankiva_ in its native haunts would use its legs and wings more than do
+    our domestic fowls, which rarely fly except to their roosts. The Silk
+    and the Frizzled fowls, from having imperfect wing-feathers, cannot fly
+    at all; and there is reason to believe that both these breeds are
+    ancient, so that their progenitors during many generations cannot have
+    flown. The Cochins, also, from their short wings and heavy bodies, can
+    hardly fly up to a low perch. Therefore in these breeds, especially in
+    the two first, a considerable diminution in the wing-bones might have
+    been expected, but this is not the case. In every specimen, after
+    disarticulating and cleaning the bones, I carefully compared the
+    relative length of the two main bones of the wing to each other, and of
+    the two main bones of the leg to each other, with those of _G.
+    bankiva_; and it was surprising to see (except in the case of the
+    tarsi) how exactly the same relative length had been retained. This
+    fact is curious, from showing how truly the proportions of an organ may
+    be inherited, although not fully exercised during many generations. I
+    then compared in several breeds the {271} length of the femur and tibia
+    with the humerus and ulna, and likewise these same bones with those of
+    _G. bankiva_; the result was that the wing-bones in all the breeds
+    (except the Burmese Jumper, which has unnaturally short legs) are
+    slightly shortened relatively to the leg-bones; but the decrease is so
+    slight that it may be due to the standard specimen of _G. bankiva_
+    having accidentally had wings of slightly greater length than usual; so
+    that the measurements are not worth giving. But it deserves notice that
+    the Silk and Frizzled fowls, which are quite incapable of flight, had
+    their wings _less_ reduced relatively to their legs than in almost any
+    other breed! We have seen with domesticated pigeons that the bones of
+    the wings are somewhat reduced in length, whilst the primary feathers
+    are rather increased in length, and it is just possible, though not
+    probable, that in the Silk and Frizzled fowls any tendency to decrease
+    in the length of the wing-bones from disuse may have been checked
+    through the law of compensation, by the decreased growth of the
+    wing-feathers, and consequent increased supply of nutriment. The
+    wing-bones, however, in both these breeds, are found to be slightly
+    reduced in length when judged by the standard of the length of the
+    sternum or head, relatively to these same parts in _G. bankiva_.
+
+    The actual weight of the main bones of the leg and wing in twelve
+    breeds is given in the two first columns in the following table. The
+    calculated weight of the wing-bones relatively to the leg-bones, in
+    comparison with the leg and wing-bones of _G. bankiva_, are given in
+    the third column,--the weight of the wing-bones in _G. bankiva_ being
+    called a hundred.[433]
+
+TABLE I.
+
+  +----------------------------------+---------+---------+----------------+
+  |                                  |         |         | Weight of      |
+  |                                  | Actual  | Actual  | Wingbones      |
+  |                                  | Weight  | Weight  | relatively to  |
+  |         Names of Breeds.         | of      | of      | the Leg-bones, |
+  |                                  | Femur   | Humerus | in comparison  |
+  |                                  | and     | and     | with these     |
+  |                                  | Tibia.  | Ulna.   | same bones in  |
+  |                                  | Grains. | Grains. | G. bankiva.    |
+  +--+-------------------------------+---------+---------+----------------+
+  |  |Gallus bankiva       wild male |   86    |  54     |   100          |
+  | 1|Cochin               male      |  311    | 162     |    83          |
+  | 2|Dorking              male      |  557    | 248     |    70          |
+  | 3|Spanish (Minorca)    male      |  386    | 183     |    75          |
+  | 4|Gold Spangled Polish male      |  306    | 145     |    75          |
+  | 5|Game, black-breasted male      |  293    | 143     |    77          |
+  | 6|Malay                female    |  231    | 116     |    80          |
+  | 7|Sultan               male      |  189    |  94     |    79          |
+  | 8|Indian Frizzled      male      |  206    |  88     |    67          |
+  | 9|Burmese Jumper       female    |   53    |  36     |   108          |
+  |10|Hamburgh (pencilled) male      |  157    | 104     |   106          |
+  |11|Hamburgh (pencilled) female    |  114    |  77     |   108          |
+  |12|Silk (black-boned)   female    |   88    |  57     |   103          |
+  +--+-------------------------------+---------+---------+----------------+
+
+{272}
+
+    In the eight first birds, belonging to distinct breeds, in this table,
+    we see a decided reduction in the weight of the bones of the wing. In
+    the Indian Frizzled fowl, which cannot fly, the reduction is carried to
+    the greatest extent, namely, to thirty-three per cent. of their proper
+    proportional weight. In the next four birds, including the Silk-hen,
+    which is incapable of flight, we see that the wings, relatively to the
+    legs, are slightly increased in weight; but it should be observed that,
+    if in these birds the legs had become from any cause reduced in weight,
+    this would give the false appearance of the wings having increased in
+    relative weight. Now a reduction of this nature has certainly occurred
+    with the Burmese Jumper, in which the legs are abnormally short, and in
+    the two Hamburghs and Silk fowl, the legs, though not short, are formed
+    of remarkably thin and light bones. I make these statements, not
+    judging by mere eyesight, but after having calculated the weights of
+    the leg-bones relatively to those of _G. bankiva_, according to the
+    only two standards of comparison which I could use, namely, the
+    relative lengths of the head and sternum; for I do not know the weight
+    of the body in _G. bankiva_, which would have been a better standard.
+    According to these standards, the leg-bones in these four fowls are in
+    a marked manner far lighter than in any other breed. It may therefore
+    be concluded that in all cases in which the legs have not been through
+    some unknown cause much reduced in weight, the wing-bones have become
+    reduced in weight relatively to the leg-bones, in comparison with those
+    of _G. bankiva_. And this reduction of weight may, I apprehend, safely
+    be attributed to disuse.
+
+    To make the foregoing table quite satisfactory, it ought to have been
+    shown that in the eight first birds the leg-bones have not actually
+    increased in weight out of due proportion with the rest of the body;
+    this I cannot show, from not knowing, as already remarked, the weight
+    of the wild Bankiva.[434] I am indeed inclined to suspect that the
+    leg-bones in the Dorking, No. 2 in the table, are proportionally too
+    heavy; but this bird was a very large one, weighing 7 lb. 2 oz., though
+    very thin. Its leg-bones were more than ten times as heavy as those of
+    the Burmese Jumper! I tried to ascertain the length both of the
+    leg-bones and wing-bones relatively to other parts of the body and
+    skeleton; but the whole organisation in these birds, which have been so
+    long domesticated, has become so variable, that no certain conclusions
+    could be reached. For instance, the legs of the above Dorking cock were
+    nearly three-quarters of an inch too short relatively to the length of
+    the sternum, and more than {273} three-quarters of an inch too long
+    relatively to the length of the skull, in comparison with these same
+    parts in _G. bankiva_.
+
+    In the following Table II. in the two first columns we see in inches
+    and decimals the length of the sternum, and the extreme depth of its
+    crest to which the pectoral muscles are attached. In the third column
+    we have the calculated depth of the crest, relatively to the length of
+    the sternum, in comparison with these same parts in _G. bankiva_.[435]
+
+TABLE II.
+
+  +-----------------------------+-----------+------------+----------------+
+  |                             |           |            | Depth of Crest,|
+  |                             |           |            | relatively to  |
+  |                             |  Length   | Depth of   | the length of  |
+  |    Names of Breeds.         |   of      |   Crest    | the Sternum in |
+  |                             |  Sternum. | of Sternum.| comparison with|
+  |                             |           |            | G. bankiva.    |
+  +--+--------------------------+-----------+------------+----------------+
+  |  |                          |  Inches.  |  Inches.   |                |
+  |  |Gallus bankiva      male  |   4.20    |   1.40     |    100         |
+  | 1|Cochin              male  |   5.83    |   1.55     |     78         |
+  | 2|Dorking             male  |   6.95    |   1.97     |     84         |
+  | 3|Spanish             male  |   6.10    |   1.83     |     90         |
+  | 4|Polish              male  |   5.07    |   1.50     |     87         |
+  | 5|Game                male  |   5.55    |   1.55     |     81         |
+  | 6|Malay             female  |   5.10    |   1.50     |     87         |
+  | 7|Sultan              male  |   4.47    |   1.36     |     90         |
+  | 8|Frizzled hen        male  |   4.25    |   1.20     |     84         |
+  | 9|Burmese Jumper    female  |   3.06    |   0.85     |     81         |
+  |10|Hamburgh            male  |   5.08    |   1.40     |     81         |
+  |11|Hamburgh          female  |   4.55    |   1.26     |     81         |
+  |12|Silk fowl         female  |   4.49    |   1.01     |     66         |
+  +--+--------------------------+-----------+------------+----------------+
+
+    By looking to the third column we see that in every case the depth of
+    the crest relatively to the length of the sternum, in comparison with
+    _G. bankiva_, is diminished, generally between 10 and 20 per cent. But
+    the degree of reduction varies much, partly in consequence of the
+    frequently deformed state of the sternum. In the Silk-fowl, which
+    cannot fly, the crest is 34 per cent. less deep than what it ought to
+    have been. This reduction of the crest in all the breeds probably
+    accounts for the great variability, before referred to, in the
+    curvature of the furcula, and in the shape of its sternal extremity.
+    Medical men believe that the abnormal form of the spine so commonly
+    observed in women of the higher ranks results from the attached muscles
+    not being fully exercised. So it is with our domestic fowls, for they
+    use their pectoral muscles but little, and, out of twenty-five sternums
+    examined by me, three alone were perfectly symmetrical, ten were
+    moderately crooked, and twelve were deformed to an extreme degree.
+
+Finally, we may conclude with respect to the various breeds of the fowl,
+that the main bones of the wing have probably been shortened in a very
+slight degree; that they have {274} certainly become lighter relatively to
+the leg-bones in all the breeds in which these latter bones are not
+unnaturally short or delicate; and that the crest of the sternum, to which
+the pectoral muscles are attached, has invariably become less prominent,
+the whole sternum being also extremely liable to deformity. These results
+we may attribute to the lessened use of the wings.
+
+_Correlation of Growth_.--I will here sum up the few facts which I have
+collected on this obscure, but important, subject. In Cochins and
+Game-fowls there is some relation between the colour of the plumage and the
+darkness of the egg-shell and even of the yolk. In Sultans the additional
+sickle-feathers in the tail are apparently related to the general
+redundancy of the plumage, as shown by the feathered legs, large crest, and
+beard. In two tailless fowls which I examined the oil-gland was aborted. A
+large crest of feathers, as Mr. Tegetmeier has remarked, seems always
+accompanied by a great diminution or almost entire absence of the comb. A
+large beard is similarly accompanied by diminished or absent wattles. These
+latter cases apparently come under the law of compensation or balancement
+of growth. A large beard beneath the lower jaw and a large top-knot on the
+skull often go together. The comb when of any peculiar shape, as with
+Horned, Spanish, and Hamburgh fowls, affects in a corresponding manner the
+underlying skull; and we have seen how wonderfully this is the case with
+Crested fowls when the crest is largely developed. With the protuberance of
+the frontal bones the shape of the internal surface of the skull and of the
+brain is greatly modified. The presence of a crest influences in some
+unknown way the development of the ascending branches of the premaxillary
+bone, and of the inner processes of the nasal bones; and likewise the shape
+of the external orifice of the nostrils. There is a plain and curious
+correlation between a crest of feathers and the imperfectly ossified
+condition of the skull. Not only does this hold good with nearly all
+crested fowls, but likewise with tufted ducks, and as Dr. Guenther informs
+me with tufted geese in Germany.
+
+Lastly, the feathers composing the crest in male Polish fowls resemble
+hackles, and differ greatly in shape from those in the crest of the female.
+The neck, wing-coverts, and loins {275} in the male bird are properly
+covered with hackles, and it would appear that feathers of this shape have
+spread by correlation to the head of the male. This little fact is
+interesting; because, though both sexes of some wild gallinaceous birds
+have their heads similarly ornamented, yet there is often a difference in
+the size and shape of feathers forming their crests. Furthermore there is
+in some cases, as in the male Gold and in the male Amherst pheasants (_P.
+pictus_ and _Amherstiae_), a close relation in colour, as well as in
+structure, between the plumes on the head and on the loins. Hence it would
+appear that the same law has regulated the state of the feathers on the
+head and body, both with species living under their natural conditions, and
+with birds which have varied under domestication.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{276}
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+DUCKS--GOOSE--PEACOCK--TURKEY--GUINEA-FOWL--CANARY-BIRD--GOLD-FISH--
+HIVE-BEES--SILK-MOTHS.
+
+    DUCKS, SEVERAL BREEDS OF--PROGRESS OF DOMESTICATION--ORIGIN OF, FROM
+    THE COMMON WILD-DUCK--DIFFERENCES IN THE DIFFERENT BREEDS--OSTEOLOGICAL
+    DIFFERENCES--EFFECTS OF USE AND DISUSE ON THE LIMB-BONES.
+
+    GOOSE, ANCIENTLY DOMESTICATED--LITTLE VARIATION OF--SEBASTOPOL BREED.
+
+    PEACOCK, ORIGIN OF BLACK-SHOULDERED BREED.
+
+    TURKEY, BREEDS OF--CROSSED WITH THE UNITED STATES SPECIES--EFFECTS OF
+    CLIMATE ON.
+
+    GUINEA-FOWL, CANARY-BIRD, GOLD-FISH, HIVE-BEES.
+
+    SILK-MOTHS, SPECIES AND BREEDS OF--ANCIENTLY DOMESTICATED--CARE IN
+    THEIR SELECTION--DIFFERENCES IN THE DIFFERENT RACES--IN THE EGG,
+    CATERPILLAR, AND COCOON STATES--INHERITANCE OF CHARACTERS--IMPERFECT
+    WINGS--LOST INSTINCTS--CORRELATED CHARACTERS.
+
+I will, as in previous cases, first briefly describe the chief domestic
+breeds of the duck:--
+
+    BREED 1. _Common Domestic Duck_.--Varies much in colour and in
+    proportions, and differs in instincts and disposition from the
+    wild-duck. There are several sub-breeds:--(1) The Aylesbury, of great
+    size, white, with pale-yellow beak and legs; abdominal sack largely
+    developed. (2) The Rouen, of great size, coloured like the wild-duck,
+    with green or mottled beak; abdominal sack largely developed. (3)
+    Tufted Duck, with a large top-knot of fine downy feathers, supported on
+    a fleshy mass, with the skull perforated beneath. The top-knot in a
+    duck which I imported from Holland was two and a half inches in
+    diameter. (4) Labrador (or Canadian, or Buenos Ayres, or East Indian);
+    plumage entirely black; beak broader, relatively to its length, than in
+    the wild-duck; eggs slightly tinted with black. This sub-breed perhaps
+    ought to be ranked as a breed; it includes two sub-varieties, one as
+    large as the common domestic duck, which I have kept alive, and the
+    other smaller and often capable of flight.[436] I presume it is this
+    latter sub-variety which has been described in France[437] as flying
+    well, being rather wild, and when cooked having the flavour of the
+    wild-duck; nevertheless this sub-variety is polygamous, like other
+    domesticated ducks and unlike the wild duck. These black Labrador ducks
+    breed true; {277} but a case is given by Dr. Turral of the French
+    sub-variety producing young with some white feathers on the head and
+    neck, and with an ochre-coloured patch on the breast.
+
+    BREED 2. _Hook-billed Duck_.--This bird presents an extraordinary
+    appearance from the downward curvature of the beak. The head is often
+    tufted. The common colour is white, but some are coloured like
+    wild-ducks. It is an ancient breed, having been noticed in 1676.[438]
+    It shows its prolonged domestication by almost incessantly laying eggs,
+    like the fowls which are called everlasting layers.[439]
+
+    BREED 3. _Call-Duck_.--Remarkable from its small size, and from the
+    extraordinary loquacity of the female. Beak short. These birds are
+    either white, or coloured like the wild-duck.
+
+    BREED 4. _Penguin Duck_.--This is the most remarkable of all the
+    breeds, and seems to have originated in the Malayan archipelago. It
+    walks with its body extremely erect, and with its thin neck stretched
+    straight upwards. Beak rather short. Tail upturned, including only 18
+    feathers. Femur and meta-tarsi elongated.
+
+Almost all naturalists admit that the several breeds are descended from the
+common wild duck (_Anas boschas_); most fanciers, on the other hand, take
+as usual a very different view.[440] Unless we deny that domestication,
+prolonged during centuries, can affect even such unimportant characters as
+colour, size, and in a slight degree proportional dimensions and mental
+disposition, there is no reason whatever to doubt that the domestic duck is
+descended from the common wild species, for the one differs from the other
+in no important character. We have some historical evidence with respect to
+the period and progress of the domestication of the duck. It was
+unknown[441] to the ancient Egyptians, to the Jews of the Old Testament,
+and to the Greeks of the Homeric period. About eighteen centuries ago
+Columella[442] and Varro speak of the necessity of keeping ducks in netted
+enclosures like other wild fowl, so that at this period there was danger of
+their flying away. {278} Moreover, the plan recommended by Columella to
+those who might wish to increase their stock of ducks, namely, to collect
+the eggs of the wild bird and to place them under a hen, shows, as Mr.
+Dixon remarks, "that the duck had not at this time become a naturalised and
+prolific inmate of the Roman poultry-yard." The origin of the domestic duck
+from the wild species is recognised in nearly every language of Europe, as
+Aldrovandi long ago remarked, by the same name being applied to both. The
+wild duck has a wide range from the Himalayas to North America. It crosses
+readily with the domestic bird, and the crossed offspring are perfectly
+fertile.
+
+Both in North America and Europe the wild duck has been found easy to tame
+and breed. In Sweden this experiment was carefully tried by Tiburtius; he
+succeeded in rearing wild ducks for three generations, but, though they
+were treated like common ducks, they did not vary even in a single feather.
+The young birds suffered from being allowed to swim about in cold
+water,[443] as is known to be the case, though the fact is a strange one,
+with the young of the common domestic duck. An accurate and well-known
+observer in England[444] has described in detail his often repeated and
+successful experiments in domesticating the wild duck. Young birds are
+easily reared from eggs hatched under a bantam; but to succeed it is
+indispensable not to place the eggs of both the wild and tame duck under
+the same hen, for in this case "the young wild ducks die off, leaving their
+more hardy brethren in undisturbed possession of their foster-mother's
+care. The difference of habit at the onset in the newly-hatched ducklings
+almost entails such a result to a certainty." The wild ducklings were from
+the first quite tame towards those who took care of them as long as they
+wore the same clothes, and likewise to the dogs and cats of the house. They
+would even snap with their beaks at the dogs, and drive them away from any
+spot which they coveted. But they were much alarmed at strange men and
+dogs. Differently from what {279} occurred in Sweden, Mr. Hewitt found that
+his young birds always changed and deteriorated in character in the course
+of two or three generations; notwithstanding that great care was taken to
+prevent any crossing with tame ducks. After the third generation his birds
+lost the elegant carriage of the wild species, and began to acquire the
+gait of the common duck. They increased in size in each generation, and
+their legs became less fine. The white collar round the neck of the mallard
+became broader and less regular, and some of the longer primary
+wing-feathers became more or less white. When this occurred, Mr. Hewitt
+always destroyed his old stock and procured fresh eggs from wild nests; so
+that he never bred the same family for more than five or six generations.
+His birds continued to pair together, and never became polygamous like the
+common domestic duck. I have given these details, because no other case, as
+far as I know, has been so carefully recorded by a competent observer of
+the progress of change in wild birds reared for several generations in a
+domestic condition.
+
+From these considerations there can hardly be a doubt that the wild duck is
+the parent of the common domestic kind; nor need we look to distinct
+species for the parentage of the more distinct breeds, namely, Penguin,
+Call, Hook-billed, Tufted, and Labrador ducks. I will not repeat the
+arguments used in the previous chapters on the improbability of man having
+in ancient times domesticated several species since become unknown or
+extinct, though ducks are not readily exterminated in the wild state;--on
+some of the supposed parent-species having had abnormal characters in
+comparison with all the other species of the genus, as with hook-billed and
+penguin ducks;--on all the breeds, as far as is known, being fertile
+together;[445]--on all the breeds having the same general disposition,
+instinct, &c. But one fact bearing on this question may be noticed: in the
+great duck family, one species alone, namely, the male of {280} _A.
+boschas_, has its four middle tail-feathers curled upwardly; now in every
+one of the above-named domestic breeds these curled feathers exist, and on
+the supposition that they are descended from distinct species, we must
+assume that man formerly hit upon species all of which had this now unique
+character. Moreover, sub-varieties of each breed are coloured almost
+exactly like the wild duck, as I have seen with the largest and smallest
+breeds, namely Rouens and Call-ducks, and, as Mr. Brent states,[446] is the
+case with Hook-billed ducks. This gentleman, as he informs me, crossed a
+white Aylesbury drake and a black Labrador duck, and some of the ducklings
+as they grew up assumed the plumage of the wild duck.
+
+With respect to Penguins, I have not seen many specimens, and none were
+coloured precisely like the wild duck; but Sir James Brooke sent me three
+skins from Lombok and Bali, in the Malayan archipelago; the two females
+were paler and more rufous than the wild duck, and the drake differed in
+having the whole under and upper surface (excepting the neck, tail-coverts,
+tail, and wings) silver-grey, finely pencilled with dark lines, closely
+like certain parts of the plumage of the wild mallard. But I found this
+drake to be identical in every feather with a variety of the common breed
+procured from a farm-yard in Kent, and I have occasionally elsewhere seen
+similar specimens. The occurrence of a duck bred under so peculiar a
+climate as that of the Malayan archipelago, where the wild species does not
+exist, with exactly the same plumage as may occasionally be seen in our
+farm-yards, is a fact worth notice. Nevertheless the climate of the Malayan
+archipelago apparently does tend to cause the duck to vary much, for
+Zollinger,[447] speaking of the Penguin breed, says that in Lombok "there
+is an unusual and very wonderful variety of ducks." One Penguin drake which
+I kept alive differed from those of which the skins were sent me from
+Lombok, in having its breast and back partially coloured with
+chestnut-brown, thus more closely resembling the Mallard.
+
+From these several facts, more especially from the drakes of all the breeds
+having curled tail-feathers, and from certain sub-varieties in each breed
+occasionally resembling in general {281} plumage the wild duck, we may
+conclude with confidence that all the breeds are descended from _A.
+boschas_.
+
+    I will now notice some of the peculiarities characteristic of the
+    several breeds. The eggs vary in colour; some common ducks laying
+    pale-greenish and others quite white eggs. The eggs which are first
+    laid during each season by the black Labrador duck, are tinted black,
+    as if rubbed with ink. So that with ducks, as with poultry, some degree
+    of correlation exists between the colour of the plumage and the
+    egg-shell. A good observer assured me that one year his Labrador ducks
+    laid almost perfectly white eggs, but that the yolks were this same
+    season dirty olive-green, instead of as usual of a golden yellow, so
+    that the black tint appeared to have passed inwards. Another curious
+    case shows what singular variations sometimes occur and are inherited;
+    Mr. Hansell[448] relates that he had a common duck which always laid
+    eggs with the yolk of a dark-brown colour like melted glue; and the
+    young ducks, hatched from these eggs, laid the same kind of eggs, so
+    that the breed had to be destroyed.
+
+    The hook-billed duck has a most remarkable appearance (see fig. of
+    skull, woodcut No. 39); and its peculiar beak has been inherited at
+    least since the year 1676. This structure is evidently analogous with
+    that described in the Bagadotten carrier pigeon. Mr. Brent[449] says
+    that, when hook-billed ducks are crossed with common ducks, "many young
+    ones are produced with the upper mandible shorter than the lower, which
+    not unfrequently causes the death of the bird." A tuft of feathers on
+    the head is by no means a rare occurrence; namely, in the true tufted
+    breed, the hook-billed, the common farmyard duck, and in a duck having
+    no other peculiarity which was sent to me from the Malayan archipelago.
+    The tuft is only so far interesting as it affects the skull, which is
+    thus rendered slightly more globular, and is perforated by numerous
+    apertures. Call-ducks are remarkable from their extraordinary
+    loquacity: the drake only hisses like common drakes; nevertheless, when
+    paired with the common duck, he transmits to his female offspring a
+    strong quacking tendency. This loquacity seems at first a surprising
+    character to have been acquired under domestication. But the voice
+    varies in the different breeds; Mr. Brent[450] says that hook-billed
+    ducks are very loquacious, and that Rouens utter a "dull, loud, and
+    monotonous cry, easily distinguishable by an experienced ear." As the
+    loquacity of the Call-duck is highly serviceable, these birds being
+    used in decoys, this quality may have been increased by selection. For
+    instance, Colonel Hawker says, if young wild-ducks cannot be got for a
+    decoy, "by way of make-shift, _select_ tame birds which are the most
+    clamorous, even if their colour should not be like that of wild
+    ones."[451] It has been {282} falsely asserted that Call-ducks hatch
+    their eggs in less time than common ducks.[452]
+
+    The Penguin duck is the most remarkable of all the breeds; the thin
+    neck and body are carried erect; the wings are small; the tail is
+    upturned; and the thigh-bones and metatarsi are considerably lengthened
+    in proportion with the same bones in the wild duck. In five specimens
+    examined by me there were only eighteen tail-feathers instead of twenty
+    as in the wild duck; but I have also found only eighteen and nineteen
+    tail-feathers in two Labrador ducks. On the middle toe, in three
+    specimens, there were twenty-seven or twenty-eight scutellae, whereas in
+    two wild ducks there were thirty-one and thirty-two. The Penguin when
+    crossed transmits with much power its peculiar form of body and gait to
+    its offspring; this was manifest with some hybrids raised in the
+    Zoological Gardens between one of these birds and the Egyptian
+    goose[453] (_Anser AEgyptiacus_), and likewise with some mongrels which
+    I raised between the Penguin and Labrador duck. I am not much surprised
+    that some writers have maintained that this breed must be descended
+    from an unknown and distinct species; but from the reasons already
+    assigned, it seems to me far more probable that it is the descendant,
+    much modified by domestication under an unnatural climate, of _Anas
+    boschas_.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 39.--Skulls, viewed laterally, reduced to
+    two-thirds of the natural size. A. Wild Duck. B. Hook-billed Duck.]
+
+    _Osteological Characters._--The skulls of the several breeds differ
+    from each other and from the skull of the wild duck in very little
+    except in the proportional length and curvature of the premaxillaries.
+    These latter bones in the Call-duck are short, and a line drawn from
+    their extremities to the summit of the skull is nearly straight,
+    instead of being concave as in the {283} common duck; so that the skull
+    resembles that of a small goose. In the hook-billed duck (fig. 39)
+    these same bones as well as the lower jaw curve downwards in a most
+    remarkable manner, as represented. In the Labrador duck the
+    premaxillaries are rather broader than in the wild duck; and in two
+    skulls of this breed the vertical ridges on each side of the
+    supra-occipital bone are very prominent. In the Penguin the
+    premaxillaries are relatively shorter than in the wild duck; and the
+    inferior points of the paramastoids more prominent. In a Dutch tufted
+    duck, the skull under the enormous tuft was slightly more globular and
+    was perforated by two large apertures; in this skull the lachrymal
+    bones were produced much further backwards, so as to have a different
+    shape and to nearly touch the post. lat. processes of the frontal
+    bones, thus almost completing the bony orbit of the eye. As the
+    quadrate and pterygoid bones are of such complex shape and stand in
+    relation with so many other bones, I carefully compared them in all the
+    principal breeds; but excepting in size they presented no difference.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 40.--Cervical Vertebrae, of natural size. A. Eighth
+    cervical vertebra of Wild Duck, viewed on haemal surface. B. Eighth
+    cervical vertebra of Call Duck, viewed as above. C. Twelfth cervical
+    vertebra of Wild Duck, viewed laterally. D. Twelfth cervical vertebra
+    of Aylesbury Duck, viewed laterally.]
+
+    _Vertebrae and Ribs._--In one skeleton of the Labrador duck there were
+    the usual fifteen cervical vertebrae and the usual nine dorsal vertebrae
+    bearing ribs; in the other skeleton there were fifteen cervical and ten
+    dorsal vertebrae with ribs; nor, as far as could be judged, was this
+    owing merely to a rib having been developed on the first lumbar
+    vertebra; for in both skeletons the lumbar vertebrae agreed perfectly in
+    number, shape, and size with those of the wild duck. In two skeletons
+    of the Call-duck there were fifteen cervical and nine dorsal vertebrae;
+    in a third skeleton small ribs were attached to the so-called fifteenth
+    cervical vertebra, making ten pairs of ribs; but these ten ribs do not
+    correspond, or arise from the same vertebrae, with the ten in the
+    above-mentioned Labrador duck. In the Call-duck, which had small ribs
+    attached to the fifteenth cervical vertebra, the haemal spines of the
+    thirteenth and fourteenth (cervical) and of the seventeenth (dorsal)
+    vertebrae corresponded with the spines on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and
+    eighteenth vertebrae of the wild duck: so that each of these vertebrae
+    had acquired a structure proper to one posterior to it in position. In
+    the twelfth cervical vertebra of this same Call-duck (fig. 40, B), the
+    two branches of the haemal spine stand much closer together than in the
+    wild duck (A), and the descending haemal processes are much shortened.
+    In the Penguin duck the neck from its thinness and erectness falsely
+    appears (as ascertained by measurement) to be much elongated, but the
+    cervical and dorsal vertebrae present no difference; the posterior
+    dorsal vertebrae, however, are more completely anchylosed to {284} the
+    pelvis than in the wild duck. The Aylesbury duck has fifteen cervical
+    and ten dorsal vertebrae furnished with ribs, but the same number of
+    lumbar, sacral, and caudal vertebrae, as far as could be traced, as in
+    the wild duck. The cervical vertebrae in this same duck (fig. 40, D)
+    were much broader and thicker relatively to their length than in the
+    wild (C); so much so, that I have thought it worth while to give a
+    sketch of the eighth cervical vertebra in these two birds. From the
+    foregoing statements we see that the fifteenth cervical vertebra
+    occasionally becomes modified into a dorsal vertebra, and when this
+    occurs all the adjoining vertebrae are modified. We also see that an
+    additional dorsal vertebra bearing a rib is occasionally developed, the
+    number of the cervical and lumbar vertebrae apparently remaining the
+    same as usual.
+
+    I examined the bony enlargement of the trachea in the males of the
+    Penguin, Call, Hook-billed, Labrador, and Aylesbury breeds; and in all
+    it was identical in shape.
+
+    The _Pelvis_ is remarkably uniform; but in the skeleton of the
+    Hook-billed duck the anterior part is much bowed inwards; in the
+    Aylesbury and some other breeds the ischiadic foramen is less
+    elongated. In the sternum, furcula, coracoids, and scapula, the
+    differences are so slight and so variable as not to be worth notice,
+    except that in two skeletons of the Penguin duck the terminal portion
+    of the scapula was much attenuated.
+
+    In the bones of the leg and wing no modification in shape could be
+    observed. But in Penguin and Hook-billed ducks, the terminal phalanges
+    of the wing are a little shortened. In the former, the femur and
+    metatarsus (but not the tibia) are considerably lengthened, relatively
+    to the same bones in the wild duck, and to the wing-bones in both
+    birds. This elongation of the leg-bones could be seen whilst the bird
+    was alive, and is no doubt connected with its peculiar upright manner
+    of walking. In a large Aylesbury duck, on the other hand, the tibia was
+    the only bone of the leg which relatively to the other bones was
+    slightly lengthened.
+
+    _On the effects of the increased and decreased Use of the Limbs._--In
+    all the breeds the bones of the wing (measured separately after having
+    been cleaned) relatively to those of the leg have become slightly
+    shortened, in comparison with the same bones in the wild duck, as may
+    be seen in the following table:--
+
+  +--------------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------+
+  |                    | Length of Femur,| Length of Humerus,|           |
+  |   Name of Breed.   | Tibia, and      | Radius, and       |           |
+  |                    | Metatarsus      | Metacarpus        | Or as     |
+  |                    | together.       | together.         |           |
+  +--------------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------+
+  |                    |   Inches.       |    Inches.        |           |
+  |Wild mallard        |    7.14         |     9.28          | 100 : 129 |
+  |Aylesbury           |    8.64         |    10.43          | 100 : 120 |
+  |Tufted (Dutch)      |    8.25         |     9.83          | 100 : 119 |
+  |Penguin             |    7.12         |     8.78          | 100 : 123 |
+  |Call                |    6.20         |     7.77          | 100 : 125 |
+  +--------------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------+
+  |                    | Length of same  | Length of all the |           |
+  |                    |     Bones.      |  Bones of Wing.   |           |
+  |                    +-----------------+-------------------+           |
+  |                    |   Inches.       |  Inches.          |           |
+  |Wild duck           |                 |                   |           |
+  |(another specimen)  |    6.85         |    10.07          | 100 : 147 |
+  |Common domestic duck|    8.15         |    11.26          | 100 : 138 |
+  +--------------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------+
+
+{285}
+
+    In the foregoing table we see that, in comparison with the wild duck,
+    the reduction in the length of the bones of the wing, relatively to
+    those of the legs, though slight, is universal. The reduction is least
+    in the Call-duck, which has the power and the habit of frequently
+    flying.
+
+    In weight there is a greater relative difference between the bones of
+    the leg and wing, as may be seen in the following table:--
+
+  +--------------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------+
+  |                    | Weight of Femur,| Weight of         |           |
+  |   Name of Breed.   | Tibia, and      | Humerus, Radius,  |           |
+  |                    | Metatarsus      | and Metacarpus    | Or as     |
+  +--------------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------+
+  |                    |   Grains.       |    Grains.        |           |
+  |Wild mallard        |      54         |       97          | 100 : 179 |
+  |Aylesbury           |     164         |      204          | 100 : 124 |
+  |Hooked-bill         |     107         |      160          | 100 : 149 |
+  |Tufted (Dutch)      |     111         |      148          | 100 : 133 |
+  |Penguin             |      75         |       90.5        | 100 : 120 |
+  |Labrador            |     141         |      165          | 100 : 117 |
+  |Call                |      57         |       93          | 100 : 163 |
+  +--------------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------+
+  |                    |Weight of all the| Weight of all the |           |
+  |                    |   Bones of the  |   Bones of the    |           |
+  |                    |   Leg and Foot. |      Wing.        |           |
+  |                    +-----------------+-------------------+           |
+  |                    |   Grains.       |  Grains.          |           |
+  |Wild duck           |                 |                   |           |
+  |(another specimen)  |      66         |      115          | 100 : 173 |
+  |Common domestic duck|     127         |      158          | 100 : 124 |
+  +--------------------+-----------------+-------------------+-----------+
+
+    In these domesticated birds, the considerably lessened weight of the
+    bones of the wing (_i.e._ on an average, twenty-five per cent. of their
+    proper proportional weight), as well as their slightly lessened length,
+    relatively to the leg-bones, might follow, not from any actual decrease
+    in the wing-bones, but from the increased weight and length of the
+    bones of the legs. The first of the two tables on the next page shows
+    that the leg-bones relatively to the weight of the entire skeleton have
+    really increased in weight; but the second table shows that according
+    to the same standard the wing-bones have also really decreased in
+    weight; so that the relative disproportion shown in the foregoing
+    tables between the wing and leg bones, in comparison with those of the
+    wild duck, is partly due to the increase in weight and length of the
+    leg-bones, and partly to the decrease in weight and length of the
+    wing-bones.
+
+    With respect to the two following tables, I may first state that I
+    tested them by taking another skeleton of a wild duck and of a common
+    domestic duck, and by comparing the weight of _all_ the bones of the
+    leg with _all_ those of the wings, and the result was the same. In the
+    first of these tables we see that the leg-bones in each case have
+    increased in actual weight. It might have been expected that, with the
+    increased or decreased weight of the entire skeleton, the leg-bones
+    would have become proportionally heavier or lighter; but their greater
+    weight in all the breeds relatively to the other bones can be accounted
+    for only by these domestic birds having used their legs in walking and
+    standing much more than the wild, for they never fly, and the more
+    artificial breeds rarely swim. In the second {286} table we see, with
+    the exception of one case, a plain reduction in the weight of the bones
+    of the wing, and this no doubt has resulted from their lessened use.
+    The one exceptional case, namely, in one of the Call-ducks, is in truth
+    no exception, for this bird was constantly in the habit of flying
+    about: and I have seen it day after day rise from my grounds, and fly
+    for a long time in circles of more than a mile in diameter. In this
+    Call-duck there is not only no decrease, but an actual increase in the
+    weight of the wing-bones relatively to those of the wild duck; and this
+    probably is consequent on the remarkable lightness and thinness of all
+    the bones of the skeleton.
+
+  +--------------------+-------------------+-----------------+-----------+
+  |                    | Weight of entire  | Weight of       |           |
+  |   Name of Breed.   | Skeleton.         | Femur, Tibia,   |           |
+  |                    | (N.B. One         | and Metatarsus. | Or as     |
+  |                    | Metatarsus and    |                 |           |
+  |                    | Foot was          |                 |           |
+  |                    | removed from each |                 |           |
+  |                    | skeleton, as it   |                 |           |
+  |                    | had been          |                 |           |
+  |                    | accidentally lost |                 |           |
+  |                    | in two cases.)    |                 |           |
+  |--------------------+-------------------+-----------------+-----------+
+  |                    |   Grains.         |    Grains.      |           |
+  |Wild mallard        |     839           |       54        | 1000 : 64 |
+  |Aylesbury           |    1925           |      164        | 1000 : 85 |
+  |Tufted (Dutch)      |    1404           |      111        | 1000 : 79 |
+  |Penguin             |     871           |       75        | 1000 : 86 |
+  |Call (from Mr. Fox) |     717           |       57        | 1000 : 79 |
+  +--------------------+-------------------+-----------------+-----------+
+  |                    |Weight of Skeleton |   Weight of     |           |
+  |                    |     as above.     |    Humerus,     |           |
+  |                    |                   |   Radius and    |           |
+  |                    |                   |    Ulna, and    |           |
+  |                    |                   |   Metacarpus.   |           |
+  |                    +-------------------+-----------------+           |
+  |                    |   Grains.         |    Grains.      |           |
+  |Wild mallard        |     839           |       97        |1000 : 115 |
+  |Aylesbury           |    1925           |      204        |1000 : 105 |
+  |Tufted (Dutch)      |    1404           |      148        |1000 : 105 |
+  |Penguin             |     871           |       90        |1000 : 103 |
+  |Call (from          |                   |                 |           |
+  |  Mr. Baker)        |     914           |      100        |1000 : 109 |
+  |Call (from Mr. Fox) |     717           |       92        |1000 : 129 |
+  +--------------------+-------------------+-----------------+-----------+
+
+    Lastly, I weighed the furcula, coracoids, and scapula of a wild duck
+    and of a common domestic duck, and I found that their weight,
+    relatively to that of the whole skeleton, was as one hundred in the
+    former to eighty-nine in the latter; this shows that these bones in the
+    domestic duck have been reduced eleven per cent. of their due
+    proportional weight. The prominence of the crest of the sternum,
+    relatively to its length, is also much reduced in all the domestic
+    breeds. These changes have evidently been caused by the lessened use of
+    the wings.
+
+It is well known that several birds, belonging to different Orders, and
+inhabiting oceanic islands, have their wings greatly reduced in size and
+are incapable of flight. I suggested in my 'Origin of Species' that, as
+these birds are not persecuted by any enemies, the reduction of their wings
+has probably been caused by gradual disuse. Hence, during the earlier
+stages of the {287} process of reduction, such birds might be expected to
+resemble in the state of their organs of flight our domesticated ducks.
+This is the case with the water-hen (_Gallinula nesiotis_) of Tristan
+d'Acunha, which "can flutter a little, but obviously uses its legs, and not
+its wings, as a mode of escape." Now Mr. Sclater[454] finds in this bird
+that the wings, sternum, and coracoids, are all reduced in length, and the
+crest of the sternum in depth, in comparison with the same bones in the
+European water-hen (_G. chloropus_). On the other hand, the thigh-bones and
+pelvis are increased in length, the former by four lines, relatively to the
+same bones in the common water-hen. Hence in the skeleton of this natural
+species nearly the same changes have occurred, only carried a little
+further, as with our domestic ducks, and in this latter case I presume no
+one will dispute that they have resulted from the lessened use of the wings
+and the increased use of the legs.
+
+THE GOOSE.
+
+This bird deserves some notice, as hardly any other anciently domesticated
+bird or quadruped has varied so little. That geese were anciently
+domesticated we know from certain verses in Homer; and from these birds
+having been kept (388 B.C.) in the Capitol at Rome as sacred to Juno, which
+sacredness implies great antiquity[455]. That the goose has varied in some
+degree, we may infer from naturalists not being unanimous with respect to
+its wild parent-form; though the difficulty is chiefly due to the existence
+of three or four closely allied wild European species[456]. A large
+majority of capable judges are convinced that our geese are descended from
+the wild Grey-lag goose (_A. ferus_); the young of which can easily be
+tamed,[457] and are domesticated by the Laplanders. This species, when
+crossed with the domestic goose, produced in the Zoological Gardens, as I
+was assured in {288} 1849, perfectly fertile offspring.[458] Yarrell[459]
+has observed that the lower part of the trachea of the domestic goose is
+sometimes flattened, and that a ring of white feathers sometimes surrounds
+the base of the beak. These characters seem at first good indications of a
+cross at some former period with the white-fronted goose (_A. albifrons_);
+but the white ring is variable in this latter species, and we must not
+overlook the law of analogous variation; that is, of one species assuming
+some of the characters of allied species.
+
+As the goose has proved so inflexible in its organization under
+long-continued domestication, the amount of variation which can be detected
+is worth giving. It has increased in size and in productiveness;[460] and
+varies from white to a dusky colour. Several observers[461] have stated
+that the gander is more frequently white than the goose, and that when old
+it almost invariably becomes white; but this is not the case with the
+parent-form, the _A. ferus_. Here, again, the law of analogous variation
+may have come into play, as the snow-white male of the Rock-Goose
+(_Bernicla antarctica_) standing on the sea-shore by his dusky partner is a
+sight well known to all those who have traversed the sounds of Tierra del
+Fuego and the Falkland Islands. Some geese have topknots; and the skull
+beneath, as before stated, is perforated. A sub-breed has lately been
+formed with the feathers reversed at the back of the head and neck.[462]
+The beak varies a little in size, and is of a yellower tint than in the
+wild species; but its colour and that of the legs are both slightly
+variable.[463] This latter fact deserves attention, because the colour of
+the legs and beak is highly serviceable in discriminating the several
+closely allied wild forms.[464] At our {289} Shows two breeds are
+exhibited; viz. the Embden and Toulouse; but they differ in nothing except
+colour.[465] Recently a smaller and singular variety has been imported from
+Sebastopol,[466] with the scapular feathers (as I hear from Mr. Tegetmeier,
+who sent me specimens) greatly elongated, curled, and even spirally
+twisted. The margins of these feathers are rendered plumose by the
+divergence of the barbs and barbules, so that they resemble in some degree
+those on the back of the black Australian swan. These feathers are likewise
+remarkable from the central shaft, which is excessively thin and
+transparent, being split into fine filaments, which, after running for a
+space free, sometimes coalesce again. It is a curious fact that these
+filaments are regularly clothed on each side with fine down or barbules,
+precisely like those on the proper barbs of the feather. This structure of
+the feathers is transmitted to half-bred birds. In _Gallus sonneratii_ the
+barbs and barbules blend together, and form thin horny plates of the same
+nature with the shaft: in this variety of the goose, the shaft divides into
+filaments which acquire barbules, and thus resemble true barbs.
+
+Although the domestic goose certainly differs somewhat from any known wild
+species, yet the amount of variation which it has undergone, as compared
+with most domesticated animals, is singularly small. This fact can be
+partially accounted for by selection not having come largely into play.
+Birds of all kinds which present many distinct races are valued as pets or
+ornaments; no one makes a pet of the goose; the name, indeed, in more
+languages than one, is a term of reproach. The goose is valued for its size
+and flavour, for the whiteness of its feathers which adds to their value,
+and for its prolificness and tameness. In all these points the goose
+differs from the wild parent-form; and these are the points which have been
+selected. Even in ancient times the Roman gourmands valued the liver of the
+_white_ goose; and Pierre Belon[467] in 1555 speaks of two varieties, one
+of which was larger, more fecund, and of a better colour than the other;
+and he expressly states that good managers {290} attended to the colour of
+their goslings, so that they might know which to preserve and select for
+breeding.
+
+THE PEACOCK.
+
+This is another bird which has hardly varied under domestication, except in
+sometimes being white or piebald. Mr. Waterhouse carefully compared, as he
+informs me, skins of the wild Indian and domestic bird, and they were
+identical in every respect, except that the plumage of the latter was
+perhaps rather thicker. Whether our birds are descended from those
+introduced into Europe in the time of Alexander, or have been subsequently
+imported, is doubtful. They do not breed very freely with us, and are
+seldom kept in large numbers,--circumstances which would greatly interfere
+with the gradual selection and formation of new breeds.
+
+There is one strange fact with respect to the peacock, namely, the
+occasional appearance in England of the "japanned" or "black-shouldered"
+kind. This form has lately been named on the high authority of Mr. Sclater
+as a distinct species, viz. _Pavo nigripennis_, which he believes will
+hereafter be found wild in some country, but not in India, where it is
+certainly unknown. These japanned birds differ conspicuously from the
+common peacock in the colour of their secondary wing-feathers, scapulars,
+wing-coverts, and thighs; the females are much paler, and the young, as I
+hear from Mr. Bartlett, likewise differ. They can be propagated perfectly
+true. Although they do not resemble the hybrids which have been raised
+between _P. cristatus_ and _muticus_, nevertheless they are in some
+respects intermediate in character between these two species; and this fact
+favours, as Mr. Sclater believes, the view that they form a distinct and
+natural species.[468]
+
+On the other hand, Sir R. Heron states[469] that this breed suddenly
+appeared within his memory in Lord Brownlow's large stock of pied, white,
+and common peacocks. The same thing occurred in Sir J. Trevelyan's flock
+composed entirely of the {291} common kind, and in Mr. Thornton's stock of
+common and pied peacocks. It is remarkable that in these two latter
+instances the black-shouldered kind increased, "to the extinction of the
+previously existing breed." I have also received through Mr. Sclater a
+statement from Mr. Hudson Gurney that he reared many years ago a pair of
+black-shouldered peacocks from the common kind; and another ornithologist,
+Prof. A. Newton, states that, five or six years ago, a female bird, in all
+respects similar to the female of the black-shouldered kind, was produced
+from a stock of common peacocks in his possession, which during more than
+twenty years had not been crossed with birds of any other strain. Here we
+have five distinct cases of japanned birds suddenly appearing in flocks of
+the common kind kept in England. Better evidence of the first appearance of
+a new variety could hardly be desired. If we reject this evidence, and
+believe that the japanned peacock is a distinct species, we must suppose in
+all these cases that the common breed had at some former period been
+crossed with the supposed _P. nigripennis_, but had lost every trace of the
+cross, yet that the birds occasionally produced offspring which suddenly
+and completely reacquired through reversion the characters of _P.
+nigripennis_. I have heard of no other such case in the animal or vegetable
+kingdom. To perceive the full improbability of such an occurrence, we may
+suppose that a breed of dogs had been crossed at some former period with a
+wolf, but had lost every trace of the wolf-like character, yet that the
+breed gave birth in five instances in the same country, within no great
+length of time, to a wolf perfect in every character; and we must further
+suppose that in two of the cases the newly produced wolves afterwards
+spontaneously increased to such an extent as to lead to the extinction of
+the parent-breed of dogs. So remarkable a form as the _P. nigripennis_,
+when first imported, would have realized a large price; it is therefore
+improbable that it should have been silently introduced and its history
+subsequently lost. On the whole the evidence seems to me, as it did to Sir
+R. Heron, to preponderate strongly in favour of the black-shouldered breed
+being a variation, induced either by the climate of England, or by some
+unknown cause, such as reversion to a primordial and extinct condition of
+the species. On the view that the black-shouldered {292} peacock is a
+variety, the case is the most remarkable ever recorded of the abrupt
+appearance of a new form, which so closely resembles a true species that it
+has deceived one of the most experienced of living ornithologists.
+
+THE TURKEY.
+
+IT seems fairly well established by Mr. Gould,[470] that the turkey, in
+accordance with the history of its first introduction, is descended from a
+wild Mexican species (_Meleagris Mexicana_) which had been already
+domesticated by the natives before the discovery of America, and which
+differs specifically, as it is generally thought, from the common wild
+species of the United States. Some naturalists, however, think that these
+two forms should be ranked only as well-marked geographical races. However
+this may be, the case deserves notice because in the United States wild
+male turkeys sometimes court the domestic hens, which are descended from
+the Mexican form, "and are generally received by them with great
+pleasure."[471] Several accounts have likewise been published of young
+birds, reared in the United States from the eggs of the wild species,
+crossing and commingling with the common breed. In England, also, this same
+species has been kept in several parks; from two of which the Rev. W. D.
+Fox procured birds, and they crossed freely with the common domestic kind,
+and during many years afterwards, as he informs me, the turkeys in his
+neighbourhood clearly showed traces of their crossed parentage. We here
+have an instance of a domestic race being modified by a cross with a
+distinct species or wild race. F. Michaux[472] suspected in 1802 that the
+common domestic turkey was not descended from the United States species
+alone, but likewise from a southern form, and he went so far as to believe
+that English and French {293} turkeys differed from having different
+proportions of the blood of the two parent-forms.
+
+English turkeys are smaller than either wild form. They have not varied in
+any great degree; but there are some breeds which can be distinguished--as
+Norfolks, Suffolks, Whites, and Copper-coloured (or Cambridge), all of
+which, if precluded from crossing with other breeds, propagate their kind
+truly. Of these kinds, the most distinct is the small, hardy, dull-black
+Norfolk turkey, of which the chickens are black, with occasionally white
+patches about the head. The other breeds scarcely differ except in colour,
+and their chickens are generally mottled all over with brownish-grey.[473]
+The tuft of hair on the breast, which is proper to the male alone,
+occasionally appears on the breast of the domesticated female.[474] The
+inferior tail-coverts vary in number, and according to a German
+superstition the hen lays as many eggs as the cock has feathers of this
+kind.[475] In Holland there was formerly, according to Temminck, a
+beautiful buff-yellow breed, furnished with an ample white topknot. Mr.
+Wilmot has described[476] a white turkey-cock with a crest formed of
+"feathers about four inches long, with bare quills, and a tuft of soft
+white down growing at the end." Many of the young birds whilst young
+inherited this kind of crest, but afterwards it either fell off or was
+pecked out by the other birds. This is an interesting case, as with care a
+new breed might probably have been formed; and a topknot of this nature
+would have been to a certain extent analogous to that borne by the males in
+several allied genera, such as Euplocomus, Lophophorus, and Pavo.
+
+Wild turkeys, believed in every instance to have been imported from the
+United States, have been kept in the parks of Lords Powis, Leicester, Hill,
+and Derby. The Rev. W. D. Fox procured birds from the two first-named
+parks, and he informs me that they certainly differed a little from each
+other in the shape of their bodies and in the barred plumage on their
+wings. These birds likewise differed from Lord Hill's stock. Some of the
+latter kept at Oulton by Sir P. Egerton, though precluded from {294}
+crossing with common turkeys, occasionally produced much paler-coloured
+birds, and one that was almost white, but not an albino. These half-wild
+turkeys in thus slightly differing from each other present an analogous
+case with the wild cattle kept in the several British parks. We must
+suppose that the differences have resulted from the prevention of free
+intercrossing between birds ranging over a wide area, and from the changed
+conditions to which they have been exposed in England. In India the climate
+has apparently wrought a still greater change in the turkey, for it is
+described by Mr. Blyth[477] as being much degenerated in size, "utterly
+incapable of rising on the wing," of a black colour, and "with the long
+pendulous appendages over the beak enormously developed."
+
+THE GUINEA FOWL.
+
+The domesticated guinea-fowl is now believed by naturalists to be descended
+from the _Numida ptilorhynca_, which inhabits very hot, and, in parts,
+extremely arid districts in Eastern Africa; consequently it has been
+exposed in this country to extremely different conditions of life.
+Nevertheless it has hardly varied at all, except in the plumage being
+either paler or darker-coloured. It is a singular fact that this bird
+varies more in colour in the West Indies and on the Spanish Main, under a
+hot though humid climate, than in Europe.[478] The guinea-fowl has become
+thoroughly feral in Jamaica and in St. Domingo,[479] and has diminished in
+size; the legs are black, whereas the legs of the aboriginal African bird
+are said to be grey. This small change is worth notice on account of the
+often-repeated statement that all feral animals invariably revert in every
+character to their original type.
+
+{295}
+
+THE CANARY BIRD.
+
+As this bird has been recently domesticated, namely, within the last 350
+years, its variability deserves notice. It has been crossed with nine or
+ten other species of Fringillidae, and some of the hybrids are almost
+completely fertile; but we have no evidence that any distinct breed has
+originated from such crosses. Notwithstanding the modern domestication of
+the canary, many varieties have been produced; even before the year 1718 a
+list of twenty-seven varieties was published in France,[480] and in 1779 a
+long schedule of the desired qualities was printed by the London Canary
+Society, so that methodical selection has been practised during a
+considerable period. The greater number of the varieties differ only in
+colour and in the markings of their plumage. Some breeds, however, differ
+in shape, such as the hooped or bowed canaries, and the Belgian canaries
+with their much elongated bodies. Mr. Brent[481] measured one of the latter
+and found it eight inches in length, whilst the wild canary is only five
+and a quarter inches long. There are topknotted canaries, and it is a
+singular fact, that, if two topknotted birds are matched, the young,
+instead of having very fine topknots, are generally bald, or even have a
+wound on their heads.[482] It would appear as if the topknot were due to
+some morbid condition which is increased to an injurious degree when two
+birds in this state are paired. There is a feather-footed breed, and
+another with a kind of frill running down the breast. One other character
+deserves notice from being confined to one period of life and from being
+strictly inherited at the same period: namely, the wing and tail feathers
+in prize canaries being black, "but this colour is retained only until the
+first moult; once moulted, the peculiarity ceases."[483] Canaries differ
+much in disposition and character, and in some small degree in song. They
+produce eggs three or four times during the year.
+
+{296}
+
+GOLD-FISH.
+
+Besides mammals and birds, few animals belonging to the other great classes
+have been domesticated; but to show that it is an almost universal law that
+animals, when removed from their natural conditions of life, vary, and that
+races can be formed when selection is applied, it is necessary to say a few
+words on gold-fish, bees, and silk-moths.
+
+Gold-fish (_Cyprinus auratus_) were introduced into Europe only two or
+three centuries ago; but it is believed that they have been kept in
+confinement from an ancient period in China. Mr. Blyth[484] suspects from
+the analogous variation of other fishes that golden-coloured fish do not
+occur in a state of nature. These fishes frequently live under the most
+unnatural conditions, and their variability in colour, size, and in some
+important points of structure is very great. M. Sauvigny has described and
+given coloured drawings of no less than eighty-nine varieties.[485] Many of
+the varieties, however, such as triple tail-fins, &c., ought to be called
+monstrosities; but it is difficult to draw any distinct line between a
+variation and a monstrosity. As gold-fish are kept for ornament or
+curiosity, and as "the Chinese are just the people to have secluded a
+chance variety of any kind, and to have matched and paired from it,"[486]
+we may feel nearly confident that selection has been largely practised in
+the formation of new breeds. It is however a singular fact that some of the
+monstrosities or variations are not inherited; for Sir R. Heron[487] kept
+many of these fishes, and placed all the deformed fishes, namely those
+destitute of dorsal fins, and those furnished with a double anal fin, or
+triple tail, in a pond by themselves; but they did "not produce a greater
+proportion of deformed offspring than the perfect fishes."
+
+Passing over an almost infinite diversity of colour, we meet with the most
+extraordinary modifications of structure. Thus, out of about two dozen
+specimens bought in London, Mr. Yarrell observed some with the dorsal fin
+extending along more than {297} half the length of the back; others with
+this fin reduced to only five or six rays; and one with no dorsal fin. The
+anal fins are sometimes double, and the tail is often triple. This latter
+deviation of structure seems generally to occur "at the expense of the
+whole or part of some other fin;"[488] but Bory de Saint Vincent[489] saw
+at Madrid gold-fish furnished with a dorsal fin and a triple tail. One
+variety is characterized by a hump on its back near the head; and the Rev.
+L. Jenyns[490] has described a most singular variety, imported from China,
+almost globular in form like a Diodon, with "the fleshy part of the tail as
+if entirely cut away; the caudal fin being set on a little behind the
+dorsal and immediately above the anal." In this fish the anal and caudal
+fins were double; the anal fin being attached to the body in a vertical
+line: the eyes also were enormously large and protuberant.
+
+HIVE-BEES.
+
+Bees have been domesticated from an ancient period; if indeed their state
+can be considered one of domestication, for they search for their own food,
+with the exception of a little generally given to them during the winter.
+Their habitation is a hive instead of a hole in a tree. Bees, however, have
+been transported into almost every quarter of the world, so that climate
+ought to have produced whatever direct effect it is capable of producing.
+It is frequently asserted that the bees in different parts of Great Britain
+differ in size, colour, and temper; and Godron[491] says that they are
+generally larger in the south than in other parts of France; it has also
+been asserted that the little brown bees of High Burgundy, when transported
+to La Bresse, become large and yellow in the second generation. But these
+statements require confirmation. As far as size is concerned, it is known
+that bees produced in very old combs are smaller, owing to the cells having
+become smaller from the {298} successive old cocoons. The best
+authorities[492] concur that, with the exception of the Ligurian race or
+species, presently to be mentioned, distinct breeds do not exist in Britain
+or on the Continent. There is, however, even in the same stock, some
+variability in colour. Thus Mr. Woodbury states[493] that he has several
+times seen queen bees of the common kind annulated with yellow like
+Ligurian queens, and the latter dark-coloured like common bees. He has also
+observed variations in the colour of the drones, without any corresponding
+difference in the queens or workers of the same hive. The great apiarian
+Dzierzon, in answer to my queries on this subject, says[494] that in
+Germany bees of some stocks are decidedly dark, whilst others are
+remarkable for their yellow colour. Bees also seem to differ in habits in
+different districts, for Dzierzon adds, "If many stocks with their
+offspring are more inclined to swarm, whilst others are richer in honey, so
+that some bee-keepers even distinguish between swarming and honey-gathering
+bees, this is a habit which has become second nature, caused by the
+customary mode of keeping the bees and the pasturage of the district. For
+example; what a difference in this respect one may perceive to exist
+between the bees of the Lueneburg heath and those of this country!"...
+"Removing an old queen and substituting a young one of the current year is
+here an infallible mode of keeping the strongest stock from swarming and
+preventing drone-breeding; whilst the same means if adopted in Hanover
+would certainly be of no avail." I procured a hive full of dead bees from
+Jamaica, where they have long been naturalised, and, on carefully comparing
+them under the microscope with my own bees, I could detect not a trace of
+difference.
+
+This remarkable uniformity in the hive-bee, wherever kept, may probably be
+accounted for by the great difficulty, or rather impossibility, of bringing
+selection into play by pairing particular queens and drones, for these
+insects unite only during {299} flight. Nor is there any record, with a
+single partial exception, of any person having separated and bred from a
+hive in which the workers presented some appreciable difference. In order
+to form a new breed, seclusion from other bees would, as we now know, be
+indispensable; for since the introduction of the Ligurian bee into Germany
+and England, it has been found that the drones wander at least two miles
+from their own hives, and often cross with the queens of the common
+bee.[495] The Ligurian bee, although perfectly fertile when crossed with
+the common kind, is ranked by most naturalists as a distinct species,
+whilst by others it is ranked as a natural variety: but this form need not
+here be noticed, as there is no reason to believe that it is the product of
+domestication. The Egyptian and some other bees are likewise ranked by Dr.
+Gerstaecker,[496] but not by other highly competent judges, as geographical
+races; and he grounds his conclusion in chief part on the fact that in
+certain districts, as in the Crimea and Rhodes, the hive-bee varies so much
+in colour, that the several geographical races can be closely connected by
+intermediate forms.
+
+I have alluded to a single instance of the separation and preservation of a
+particular stock of bees. Mr. Lowe[497] procured some bees from a cottager
+a few miles from Edinburgh, and perceived that they differed from the
+common bee in the hairs on the head and thorax being lighter coloured and
+more profuse in quantity. From the date of the introduction of the Ligurian
+bee into Great Britain we may feel sure that these bees had not been
+crossed with this form. Mr. Lowe propagated this variety, but unfortunately
+did not separate the stock from his other bees, and after three generations
+the new character was almost completely lost. Nevertheless, as he adds, "a
+great number of the bees still retain traces, though faint, of the original
+colony." This case shows us what could probably be effected by careful and
+long-continued selection applied exclusively to the workers, for, as we
+have seen, queens and drones cannot be selected and paired.
+
+{300}
+
+SILK-MOTHS.
+
+These insects are in several respects interesting to us, more especially
+because they have varied largely at early periods of life, and the
+variations have been inherited at corresponding periods. As the value of
+the silk-moth depends entirely on the cocoon, every change in its structure
+and qualities has been carefully attended to, and races differing much in
+the cocoon, but hardly at all in the adult state, have been produced. With
+the races of most other domestic animals, the young resemble each other
+closely, whilst the adults differ much.
+
+It would be useless, even if it were possible, to describe all the many
+kinds of silk-worms. Several distinct species exist in India and China
+which produce useful silk, and some of these are capable of freely crossing
+with the common silk-moth, as has been recently ascertained in France.
+Captain Hutton[498] states that throughout the world at least six species
+have been domesticated; and he believes that the silk-moths reared in
+Europe belong to two or three species. This, however, is not the opinion of
+several capable judges who have particularly attended to the cultivation of
+this insect in France; and hardly accords with some facts presently to be
+given.
+
+The common silk-moth (_Bombyx mori_) was brought to Constantinople in the
+sixth century, whence it was carried into Italy, and in 1494 into
+France.[499] Everything has been favourable for the variation of this
+insect. It is believed to have been domesticated in China as long ago as
+2700 B.C. It has been kept under unnatural and diversified conditions of
+life, and has been transported into many countries. There is reason to
+believe that the nature of the food given to the caterpillar influences to
+a certain extent the character of the breed.[500] Disuse has apparently
+aided in checking the development of the wings. But the most important
+element in the production of the many now existing, much modified races, no
+doubt has {301} been the close attention which has long been applied in
+many countries to every promising variation. The care taken in Europe in
+the selection of the best cocoons and moths for breeding is notorious,[501]
+and the production of eggs is followed as a distinct trade in parts of
+France. I have made inquiries through Dr. Falconer, and am assured that in
+India the natives are equally careful in the process of selection. In China
+the production of eggs is confined to certain favourable districts, and the
+raisers are precluded by law from producing silk, so that their whole
+attention may be necessarily given up to this one object.[502]
+
+    The following details on the differences between the several breeds are
+    taken, when not stated to the contrary, from M. Robinet's excellent
+    work,[503] which bears every sign of care and large experience. The
+    _eggs_ in the different races vary in colour, in shape (being round,
+    elliptic, or oval), and in size. The eggs laid in June in the south of
+    France, and in July in the central provinces, do not hatch until the
+    following spring; and it is in vain, says M. Robinet, to expose them to
+    a temperature gradually raised, in order that the caterpillar may be
+    quickly developed. Yet occasionally, without any known cause, batches
+    of eggs are produced, which immediately begin to undergo the proper
+    changes, and are hatched in from twenty to thirty days. From these and
+    some other analogous facts it may be concluded that the Trevoltini
+    silkworms of Italy, of which the caterpillars are hatched in from
+    fifteen to twenty days, do not necessarily form, as has been
+    maintained, a distinct species. Although the breeds which live in
+    temperate countries produce eggs which cannot be immediately hatched by
+    artificial heat, yet when they are removed to and reared in a hot
+    country they gradually acquire the character of quick development, as
+    in the Trevoltini races.[504]
+
+    _Caterpillars._--These vary greatly in size and colour. The skin is
+    generally white, sometimes mottled with black or grey, and occasionally
+    quite black. The colour, however, as M. Robinet asserts, is not
+    constant, even in perfectly pure breeds; except in the _race tigree_,
+    so called from being marked with transverse black stripes. As the
+    general colour of the caterpillar is not correlated with that of the
+    silk,[505] this character is disregarded {302} by cultivators, and has
+    not been fixed by selection. Captain Hutton, in the paper before
+    referred to, has argued with much force that the dark tiger-like marks,
+    which so frequently appear during the later moults in the caterpillars
+    of various breeds, are due to reversion; for the caterpillars of
+    several allied wild species of Bombyx are marked and coloured in this
+    manner. He separated some caterpillars with the tiger-like marks, and
+    in the succeeding spring (pp. 149, 298) nearly all the caterpillars
+    reared from them were dark-brindled, and the tints became still darker
+    in the third generation. The moths reared from these caterpillars[506]
+    also became darker, and resembled in colouring the wild _B. Huttoni_.
+    On this view of the tiger-like marks being due to reversion, the
+    persistency with which they are transmitted is intelligible.
+
+    Several years ago Mrs. Whitby took great pains in breeding silkworms on
+    a large scale, and she informed me that some of her caterpillars had
+    dark eyebrows. This is probably the first step in reversion towards the
+    tiger-like marks, and I was curious to know whether so trifling a
+    character would be inherited; at my request she separated in 1848
+    twenty of these caterpillars, and having kept the moths separate, bred
+    from them. Of the many caterpillars thus reared, "every one without
+    exception had eyebrows, some darker and more decidedly marked than the
+    others, but _all_ had eyebrows more or less plainly visible." Black
+    caterpillars occasionally appear amongst those of the common kind, but
+    in so variable a manner, that according to M. Robinet the same race
+    will one year exclusively produce white caterpillars, and the next year
+    many black ones; nevertheless, I have been informed by M. A. Bossi of
+    Geneva, that, if these black caterpillars are separately bred from,
+    they reproduce the same colour; but the cocoons and moths reared from
+    them do not present any difference.
+
+    The caterpillar in Europe ordinarily moults four times before passing
+    into the cocoon stage; but there are races "a trois mues," and the
+    Trevoltini race likewise moults only thrice. It might have been thought
+    that so important a physiological difference would not have arisen
+    under domestication; but M. Robinet[507] states that, on the one hand,
+    ordinary caterpillars occasionally spin their cocoons after only three
+    moults, and, on the other hand, "presque toutes les races a trois mues,
+    que nous avons experimentees, ont fait quatre mues a la seconde ou a la
+    troisieme annee, ce qui semble prouver qu'il a suffi de les placer dans
+    des conditions favorables pour leur rendre une faculte qu'elles avaient
+    perdue sous des influences moins favorables."
+
+    _Cocoons._--The caterpillar in changing into the cocoon loses about 50
+    per cent. of its weight; but the amount of loss differs in different
+    breeds, and this is of importance to the cultivator. The cocoon in the
+    different races presents characteristic differences; being large or
+    small;--nearly spherical with no constriction, as in the _Race de
+    Loriol_, or cylindrical with either a deep or slight constriction in
+    the middle;--with the two ends, or with one end alone, more or less
+    pointed. The silk varies in fineness and quality, and in being nearly
+    white, of two tints, or yellow. Generally the colour of {303} the silk
+    is not strictly inherited: but in the chapter on Selection I shall give
+    a curious account how, in the course of sixty-five generations, the
+    number of yellow cocoons in one breed has been reduced in France from
+    one hundred to thirty-five in the thousand. According to Robinet, the
+    white race, called Sina, by careful selection during the last
+    seventy-five years, "est arrivee a un tel etat de purete, qu'on ne voit
+    pas un seul cocon jaune dans des millions de cocons blancs."[508]
+    Cocoons are sometimes formed, as is well known, entirely destitute of
+    silk, which yet produce moths; unfortunately Mrs. Whitby was prevented
+    by an accident from ascertaining whether this character would prove
+    hereditary.
+
+    _Adult stage._--I can find no account of any constant difference in the
+    moths of the most distinct races. Mrs. Whitby assured me that there was
+    none in the several kinds bred by her; and I have received a similar
+    statement from the eminent naturalist M. de Quatrefages. Captain Hutton
+    also says[509] that the moths of all kinds vary much in colour, but in
+    nearly the same inconstant manner. Considering how much the cocoons in
+    the several races differ, this fact is of interest, and may probably be
+    accounted for on the same principle as the fluctuating variability of
+    colour in the caterpillar, namely, that there has been no motive for
+    selecting and perpetuating any particular variation.
+
+    The males of the wild Bombycidae "fly swiftly in the day-time and
+    evening, but the females are usually very sluggish and inactive."[510]
+    In several moths of this family the females have abortive wings, but no
+    instance is known of the males being incapable of flight, for in this
+    case the species could hardly have been perpetuated. In the silk-moth
+    both sexes have imperfect, crumpled wings, and are incapable of flight;
+    but still there is a trace of the characteristic difference in the two
+    sexes; for though, on comparing a number of males and-females, I could
+    detect no difference in the development of their wings, yet I was
+    assured by Mrs. Whitby that the males of the moths bred by her used
+    their wings more than the females, and could flutter downwards, though
+    never upwards. She also states that, when the females first emerge from
+    the cocoon, their wings are less expanded than those of the male. The
+    degree of imperfection, however, in the wings varies much in different
+    races and under different circumstances; M. Quatrefages[511] says that
+    he has seen a number of moths with their wings reduced to a third,
+    fourth, or tenth part of their normal dimensions, and even to mere
+    short straight stumps: "il me semble qu'il y a la un veritable arret de
+    developpement partiel." On the other hand, he describes the female
+    moths of the Andre Jean breed as having "leurs ailes larges et etalees.
+    Un seul presente quelques courbures irregulieres et des plis anomaux."
+    As moths and butterflies of all kinds reared from wild caterpillars
+    under confinement often have crippled wings, the same cause, whatever
+    it may be, has probably acted on {304} silk-moths, but the disuse of
+    their wings during so many generations has, it may be suspected,
+    likewise come into play.
+
+    The moths of many breeds fail to glue their eggs to the surface on
+    which they are laid,[512] but this proceeds, according to Capt.
+    Hutton,[513] merely from the glands of the ovipositor being weakened.
+
+    As with other long-domesticated animals, the instincts of the silk-moth
+    have suffered. The caterpillars, when placed on a mulberry-tree, often
+    commit the strange mistake of devouring the base of the leaf on which
+    they are feeding, and consequently fall down; but they are capable,
+    according to M. Robinet,[514] of again crawling up the trunk. Even this
+    capacity sometimes fails, for M. Martins[515] placed some caterpillars
+    on a tree, and those which fell were not able to remount and perished
+    of hunger; they were even incapable of passing from leaf to leaf.
+
+    Some of the modifications which the silk-moth has undergone stand in
+    correlation with each other. Thus the eggs of the moths which produce
+    white cocoons and of those which produce yellow cocoons differ slightly
+    in tint. The abdominal feet also of the caterpillars which yield white
+    cocoons are always white, whilst those which give yellow cocoons are
+    invariably yellow.[516] We have seen that the caterpillars with dark
+    tiger-like stripes produce moths which are more darkly shaded than
+    other moths. It seems well established[517] that in France the
+    caterpillars of the races which produce white silk, and certain black
+    caterpillars, have resisted, better than other races, the disease which
+    has recently devastated the silk-districts. Lastly, the races differ
+    constitutionally, for some do not succeed so well under a temperate
+    climate as others; and a damp soil does not equally injure all the
+    races.[518]
+
+From these various facts we learn that silk-moths, like the higher animals,
+vary greatly under long-continued domestication. We learn also the more
+important fact that variations may occur at various periods of life, and be
+inherited at corresponding periods. And finally we see that insects are
+amenable to the great principle of Selection.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{305}
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+CULTIVATED PLANTS: CEREAL AND CULINARY PLANTS.
+
+    PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE NUMBER AND PARENTAGE OF CULTIVATED
+    PLANTS--FIRST STEPS IN CULTIVATION--GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF
+    CULTIVATED PLANTS.
+
+    CEREALIA.--DOUBTS ON THE NUMBER OF SPECIES.--WHEAT: VARIETIES
+    OF--INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY--CHANGED HABITS--SELECTION--ANCIENT HISTORY
+    OF THE VARIETIES.--MAIZE: GREAT VARIATION OF--DIRECT ACTION OF CLIMATE
+    ON.
+
+    CULINARY PLANTS.--CABBAGES: VARIETIES OF, IN FOLIAGE AND STEMS, BUT NOT
+    IN OTHER PARTS--PARENTAGE OF--OTHER SPECIES OF BRASSICA.--PEAS: AMOUNT
+    OF DIFFERENCE IN THE SEVERAL KINDS, CHIEFLY IN THE PODS AND SEED--SOME
+    VARIETIES CONSTANT, SOME HIGHLY VARIABLE--DO NOT
+    INTERCROSS.--BEANS.--POTATOES: NUMEROUS VARIETIES OF--DIFFERING LITTLE,
+    EXCEPT IN THE TUBERS--CHARACTERS INHERITED.
+
+I shall not enter into so much detail on the variability of cultivated
+plants, as in the case of domesticated animals. The subject is involved in
+much difficulty. Botanists have generally neglected cultivated varieties,
+as beneath their notice. In several cases the wild prototype is unknown or
+doubtfully known; and in other cases it is hardly possible to distinguish
+between escaped seedlings and truly wild plants, so that there is no safe
+standard of comparison by which to judge of any supposed amount of change.
+Not a few botanists believe that several of our anciently cultivated plants
+have become so profoundly modified that it is not possible now to recognise
+their aboriginal parent-forms. Equally perplexing are the doubts whether
+some of them are descended from one species, or from several inextricably
+commingled by crossing and variation. Variations often pass into, and
+cannot be distinguished from, monstrosities; and monstrosities are of
+little significance for our purpose. Many varieties are propagated solely
+by grafts, buds, layers, bulbs, &c., and frequently it is not known how far
+their peculiarities can be transmitted by seminal generation. Nevertheless
+some facts of value can be gleaned; and other facts will hereafter be {306}
+incidentally given. One chief object in the two following chapters is to
+show how generally almost every character in our cultivated plants has
+become variable.
+
+Before entering on details a few general remarks on the origin of
+cultivated plants may be introduced. M. Alph. de Candolle[519] in an
+admirable discussion on this subject, in which he displays a wonderful
+amount of knowledge, gives a list of 157 of the most useful cultivated
+plants. Of these he believes that 85 are almost certainly known in their
+wild state; but on this head other competent judges[520] entertain great
+doubts. Of 40 of them, the origin is admitted by M. De Candolle to be
+doubtful, either from a certain amount of dissimilarity which they present
+when compared with their nearest allies in a wild state, or from the
+probability of the latter not being truly wild plants, but seedlings
+escaped from culture. Of the entire 157, 32 alone are ranked by M. De
+Candolle as quite unknown in their aboriginal condition. But it should be
+observed that he does not include in his list several plants which present
+ill-defined characters, namely, the various forms of pumpkins, millet,
+sorghum, kidney-bean, dolichos, capsicum, and indigo. Nor does he include
+flowers; and several of the more anciently cultivated flowers, such as
+certain roses, the common Imperial lily, the tuberose, and even the lilac,
+are said[521] not to be known in the wild state.
+
+From the relative numbers above given, and from other arguments of much
+weight, M. De Candolle concludes that plants have rarely been so much
+modified by culture that they cannot be identified with their wild
+prototypes. But on this view, considering that savages probably would not
+have chosen rare plants for cultivation, that useful plants are generally
+conspicuous, and that they could not have been the inhabitants of deserts
+or of remote and recently discovered islands, it appears strange to me that
+so many of our cultivated plants should be still unknown or only doubtfully
+known in the wild state. If, on the other hand, many of these plants have
+been profoundly modified by culture, the difficulty disappears. Their {307}
+extermination during the progress of civilisation would likewise remove the
+difficulty; but M. De Candolle has shown that this probably has seldom
+occurred. As soon as a plant became cultivated in any country, the
+half-civilised inhabitants would no longer have need to search the whole
+surface of the land for it, and thus lead to its extirpation; and even if
+this did occur during a famine, dormant seeds would be left in the ground.
+In tropical countries the wild luxuriance of nature, as was long ago
+remarked by Humboldt, overpowers the feeble efforts of man. In anciently
+civilised temperate countries, where the whole face of the land has been
+greatly changed, it can hardly be doubted that some plants have been
+exterminated; nevertheless De Candolle has shown that all the plants
+historically known to have been first cultivated in Europe still exist here
+in the wild state.
+
+MM. Loiseleur-Deslongchamps [522] and De Candolle have remarked that our
+cultivated plants, more especially the cereals, must originally have
+existed in nearly their present state; for otherwise they would not have
+been noticed and valued as objects of food. But these authors apparently
+have not considered the many accounts given by travellers of the wretched
+food collected by savages. I have read an account of the savages of
+Australia cooking, during a dearth, many vegetables in various ways, in the
+hopes of rendering them innocuous and more nutritious. Dr. Hooker found the
+half-starved inhabitants of a village in Sikhim suffering greatly from
+having eaten arum-roots,[523] which they had pounded and left for several
+days to ferment, so as partially to destroy their poisonous nature; and he
+adds that they cooked and ate many other deleterious plants. Sir Andrew
+Smith informs me that in South Africa a large number of fruits and
+succulent leaves, and especially roots, are used in times of scarcity. The
+natives, indeed, know the properties of a long catalogue of plants, some
+having {308} been found during famines to be eatable, others injurious to
+health, or even destructive to life. He met a party of Baquanas who, having
+been expelled by the conquering Zulus, had lived for years on any roots or
+leaves which afforded some little nutriment, and distended their stomachs,
+so as to relieve the pangs of hunger. They looked like walking skeletons,
+and suffered fearfully from constipation. Sir Andrew Smith also informs me
+that on such occasions the natives observe as a guide for themselves, what
+the wild animals, especially baboons and monkeys, eat.
+
+From innumerable experiments made through dire necessity by the savages of
+every land, with the results handed down by tradition, the nutritious,
+stimulating, and medicinal properties of the most unpromising plants were
+probably first discovered. It appears, for instance, at first an
+inexplicable fact that untutored man, in three distant quarters of the
+world, should have discovered amongst a host of native plants that the
+leaves of the tea-plant and mattee, and the berries of the coffee, all
+included a stimulating and nutritious essence, now known to be chemically
+the same. We can also see that savages suffering from severe constipation
+would naturally observe whether any of the roots which they devoured acted
+as aperients. We probably owe our knowledge of the uses of almost all
+plants to man having originally existed in a barbarous state, and having
+been often compelled by severe want to try as food almost everything which
+he could chew and swallow.
+
+From what we know of the habits of savages in many quarters of the world,
+there is no reason to suppose that our cereal plants originally existed in
+their present state so valuable to man. Let us look to one continent alone,
+namely, Africa: Barth[524] states that the slaves over a large part of the
+central region regularly collect the seeds of a wild grass, the _Pennisetum
+distichum_; in another district he saw women collecting the seeds of a Poa
+by swinging a sort of basket through the rich meadow-land. Near Tete
+Livingstone observed the natives collecting the seeds {309} of a wild
+grass; and farther south, as Andersson informs me, the natives largely use
+the seeds of a grass of about the size of canary-seed, which they boil in
+water. They eat also the roots of certain reeds, and every one has read of
+the Bushmen prowling about and digging up with a fire-hardened stake
+various roots. Similar facts with respect to the collection of seeds of
+wild grasses in other parts of the world could be given.[525]
+
+Accustomed as we are to our excellent vegetables and luscious fruits, we
+can hardly persuade ourselves that the stringy roots of the wild carrot and
+parsnip, or the little shoots of the wild asparagus, or crabs, sloes, &c.,
+should ever have been valued; yet, from what we know of the habits of
+Australian and South African savages, we need feel no doubt on this head.
+The inhabitants of Switzerland during the Stone-period largely collected
+wild crabs, sloes, bullaces, hips of roses, elderberries, beech-mast, and
+other wild berries and fruit.[526] Jemmy Button, a Fuegian on board the
+_Beagle_, remarked to me that the poor and acid black-currants of Tierra
+del Fuego were too sweet for his taste.
+
+The savage inhabitants of each land, having found out by many and hard
+trials what plants were useful, or could be rendered useful by various
+cooking processes, would after a time take the first step in cultivation by
+planting them near their usual abodes. Livingstone[527] states that the
+savage Batokas sometimes left wild fruit-trees standing in their gardens,
+and occasionally even planted them, "a practice seen nowhere else amongst
+the natives." But Du Chaillu saw a palm and some other wild fruit-trees
+which had been planted; and these trees were considered private property.
+The next step in cultivation, and this would require but little
+forethought, would be to sow {310} the seeds of useful plants; and as the
+soil near the hovels of the natives[528] would often be in some degree
+manured, improved varieties would sooner or later arise. Or a wild and
+unusually good variety of a native plant might attract the attention of
+some wise old savage; and he would transplant it, or sow its seed. That
+superior varieties of wild fruit-trees occasionally are found is certain,
+as in the case of the American species of hawthorns, plums, cherries,
+grapes, and hickories, specified by Professor Asa Gray.[529] Downing also
+refers to certain wild varieties of the hickory, as being "of much larger
+size and finer flavour than the common species." I have referred to
+American fruit-trees, because we are not in this case troubled with doubts
+whether or not the varieties are seedlings which have escaped from
+cultivation. Transplanting any superior variety, or sowing its seeds,
+hardly implies more forethought than might be expected at an early and rude
+period of civilisation. Even the Australian barbarians "have a law that no
+plant bearing seeds is to be dug up after it has flowered;" and Sir G.
+Grey[530] never saw this law, evidently framed for the preservation of the
+plant, violated. We see the same spirit in the superstitious belief of the
+Fuegians, that killing water-fowl whilst very young will be followed by
+"much rain, snow, blow much."[531] I may add, as showing forethought in the
+lowest barbarians, that the Fuegians when they find a stranded whale bury
+large portions in the sand, and during the often-recurrent famines travel
+from great distances for the remnants of the half-putrid mass.
+
+It has often been remarked[532] that we do not owe a single useful plant to
+Australia or the Cape of Good Hope,--countries abounding to an unparalleled
+degree with endemic species,--or to New Zealand, or to America south of the
+Plata; and, according to some authors, not to America northward of Mexico.
+I do not believe that any edible or valuable plant, except the {311}
+canary-grass, has been derived from an oceanic or uninhabited island. If
+nearly all our useful plants, natives of Europe, Asia, and South America,
+had originally existed in their present condition, the complete absence of
+similarly useful plants in the great countries just named would indeed be a
+surprising fact. But if these plants have been so greatly modified and
+improved by culture as no longer closely to resemble any natural species,
+we can understand why the above-named countries have given us no useful
+plants, for they were either inhabited by men who did not cultivate the
+ground at all, as in Australia and the Cape of Good Hope, or who cultivated
+it very imperfectly, as in some parts of America. These countries do yield
+plants which are useful to savage man; and Dr. Hooker[533] enumerates no
+less than 107 such species in Australia alone; but these plants have not
+been improved, and consequently cannot compete with those which have been
+cultivated and improved during thousands of years in the civilised world.
+
+The case of New Zealand, to which fine island we as yet owe no widely
+cultivated plant, may seem opposed to this view; for, when first
+discovered, the natives cultivated several plants; but all inquirers
+believe, in accordance with the traditions of the natives, that the early
+Polynesian colonists brought with them seeds and roots, as well as the dog,
+which had all been wisely preserved during their long voyage. The
+Polynesians are so frequently lost on the ocean, that this degree of
+prudence would occur to any wandering party: hence the early colonists of
+New Zealand, like the later European colonists, would not have had any
+strong inducement to cultivate the aboriginal plants. According to De
+Candolle we owe thirty-three useful plants to Mexico, Peru, and Chile; nor
+is this surprising when we remember the civilized state of the inhabitants,
+as shown by the fact of their having practised artificial irrigation and
+made tunnels through hard rocks without the use of iron or gunpowder, and
+who, as we shall see in a future chapter, fully recognised, as far as
+animals were concerned, and therefore probably in the case of plants, the
+important principle of selection. We owe some plants to Brazil; and the
+early voyagers, namely Vespucius and Cabral, describe the country as
+thickly peopled {312} and cultivated. In North America[534] the natives
+cultivated maize, pumpkins, gourds, beans, and peas, "all different from
+ours," and tobacco; and we are hardly justified in assuming that none of
+our present plants are descended from these North American forms. Had North
+America been civilized for as long a period, and as thickly peopled, as
+Asia or Europe, it is probable that the native vines, walnuts, mulberries,
+crabs, and plums, would have given rise, after a long course of
+cultivation, to a multitude of varieties, some extremely different from
+their parent-stocks; and escaped seedlings would have caused in the New, as
+in the Old World, much perplexity with respect to their specific
+distinctness and parentage.[535]
+
+    _Cerealia._--I will now enter on details. The cereals cultivated in
+    Europe consist of four genera--wheat, rye, barley, and oats. Of wheat
+    the best modern authorities[536] make four or five, or even seven
+    distinct species; of rye, one; of barley, three; and of oats, two,
+    three, or four species. So that altogether our cereals are ranked by
+    different authors under from ten to fifteen distinct species. These
+    have given rise to a multitude of varieties. It is a remarkable fact
+    that botanists are not universally agreed on the aboriginal parent-form
+    of any one cereal plant. For instance, a high authority writes in
+    1855,[537] "We ourselves have no hesitation in stating our conviction,
+    as the result of all the most reliable evidence, that none of these
+    Cerealia exist, or have existed, truly wild in their present state, but
+    that all are cultivated varieties of species now growing in great
+    abundance in S. Europe or W. Asia." On the other hand, Alph. De
+    Candolle[538] has adduced abundant evidence that common wheat
+    (_Triticum vulgare_) has been found wild in various parts of Asia,
+    where it is not likely to have escaped from cultivation; and there is
+    {313} force in M. Godron's remark, that, supposing these plants to be
+    escaped seedlings,[539] if they have propagated themselves in a wild
+    state for several generations, their continued resemblance to
+    cultivated wheat renders it probable that the latter has retained its
+    aboriginal character. M. De Candolle insists strongly on the frequent
+    occurrence in the Austrian dominions of rye and of one kind of oats in
+    an apparently wild condition. With the exception of these two cases,
+    which however are rather doubtful, and with the exception of two forms
+    of wheat and one of barley, which he believes to have been found truly
+    wild, M. De Candolle does not seem fully satisfied with the other
+    reported discoveries of the parent-forms of our other cereals. With
+    respect to oats, according to Mr. Buckman,[540] the wild English _Avena
+    fatua_ can be converted by a few years of careful cultivation and
+    selection into forms almost identical with two very distinct cultivated
+    races. The whole subject of the origin and specific distinctness of the
+    various cereal plants is a most difficult one; but we shall perhaps be
+    able to judge a little better after considering the amount of variation
+    which wheat has undergone.
+
+    Metzger describes seven species of wheat, Godron refers to five, and De
+    Candolle to only four. It is not improbable that, besides the kinds
+    known in Europe, other strongly characterised forms exist in the more
+    distant parts of the world; for Loiseleur-Deslongchamps[541] speaks of
+    three new species or varieties, sent to Europe in 1822 from Chinese
+    Mongolia, which he considers as being there indigenous. Moorcroft[542]
+    also speaks of Hasora wheat in Ladakh as very peculiar. If those
+    botanists are right who believe that at least seven species of wheat
+    originally existed, then the amount of variation in any important
+    character which wheat has undergone under cultivation has been slight;
+    but if only four or a lesser number of species originally existed, then
+    it is evident that varieties so strongly marked have arisen, that they
+    have been considered by capable judges as specifically distinct. But
+    the impossibility of deciding which forms ought to be ranked as species
+    and which as varieties, makes it useless to specify in detail the
+    differences between the various kinds of wheat. Speaking generally, the
+    organs of vegetation differ little;[543] but some kinds grow close and
+    upright, whilst others spread and trail along the ground. The straw
+    differs in being more or less hollow, and in quality. The ears[544]
+    {314} differ in colour and in shape, being quadrangular, compressed, or
+    nearly cylindrical; and the florets differ in their approximation to
+    each other, in their pubescence, and in being more or less elongated.
+    The presence or absence of barbs is a conspicuous difference, and in
+    certain Gramineae serves even as a generic character;[545] although, as
+    remarked by Godron,[546] the presence of barbs is variable in certain
+    wild grasses, and especially in those, such as _Bromus secalinus_ and
+    _Lolium temulentum_, which habitually grow mingled with our cereal
+    crops, and which have thus unintentionally been exposed to culture. The
+    grains differ in size, weight, and colour; in being more or less downy
+    at one end, in being smooth or wrinkled, in being either nearly
+    globular, oval, or elongated; and finally in internal texture, being
+    tender or hard, or even almost horny, and in the proportion of gluten
+    which they contain.
+
+    Nearly all the races or species of wheat vary, as Godron[547] has
+    remarked, in an exactly parallel manner,--in the seed being downy or
+    glabrous, and in colour,--and in the florets being barbed or not
+    barbed, &c. Those who believe that all the kinds are descended from a
+    single wild species may account for this parallel variation by the
+    inheritance of a similar constitution, and a consequent tendency to
+    vary in the same manner; and those who believe in the general theory of
+    descent with modification may extend this view to the several species
+    of wheat, if such ever existed in a state of nature.
+
+    Although few of the varieties of wheat present any conspicuous
+    difference, their number is great. Dalbret cultivated during thirty
+    years from 150 to 160 kinds, and excepting in the quality of the grain
+    they all kept true: Colonel Le Couteur possessed upwards of 150, and
+    Philippar 322 varieties.[548] As wheat is an annual, we thus see how
+    strictly many trifling differences in character are inherited through
+    many generations. Colonel Le Couteur insists strongly on this same
+    fact: in his persevering and successful attempts to raise new varieties
+    by selection, he began by choosing the best ears, but soon found that
+    the grains in the same ear differed so that he was compelled to select
+    them separately; and each grain generally transmitted its own
+    character. The great amount of variability in the plants of the same
+    variety is another interesting point, which would never have been
+    detected except by an eye long practised to the work; thus Colonel Le
+    Couteur relates[549] that in a field of his own wheat, which he
+    considered at least as pure as that of any of his neighbours, Professor
+    La Gasca found twenty-three sorts; and Professor Henslow has observed
+    similar facts. Besides such individual variations, forms sufficiently
+    well marked to be valued and to become widely cultivated {315}
+    sometimes suddenly appear: thus Mr. Sheriff has had the good fortune to
+    raise in his lifetime seven new varieties, which are now extensively
+    grown in many parts of Britain.[550]
+
+    As in the case of many other plants, some varieties, both old and new,
+    are far more constant in character than others. Colonel Le Couteur was
+    forced to reject some of his new sub-varieties, which he suspected had
+    been produced from a cross, as incorrigibly sportive. With respect to
+    the tendency to vary, Metzger[551] gives from his own experience some
+    interesting facts: he describes three Spanish sub-varieties, more
+    especially one known to be constant in Spain, which in Germany assumed
+    their proper character only during hot summers; another variety kept
+    true only in good land, but after having been cultivated for
+    twenty-five years became more constant. He mentions two other
+    sub-varieties which were at first inconstant, but subsequently became,
+    apparently without any selection, accustomed to their new homes, and
+    retained their proper character. These facts show what small changes in
+    the conditions of life cause variability, and they further show that a
+    variety may become habituated to new conditions. One is at first
+    inclined to conclude with Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, that wheat
+    cultivated in the same country is exposed to remarkably uniform
+    conditions; but manures differ, seed is taken from one soil to another,
+    and what is far more important the plants are exposed as little as
+    possible to struggle with other plants, and are thus enabled to exist
+    under diversified conditions. In a state of nature each plant is
+    confined to that particular station and kind of nutriment which it can
+    seize from the other plants by which it is surrounded.
+
+    Wheat quickly assumes new habits of life. The summer and winter kinds
+    were classed by Linnaeus as distinct species; but M. Monnier[552] has
+    proved that the difference between them is only temporary. He sowed
+    winter-wheat in spring, and out of one hundred plants four alone
+    produced ripe seeds; these were sown and resown, and in three years
+    plants were reared which ripened all their seed. Conversely, nearly all
+    the plants raised from summer-wheat, which was sown in autumn, perished
+    from frost; but a few were saved and produced seed, and in three years
+    this summer-variety was converted into a winter-variety. Hence it is
+    not surprising that wheat soon becomes to a certain extent
+    acclimatised, and that seed brought from distant countries and sown in
+    Europe vegetates at first, or even for a considerable period,[553]
+    differently from our European varieties. In Canada the first settlers,
+    according to Kalm,[554] found their winters too severe for winter-wheat
+    brought from France, and their summers often too short for
+    summer-wheat; and until they procured summer-wheat from the northern
+    parts of Europe, which succeeded well, they thought that their {316}
+    country was useless for corn crops. It is notorious that the proportion
+    of gluten differs much under different climates. The weight of the
+    grain is also quickly affected by climate: Loiseleur-Deslongchamps[555]
+    sowed near Paris 54 varieties, obtained from the South of France and
+    from the Black Sea, and 52 of these yielded seed from 10 to 40 per
+    cent. heavier than the parent-seed. He then sent these heavier grains
+    back to the South of France, but there they immediately yielded lighter
+    seed.
+
+    All those who have closely attended to the subject insist on the close
+    adaptation of numerous varieties of wheat to various soils and climates
+    even within the same country; thus Colonel Le Couteur[556] says, "It is
+    the suitableness of each sort to each soil that will enable the farmer
+    to pay his rent by sowing one variety, where he would be unable to do
+    so by attempting to grow another of a seemingly better sort." This may
+    be in part due to each kind becoming habituated to its conditions of
+    life, as Metzger has shown certainly occurs, but it is probably in main
+    part due to innate differences between the several varieties.
+
+    Much has been written on the deterioration of wheat; that the quality
+    of the flour, size of grain, time of flowering, and hardiness may be
+    modified by climate and soil, seems nearly certain; but that the whole
+    body of any one sub-variety ever becomes changed into another and
+    distinct sub-variety, there is no reason to believe. What apparently
+    does take place, according to Le Couteur,[557] is, that some one
+    sub-variety out of the many which may always be detected in the same
+    field is more prolific than the others, and gradually supplants the
+    variety which was first sown.
+
+    With respect to the natural crossing of distinct varieties the evidence
+    is conflicting, but preponderates against its frequent occurrence. Many
+    authors maintain that impregnation takes place in the closed flower,
+    but I am sure from my own observations that this is not the case, at
+    least with those varieties to which I have attended. But as I shall
+    have to discuss this subject in another work, it may be here passed
+    over.
+
+In conclusion, all authors admit that numerous varieties of wheat have
+arisen; but their differences are unimportant, unless, indeed, some of the
+so-called species are ranked as varieties. Those who believe that from four
+to seven wild species of Triticum originally existed in nearly the same
+condition as at present, rest their belief chiefly on the great antiquity
+of the several forms.[558] It is an important fact, which we have recently
+learnt from the admirable researches {317} of Heer,[559] that the
+inhabitants of Switzerland, even so early as the Neolithic period,
+cultivated no less than ten cereal plants, namely, five kinds of wheat, of
+which at least four are commonly looked at as distinct species, three kinds
+of barley, a panicum, and a setaria. If it could be shown that at the
+earliest dawn of agriculture five kinds of wheat and three of barley had
+been cultivated, we should of course be compelled to look at these forms as
+distinct species. But, as Heer has remarked, agriculture even at the period
+of the lake-habitations had already made considerable progress; for,
+besides the ten cereals, peas, poppies, flax, and apparently apples, were
+cultivated. It may also be inferred, from one variety of wheat being the
+so-called Egyptian, and from what is known of the native country of the
+panicum and setaria, as well as from the nature of the weeds which then
+grew mingled with the crops, that the lake-inhabitants either still kept up
+commercial intercourse with some southern people or had originally
+proceeded as colonists from the South.
+
+Loiseleur-Deslongchamps[560] has argued that, if our cereal plants had been
+greatly modified by cultivation, the weeds which habitually grow mingled
+with them would have been equally modified. But this argument shows how
+completely the principle of selection has been overlooked. That such weeds
+have not varied, or at least do not vary now in any extreme degree, is the
+opinion of Mr. H. C. Watson and Professor Asa Gray, as they inform me; but
+who will pretend to say that they do not vary as much as the individual
+plants of the same sub-variety of wheat? We have already seen that pure
+varieties of wheat, cultivated in the same field, offer many slight
+variations, which can be selected and separately propagated; and that
+occasionally more strongly pronounced variations appear, which, as Mr.
+Sheriff has proved, are well worthy of extensive cultivation. Not until
+equal attention be paid to the variability and selection of weeds, can the
+argument from their constancy under unintentional culture be of any value.
+In accordance with the principles of selection we can understand how it is
+that in the several cultivated varieties of wheat the organs of vegetation
+differ so little; for if a plant {318} with peculiar leaves appeared, it
+would be neglected unless the grains of corn were at the same time superior
+in quality or size. The selection of seed-corn was strongly
+recommended[561] in ancient times by Columella and Celsus; and as Virgil
+says,--
+
+ "I've seen the largest seeds, tho' view'd with care,
+  Degenerate, unless th' industrious hand
+  Did yearly cull the largest."
+
+But whether in ancient times selection was methodically pursued we may well
+doubt, when we hear how laborious the work was found by Le Couteur.
+Although the principle of selection is so important, yet the little which
+man has effected, by incessant efforts[562] during thousands of years, in
+rendering the plants more productive or the grains more nutritious than
+they were in the time of the old Egyptians, would seem to speak strongly
+against its efficacy. But we must not forget that at each successive period
+the state of agriculture and the quantity of manure supplied to the land
+will have determined the maximum degree of productiveness; for it would be
+impossible to cultivate a highly productive variety, unless the land
+contained a sufficient supply of the necessary chemical elements.
+
+We now know that man was sufficiently civilized to cultivate the ground at
+an immensely remote period; so that wheat might have been improved long ago
+up to that standard of excellence which was possible under the then
+existing state of agriculture. One small class of facts supports this view
+of the slow and gradual improvement of our cereals. In the most ancient
+lake-habitations of Switzerland, when men employed only flint-tools, the
+most extensively cultivated wheat was a peculiar kind, with remarkably
+small ears and grains.[563] "Whilst the grains of the modern forms are in
+section from seven to eight millimetres in length, the larger grains from
+the lake-habitations are six, seldom seven, and the smaller ones only four.
+The ear is thus much narrower, and the spikelets stand out more
+horizontally, than in our present forms." So again with barley, the most
+ancient and most extensively cultivated kind had small ears, and the grains
+{319} were "smaller, shorter, and nearer to each other, than in that now
+grown; without the husk they were 21/2 lines long, and scarcely 11/2 broad,
+whilst those now grown have a length of three lines, and almost the same in
+breadth."[564] These small-grained varieties of wheat and barley are
+believed by Heer to be the parent-forms of certain existing allied
+varieties, which have supplanted their early progenitors.
+
+Heer gives an interesting account of the first appearance and final
+disappearance of the several plants which were cultivated in greater or
+less abundance in Switzerland during former successive periods, and which
+generally differed more or less from our existing varieties. The peculiar
+small-eared and small-grained wheat, already alluded to, was the commonest
+kind during the Stone period; it lasted down to the Helvetico-Roman age,
+and then became extinct. A second kind was rare at first, but afterwards
+became more frequent. A third, the Egyptian wheat (_T. turgidum_), does not
+agree exactly with any existing variety, and was rare during the Stone
+period. A fourth kind (_T. dicoccum_) differs from all known varieties of
+this form. A fifth kind (_T. monococcum_) is known to have existed during
+the Stone period only by the presence of a single ear. A sixth kind, the
+common _T. spelta_, was not introduced into Switzerland until the Bronze
+age. Of barley, besides the short-eared and small-grained kind, two others
+were cultivated, one of which was very scarce, and resembled our present
+common _H. distichum_. During the Bronze age rye and oats were introduced;
+the oat-grains being somewhat smaller than those produced by our existing
+varieties. The poppy was largely cultivated during the Stone period,
+probably for its oil; but the variety which then existed is not now known.
+A peculiar pea with small seeds lasted from the Stone to the Bronze age,
+and then became extinct; whilst a peculiar bean, likewise having small
+seeds, came in at the Bronze period and lasted to the time of the Romans.
+These details sound like the description given by a palaeontologist of the
+mutations in form, of the first appearance, the increasing rarity, and
+final extinction of fossil species, embedded in the successive stages of a
+geological formation.
+
+{320}
+
+Finally, every one must judge for himself whether it is more probable that
+the several forms of wheat, barley, rye, and oats are descended from
+between ten and fifteen species, most of which are now either unknown or
+extinct, or whether they are descended from between four and eight species,
+which may have either closely resembled our present cultivated forms, or
+have been so widely different as to escape identification. In this latter
+case, we must conclude that man cultivated the cereals at an enormously
+remote period, and that he formerly practised some degree of selection,
+which in itself is not improbable. We may, perhaps, further believe that,
+when wheat was first cultivated, the ears and grains increased quickly in
+size, in the same manner as the roots of the wild carrot and parsnip are
+known to increase quickly in bulk under cultivation.
+
+    _Maize: Zea Mays._--Botanists are nearly unanimous that all the
+    cultivated kinds belong to the same species. It is undoubtedly[565] of
+    American origin, and was grown by the aborigines throughout the
+    continent from New England to Chili. Its cultivation must have been
+    extremely ancient, for Tschudi[566] describes two kinds, now extinct or
+    not known in Peru, which were taken from tombs apparently prior to the
+    dynasty of the Incas. But there is even stronger evidence of antiquity,
+    for I found on the coast of Peru[567] heads of maize, together with
+    eighteen species of recent sea-shell, embedded in a beach which had
+    been upraised at least 85 feet above the level of the sea. In
+    accordance with this ancient cultivation, numerous American varieties
+    have arisen. The aboriginal form has not as yet been discovered in the
+    wild state. A peculiar kind,[568] in which the grains, instead of being
+    naked, are concealed by husks as much as eleven lines in length, has
+    been stated on insufficient evidence to grow wild in Brazil. It is
+    almost certain that the aboriginal form would have had its grains thus
+    protected;[569] but the seeds of the Brazilian variety produce, as I
+    hear from Professor Asa Gray, and as is stated in two published
+    accounts, either common or husked maize; and it is not {321} credible
+    that a wild species, when first cultivated, should vary so quickly and
+    in so great a degree.
+
+    Maize has varied in an extraordinary and conspicuous manner.
+    Metzger,[570] who paid particular attention to the cultivation of this
+    plant, makes twelve races (unter-art) with numerous sub-varieties; of
+    the latter some are tolerably constant, others quite inconstant. The
+    different races vary in height from 15-18 feet to only 16-18 inches, as
+    in a dwarf variety described by Bonafous. The whole ear is variable in
+    shape, being long and narrow, or short and thick, or branched. The ear
+    in one variety is more than four times as long as in a dwarf kind. The
+    seeds are arranged in the ear in from six to even twenty rows, or are
+    placed irregularly. The seeds are coloured--white, pale-yellow, orange,
+    red, violet, or elegantly streaked with black;[571] and in the same ear
+    there are sometimes seeds of two colours. In a small collection I found
+    that a single grain of one variety nearly equalled in weight seven
+    grains of another variety. The shape of the seed varies greatly, being
+    very flat, or nearly globular, or oval; broader than long, or longer
+    than broad; without any point, or produced into a sharp tooth, and this
+    tooth is sometimes recurved. One variety (the rugosa of Bonafous) has
+    its seeds curiously wrinkled, giving to the whole ear a singular
+    appearance. Another variety (the cymosa of Bon.) carries its ears so
+    crowded together that it is called _mais a bouquet_. The seeds of some
+    varieties contain much glucose instead of starch. Male flowers
+    sometimes appear amongst the female flowers, and Mr. J. Scott has
+    lately observed the rarer case of female flowers on a true male
+    panicle, and likewise hermaphrodite flowers.[572] Azara describes[573]
+    a variety in Paraguay the grains of which are very tender, and he
+    states that several varieties are fitted for being cooked in various
+    ways. The varieties also differ greatly in precocity, and have
+    different powers of resisting dryness and the action of violent
+    wind.[574] Some of the foregoing differences would certainly be
+    considered of specific value with plants in a state of nature.
+
+    Le Comte Re states that the grains of all the varieties which he
+    cultivated ultimately assumed a yellow colour. But Bonafous[575] found
+    that most of those which he sowed for ten consecutive years kept true
+    to their proper tints; and he adds that in the valleys of the Pyrenees
+    and on the plains of Piedmont a white maize has been cultivated for
+    more than a century, and has undergone no change.
+
+    The tall kinds grown in southern latitudes, and therefore exposed to
+    great heat, require from six to seven months to ripen their seed;
+    whereas the dwarf kinds, grown in northern and colder climates, require
+    only from {322} three to four months.[576] Peter Kalm,[577] who
+    particularly attended to this plant, says, that in the United States,
+    in proceeding from south to north, the plants steadily diminish in
+    bulk. Seeds brought from lat. 37 deg. in Virginia, and sown in lat. 43 deg.-44 deg.
+    in New England, produce plants which will not ripen their seed, or
+    ripen them with the utmost difficulty. So it is with seed carried from
+    New England to lat. 45 deg.-47 deg. in Canada. By taking great care at first,
+    the southern kinds after some years' culture ripen their seed perfectly
+    in their northern homes, so that this is an analogous case with that of
+    the conversion of summer into winter wheat, and conversely. When tall
+    and dwarf maize are planted together, the dwarf kinds are in full
+    flower before the others have produced a single flower; and in
+    Pennsylvania they ripen their seed six weeks earlier than the tall
+    maize. Metzger also mentions a European maize which ripens its seed
+    four weeks earlier than another European kind. With these facts, so
+    plainly showing inherited acclimatisation, we may readily believe Kalm,
+    who states that in North America maize and some other plants have
+    gradually been cultivated further and further northward. All writers
+    agree that to keep the varieties of maize pure they must be planted
+    separately so that they shall not cross.
+
+    The effects of the climate of Europe on the American varieties is
+    highly remarkable. Metzger obtained seed from various parts of America,
+    and cultivated several kinds in Germany. I will give an abstract of the
+    changes observed[578] in one case, namely, with a tall kind
+    (Breit-korniger mays, Zea altissima) brought from the warmer parts of
+    America. During the first year the plants were twelve feet high, and
+    few seeds were perfected; the lower seeds in the ear kept true to their
+    proper form, but the upper seeds became slightly changed. In the second
+    generation the plants were from nine to ten feet in height, and ripened
+    their seed better; the depression on the outer side of the seed had
+    almost disappeared, and the original beautiful white colour had become
+    duskier. Some of the seeds had even become yellow, and in their now
+    rounded form they approached common European maize. In the third
+    generation nearly all resemblance to the original and very distinct
+    American parent-form was lost. In the sixth generation this maize
+    perfectly resembled a European variety, described as the second
+    sub-variety of the fifth race. When Metzger published his book, this
+    variety was still cultivated near Heidelberg, and could be
+    distinguished from the common kind only by a somewhat more vigorous
+    growth. Analogous results were obtained by the cultivation of another
+    American race, the "white-tooth corn," in which the tooth nearly
+    disappeared even in the second generation. A third race, the
+    "chicken-corn," did not undergo so great a change, but the seeds became
+    less polished and pellucid.
+
+These facts afford the most remarkable instance known to me of the direct
+and prompt action of climate on a plant. It might {323} have been expected
+that the tallness of the stem, the period of vegetation, and the ripening
+of the seed, would have been thus affected; but it is a much more
+surprising fact that the seeds should have undergone so rapid and great a
+change. As, however, flowers, with their product the seed, are formed by
+the metamorphosis of the stem and leaves, any modification in these latter
+organs would be apt to extend, through correlation, to the organs of
+fructification.
+
+    _Cabbage_ (_Brassica oleracea_).--Every one knows how greatly the
+    various kinds of cabbage differ in appearance. In the island of Jersey,
+    from the effects of particular culture and of climate, a stalk has
+    grown to the height of sixteen feet, and "had its spring shoots at the
+    top occupied by a magpie's nest:" the woody stems are not unfrequently
+    from ten to twelve feet in height, and are there used as rafters[579]
+    and as walking-sticks. We are thus reminded that in certain countries
+    plants belonging to the generally herbaceous order of the Cruciferae are
+    developed into trees. Every one can appreciate the difference between
+    green or red cabbages with great single heads; Brussel-sprouts with
+    numerous little heads; broccolis and cauliflowers with the greater
+    number of their flowers in an aborted condition, incapable of producing
+    seed, and borne in a dense corymb instead of an open panicle; savoys
+    with their blistered and wrinkled leaves; and borecoles and kales,
+    which come nearest to the wild parent-form. There are also various
+    frizzled and laciniated kinds, some of such beautiful colours that
+    Vilmorin in his Catalogue of 1851 enumerates ten varieties, valued
+    solely for ornament, which are propagated by seed. Some kinds are less
+    commonly known, such as the Portuguese Couve Tronchuda, with the ribs
+    of its leaves greatly thickened; and the Kohlrabi or choux-raves, with
+    their stems enlarged into great turnip-like masses above the ground;
+    and the recently formed new race[580] of choux-raves, already including
+    nine sub-varieties, in which the enlarged part lies beneath the ground
+    like a turnip.
+
+    Although we see such great differences in the shape, size, colour,
+    arrangement, and manner of growth of the leaves and stem, and of the
+    flower-stems in the broccoli and cauliflower, it is remarkable that the
+    flowers themselves, the seed-pods, and seeds, present extremely slight
+    differences or none at all.[581] I compared the flowers of all the
+    principal kinds; those of the Couve Tronchuda are white and rather
+    smaller than in common cabbages; those of the Portsmouth broccoli have
+    narrower sepals, and smaller, less elongated petals; and in no other
+    cabbage could any difference be detected. With respect to the
+    seed-pods, in the purple Kohlrabi alone, {324} do they differ, being a
+    little longer and narrower than usual. I made a collection of the seeds
+    of twenty-eight different kinds, and most of them were
+    undistinguishable; when there was any difference it was excessively
+    slight; thus, the seeds of various broccolis and cauliflowers, when
+    seen in mass, are a little redder; those of the early green Ulm savoy
+    are rather smaller; and those of the Breda kail slightly larger than
+    usual, but not larger than the seeds of the wild cabbage from the coast
+    of Wales. What a contrast in the amount of difference is presented if,
+    on the one hand, we compare the leaves and stems of the various kinds
+    of cabbage with their flowers, pods, and seeds, and on the other hand
+    the corresponding parts in the varieties of maize and wheat! The
+    explanation is obvious; the seeds alone are valued in our cereals, and
+    their variations have been selected; whereas the seeds, seed-pods, and
+    flowers have been utterly neglected in the cabbage, whilst many useful
+    variations in their leaves and stems have been noticed and preserved
+    from an extremely remote period, for cabbages were cultivated by the
+    old Celts.[582]
+
+    It would be useless to give a classified description[583] of the
+    numerous races, sub-races, and varieties of the cabbage; but it may be
+    mentioned that Dr. Lindley has lately proposed[584] a system founded on
+    the state of development of the terminal and lateral leaf-buds, and of
+    the flower-buds. Thus, I. All the leaf-buds active and open, as in the
+    wild-cabbage, kail, &c. II. All the leaf-buds active, but forming
+    heads, as in Brussel-sprouts, &c. III. Terminal leaf-bud alone active,
+    forming a head as in common cabbages, savoys, &c. IV. Terminal leaf-bud
+    alone active and open, with most of the flowers abortive and succulent,
+    as in the cauliflower and broccoli. V. All the leaf-buds active and
+    open, with most of the flowers abortive and succulent, as in the
+    sprouting-broccoli. This latter variety is a new one, and bears the
+    same relation to common broccoli, as Brussel-sprouts do to common
+    cabbages; it suddenly appeared in a bed of common broccoli, and was
+    found faithfully to transmit its newly-acquired and remarkable
+    characters.
+
+    The principal kinds of cabbage existed at least as early as the
+    sixteenth century,[585] so that numerous modifications of structure
+    have been inherited for a long period. This fact is the more remarkable
+    as great care must be taken to prevent the crossing of the different
+    kinds. To give one proof of this: I raised 233 seedlings from cabbages
+    of different kinds, which had purposely been planted near each other,
+    and of the seedlings no less than 155 were plainly deteriorated and
+    mongrelized; nor were the remaining 78 all perfectly true. It may be
+    doubted whether many permanent varieties have been formed by
+    intentional or accidental crosses; for such crossed plants are found to
+    be very inconstant. One kind, however, called "Cottager's Kale," has
+    lately been produced by crossing common kale and Brussel-sprouts,
+    recrossed with purple broccoli,[586] and is said to be true, but plants
+    {325} raised by me were not nearly so constant in character as any
+    common cabbage.
+
+    Although most of the kinds keep true if carefully preserved from
+    crossing, yet the seed-beds must be yearly examined, and a few
+    seedlings are generally found false; but even in this case the force of
+    inheritance is shown, for, as Metzger has remarked[587] when speaking
+    of Brussel-sprouts, the variations generally keep to their "unter art,"
+    or main race. But in order that any kind may be truly propagated there
+    must be no great change in the conditions of life; thus cabbages will
+    not form heads in hot countries, and the same thing has been observed
+    with an English variety grown during an extremely warm and damp autumn
+    near Paris.[588] Extremely poor soil also affects the characters of
+    certain varieties.
+
+    Most authors believe that all the races are descended from the wild
+    cabbage found on the western shores of Europe; but Alph. De
+    Candolle[589] forcibly argues on historical and other grounds that it
+    is more probable that two or three closely allied forms, generally
+    ranked as distinct species, still living in the Mediterranean region,
+    are the parents, now all commingled together, of the various cultivated
+    kinds. In the same manner as we have often seen with domesticated
+    animals, the supposed multiple origin of the cabbage throws no light on
+    the characteristic differences between the cultivated forms. If our
+    cabbages are the descendants of three or four distinct species, every
+    trace of any sterility which may originally have existed between them
+    is now lost, for none of the varieties can be kept distinct without
+    scrupulous care to prevent intercrossing.
+
+    The other cultivated forms of the genus Brassica are descended,
+    according to the view adopted by Godron and Metzger,[590] from two
+    species, _B. napus_ and _rapa_; but according to other botanists from
+    three species; whilst others again strongly suspect that all these
+    forms, both wild and cultivated, ought to be ranked as a single
+    species. _Brassica napus_ has given rise to two large groups, namely,
+    Swedish turnips (by some believed to be of hybrid origin)[591] and
+    Colzas, the seeds of which yield oil. _Brassica rapa_ (of Koch) has
+    also given rise to two races, namely, common turnips and the oil-giving
+    rape. The evidence is unusually clear that these latter plants, though
+    so different in external appearance, belong to the same species; for
+    the turnip has been observed by Koch and Godron to lose its thick roots
+    in uncultivated soil, and when rape and turnips are sown together they
+    cross to such a degree that scarcely a single plant comes true.[592]
+    Metzger by culture converted the biennial or winter rape into the
+    annual or summer rape,--varieties which have been thought by some
+    authors to be specifically distinct.[593]
+
+    In the production of large, fleshy, turnip-like stems, we have a case
+    {326} of analogous variation in three forms which are generally
+    considered as distinct species. But scarcely any modification seems so
+    easily acquired as a succulent enlargement of the stem or root--that is
+    a store of nutriment laid up for the plant's own future use. We see
+    this in our radishes, beet, and in the less generally known
+    "turnip-rooted" celery, and in the finocchio or Italian variety of the
+    common fennel. Mr. Buckman has lately proved by his interesting
+    experiments how quickly the roots of the wild parsnip can be enlarged,
+    as Vilmorin formerly proved in the case of the carrot.[594] This latter
+    plant, in its cultivated state, differs in scarcely any character from
+    the wild English species, except in general luxuriance and in the size
+    and quality of its roots; but in the root ten varieties, differing in
+    colour, shape, and quality, are cultivated[595] in England, and come
+    true by seed. Hence, with the carrot, as in so many other cases, for
+    instance with the numerous varieties and sub-varieties of the radish,
+    that part of the plant which is valued by man, falsely appears alone to
+    have varied. The truth is that variations in this part alone have been
+    selected; and the seedlings inheriting a tendency to vary in the same
+    way, analogous modifications have been again and again selected, until
+    at last a great amount of change has been effected.
+
+    _Pea_ (_Pisum sativum_).--Most botanists look at the garden-pea as
+    specifically distinct from the field-pea (_P. arvense_). The latter
+    exists in a wild state in Southern Europe; but the aboriginal parent of
+    the garden-pea has been found by one collector alone, as he states, in
+    the Crimea.[596] Andrew Knight crossed, as I am informed by the Rev. A.
+    Fitch, the field-pea with a well-known garden variety, the Prussian
+    pea, and the cross seems to have been perfectly fertile. Dr. Alefeld
+    has recently studied[597] the genus with care, and, after having
+    cultivated about fifty varieties, concludes that they all certainly
+    belong to the same species. It is an interesting fact already alluded
+    to, that, according to O. Heer,[598] the peas found in the
+    lake-habitations of Switzerland of the Stone and Bronze ages, belong to
+    an extinct variety, with exceedingly small seeds, allied to _P.
+    arvense_, or field-pea. The varieties of the common garden-pea are
+    numerous, and differ considerably from each other. For comparison I
+    planted at the same time forty-one English and French varieties, and in
+    this one case I will describe minutely their differences. The varieties
+    {327} differ greatly in height,--namely from between 6 and 12 inches to
+    8 feet,[599]--in manner of growth, and in period of maturity. Some
+    varieties differ in general aspect even while only two or three inches
+    in height. The stems of the _Prussian_ pea are much branched. The tall
+    kinds have larger leaves than the dwarf kinds, but not in strict
+    proportion to their height:--_Hairs' Dwarf Monmouth_ has very large
+    leaves, and the _Pois nain hatif_, and the moderately tall _Blue
+    Prussian_, have leaves about two-thirds of the size of the tallest
+    kind. In the _Danecroft_ the leaflets are rather small and a little
+    pointed; in the _Queen of Dwarfs_ rather rounded; and in the _Queen of
+    England_ broad and large. In these three peas the slight differences in
+    the shape of the leaves are accompanied by slight differences in
+    colour. In the _Pois geant sans parchemin_, which bears purple flowers,
+    the leaflets in the young plant are edged with red; and in all the peas
+    with purple flowers the stipules are marked with red.
+
+    In the different varieties, one or two, or several flowers in a small
+    cluster, are borne on the same peduncle; and this is a difference which
+    with some of the Leguminosae is considered of specific value. In all the
+    varieties the flowers closely resemble each other except in colour and
+    size. They are generally white, sometimes purple, but the colour is
+    inconstant even in the same variety. In _Warner's Emperor_, which is a
+    tall kind, the flowers are nearly double the size of those of the _Pois
+    nain hatif_, but _Hairs' Dwarf Monmouth_, which has large leaves,
+    likewise has large flowers. The calyx in the _Victoria Marrow_ is
+    large, and in _Bishop's Long Pod_ the sepals are rather narrow. In no
+    other kind is there any difference in the flower.
+
+    The pods and seeds, which with natural species afford such constant
+    characters, differ greatly in the cultivated varieties of the pea; and
+    these are the valuable, and consequently the selected parts. _Sugar
+    peas_, or _Pois sans parchemin_, are remarkable from their thin pods,
+    which, whilst young, are cooked and eaten whole; and in this group,
+    which, according to Mr. Gordon includes eleven sub-varieties, it is the
+    pod which differs most: thus _Lewis's Negro-podded pea_ has a straight,
+    broad, smooth, and dark-purple pod, with the husk not so thin as in the
+    other kinds; the pod of another variety is extremely bowed; that of the
+    _Pois geant_ is much pointed at the extremity; and in the variety "_a
+    grands cosses_" the peas are seen through the husk in so conspicuous a
+    manner that the pod, especially when dry, can hardly at first be
+    recognised as that of a pea.
+
+    In the ordinary varieties the pods also differ much in size;--in
+    colour, that of _Woodford's Green Marrow_ being bright-green when dry,
+    instead of pale brown, and that of the purple-podded pea being
+    expressed by its name;--in smoothness, that of _Danecroft_ being
+    remarkably glossy, whereas that of the _Ne plus ultra_ is rugged;--in
+    being either nearly cylindrical, or broad and flat;--in being pointed
+    at the end as in _Thurston's Reliance_, or much truncated as in the
+    _American Dwarf_. In the _Auvergne pea_ the whole end of {328} the pod
+    is bowed upwards. In the _Queen of the Dwarfs_ and in _Scimitar peas_
+    the pod is almost elliptic in shape. I here give drawings of the four
+    most distinct pods produced by the plants cultivated by me.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 41.--Pods and Peas. I. Queen of Dwarfs. II.
+    American Dwarf. III. Thurston's Reliance. IV. Pois Geant sans
+    parchemin. _a._ Dan O'Rourke Pea. _b._ Queen of Dwarfs Pea. _c._
+    Knight's Tall White Marrow. d. Lewis's Negro Pea.]
+
+    In the pea itself we have every tint between almost pure white, brown,
+    yellow, and intense green; in the varieties of the _sugar peas_ we have
+    these same tints, together with red passing through fine purple into a
+    dark chocolate tint. These colours are either uniform or distributed in
+    dots, striae, or moss-like marks; they depend in some cases on the
+    colour of the cotyledons seen through the skin, and in other cases on
+    the outer coats of the pea itself. In the different varieties the pods
+    contain, according to Mr. Gordon, from eleven or twelve to only four or
+    five peas. The largest peas are nearly twice as much in diameter as the
+    smallest; and the latter are not always borne by the most dwarfed
+    kinds. Peas differ much in {329} shape, being smooth and spherical,
+    smooth and oblong, nearly oval in the _Queen of Dwarfs_, and nearly
+    cubical and crumpled in many of the larger kinds.
+
+    With respect to the value of the differences between the chief
+    varieties, it cannot be doubted that, if one of the tall _Sugar-peas_,
+    with purple flowers, thin-skinned pods of an extraordinary shape,
+    including large, dark-purple peas, grew wild by the side of the lowly
+    _Queen of the Dwarfs_, with white flowers, greyish-green, rounded
+    leaves, scimitar-like pods, containing oblong, smooth, pale-coloured
+    peas, which became mature at a different season; or by the side of one
+    of the gigantic sorts, like the _Champion of England_, with leaves of
+    great size, pointed pods, and large, green, crumpled, almost cubical
+    peas,--all three kinds would be ranked as indisputably distinct
+    species.
+
+    Andrew Knight[600] has observed that the varieties of peas keep very
+    true, because they are not crossed by insects. As far as the fact of
+    keeping true is concerned, I hear from Mr. Masters of Canterbury, well
+    known as the originator of several new kinds, that certain varieties
+    have remained constant for a considerable time,--for instance,
+    _Knight's Blue Dwarf_, which came out about the year 1820.[601] But the
+    greater number of varieties have a singularly short existence: thus
+    Loudon remarks[602] that "sorts which were highly approved in 1821, are
+    now, in 1833, nowhere to be found;" and on comparing the lists of 1833
+    with those of 1855, I find that nearly all the varieties have changed.
+    Mr. Masters informs me that the nature of the soil causes some
+    varieties to lose their character. As with other plants, certain
+    varieties can be propagated truly, whilst others show a determined
+    tendency to vary; thus two peas differing in shape, one round and the
+    other wrinkled, were found by Mr. Masters within the same pod, but the
+    plants raised from the wrinkled kind always evinced a strong tendency
+    to produce round peas. Mr. Masters also raised from a plant of another
+    variety four distinct sub-varieties, which bore blue and round, white
+    and round, blue and wrinkled, and white and wrinkled peas; and although
+    he sowed these four varieties separately during several successive
+    years, each kind always reproduced all four kinds mixed together!
+
+    With respect to the varieties not naturally intercrossing, I have
+    ascertained that the pea, which in this respect differs from some other
+    Leguminosae, is perfectly fertile without the aid of insects. Yet I have
+    seen humble-bees whilst sucking the nectar depress the keel-petals, and
+    become so thickly dusted with pollen, that some could hardly fail to be
+    left on the stigma of the next flower which was visited. I have made
+    inquiries from several great raisers of seed-peas, and I find that but
+    few sow them separately; the majority take no precaution; and it is
+    certain, as I have myself found, that true seed may be saved during at
+    least several generations from distinct varieties growing close
+    together.[603] Under these circumstances, Mr. Fitch raised, as he
+    informs me, one variety for twenty {330} years, which always came true.
+    From the analogy of kidney-beans I should have expected[604] that
+    occasionally, perhaps at long intervals of time, when some slight
+    degree of sterility had supervened from long-continued
+    self-fertilisation, varieties thus growing near each other would have
+    crossed; and I shall give in the eleventh chapter two cases of distinct
+    varieties which spontaneously intercrossed, as shown (in a manner
+    hereafter to be explained) by the pollen of the one variety having
+    acted directly on the seeds of the other. Whether the incessant supply
+    of new varieties is partly due to such occasional and accidental
+    crosses, and their fleeting existence to changes of fashion; or again,
+    whether the varieties which arise after a long course of continued
+    self-fertilisation are weakly and soon perish, I cannot even
+    conjecture. It may, however, be noticed that several of Andrew Knight's
+    varieties, which have endured longer than most kinds, were raised
+    towards the close of the last century by artificial crosses; some of
+    them, I believe, were still, in 1860, vigorous; but now, in 1865, a
+    writer, speaking[605] of Knight's four kinds of marrows, says, they
+    have acquired a famous history, but their glory has departed.
+
+    With respect to Beans (_Faba vulgaris_), I will say but little. Dr.
+    Alefeld has given[606] short diagnostic characters of forty varieties.
+    Every one who has seen a collection must have been struck with the
+    great difference in shape, thickness, proportional length and breadth,
+    colour, and size which beans present. What a contrast between a Windsor
+    and Horse-bean! As in the case of the pea, our existing varieties were
+    preceded during the Bronze age in Switzerland by a peculiar and now
+    extinct variety producing very small beans.[607]
+
+    _Potato (Solanum tuberosum)._--There is little doubt about the
+    parentage of this plant; for the cultivated varieties differ extremely
+    little in general appearance from the wild species, which can be
+    recognised in its native land at the first glance.[608] The varieties
+    cultivated in Britain are numerous; thus Lawson[609] gives a
+    description of 175 kinds. I planted eighteen kinds in adjoining rows;
+    their stems and leaves differed but little, and in several cases there
+    was as great an amount of difference between the individuals of the
+    same variety as between the different varieties. The flowers vary in
+    size, and in colour between white and purple, but in no other respect,
+    except that in one kind the sepals were somewhat elongated. One strange
+    variety has been described which always produces two sorts of flowers,
+    the first double and sterile, the second single and fertile.[610] The
+    fruit or berries also differ, but only in a slight degree.[611]
+
+    {331}
+
+    The tubers, on the other hand, present a wonderful amount of diversity.
+    This fact accords with the principle that the valuable and selected
+    parts of all cultivated productions present the greatest amount of
+    modification. They differ much in size and shape, being globular, oval,
+    flattened, kidney-like, or cylindrical. One variety from Peru is
+    described[612] as being quite straight, and at least six inches in
+    length, though no thicker than a man's finger. The eyes or buds differ
+    in form, position, and colour. The manner in which the tubers are
+    arranged on the so-called roots is different; thus in the
+    _gurken-kartoffeln_ they form a pyramid with the apex downwards, and in
+    another variety they bury themselves deep in the ground. The roots
+    themselves run either near the surface or deep in the ground. The
+    tubers also differ in smoothness and colour, being externally white,
+    red, purple, or almost black, and internally white, yellow, or almost
+    black. They differ in flavour and quality, being either waxy or mealy;
+    in their period of maturity, and in their capacity for long
+    preservation.
+
+    As with many other plants which have been long propagated by bulbs,
+    tubers, cuttings, &c., by which means the same individual is exposed
+    during a length of time to diversified conditions, seedling potatoes
+    generally display innumerable slight differences. Several varieties,
+    even when propagated by tubers, are far from constant, as will be seen
+    in the chapter on Bud-variation. Dr. Anderson[613] procured seed from
+    an Irish purple potato, which grew far from any other kind, so that it
+    could not at least in this generation have been crossed, yet the many
+    seedlings varied in almost every possible respect, so that "scarcely
+    two plants were exactly alike." Some of the plants which closely
+    resembled each other above ground, produced extremely dissimilar
+    tubers; and some tubers which externally could hardly be distinguished,
+    differed widely in quality when cooked. Even in this case of extreme
+    variability, the parent-stock had some influence on the progeny, for
+    the greater number of the seedlings resembled in some degree the parent
+    Irish potato. Kidney potatoes must be ranked amongst the most highly
+    cultivated and artificial races; yet their peculiarities can often be
+    strictly propagated by seed. A great authority, Mr. Rivers,[614] states
+    that "seedlings from the ash-leaved kidney always bear a strong
+    resemblance to their parent. Seedlings from the fluke-kidney are still
+    more remarkable for their adherence to their parent-stock, for, on
+    closely observing a great number during two seasons, I have not been
+    able to observe the least difference either in earliness,
+    productiveness, or in the size or shape of their tubers."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{332}
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+PLANTS _continued_--FRUITS--ORNAMENTAL TREES--FLOWERS.
+
+    FRUITS.--GRAPES--VARY IN ODD AND TRIFLING PARTICULARS.--MULBERRY.--THE
+    ORANGE GROUP--SINGULAR RESULTS FROM CROSSING.--PEACH AND
+    NECTARINE--BUD-VARIATION--ANALOGOUS VARIATION--RELATION TO THE
+    ALMOND.--APRICOT.--PLUMS--VARIATION IN THEIR
+    STONES.--CHERRIES--SINGULAR VARIETIES
+    OF.--APPLE.--PEAR.--STRAWBERRY--INTERBLENDING OF THE ORIGINAL
+    FORMS.--GOOSEBERRY--STEADY INCREASE IN SIZE OF THE FRUIT--VARIETIES
+    OF.--WALNUT.--NUT.--CUCURBITACEOUS PLANTS--WONDERFUL VARIATION OF.
+
+    ORNAMENTAL TREES--THEIR VARIATION IN DEGREE AND
+    KIND--ASH-TREE--SCOTCH-FIR--HAWTHORN.
+
+    FLOWERS--MULTIPLE ORIGIN OF MANY KINDS--VARIATION IN CONSTITUTIONAL
+    PECULIARITIES--KIND OF VARIATION.--ROSES--SEVERAL SPECIES
+    CULTIVATED.--PANSY.--DAHLIA.--HYACINTH, HISTORY AND VARIATION OF.
+
+    _The Vine_ (_Vitis vinifera_).--The best authorities consider all our
+    grapes as the descendants of one species which now grows wild in
+    western Asia, which grew during the Bronze-age wild in Italy,[615] and
+    which has recently been found fossil in a tufaceous deposit in the
+    south of France.[616] Some authors, however, entertain much doubt about
+    the single parentage of our cultivated varieties, owing to the number
+    of semi-wild forms found in Southern Europe, especially as described by
+    Clemente,[617] in a forest in Spain; but as the grape sows itself
+    freely in Southern Europe, and as several of the chief kinds transmit
+    their characters by seed,[618] whilst others are extremely variable,
+    the existence of many different escaped forms could hardly fail to
+    occur in countries where this plant has been cultivated from the
+    remotest antiquity. That the vine varies much when propagated by seed,
+    we may infer from the largely increased number of varieties since the
+    earlier historical records. New hot-house varieties are produced almost
+    every year; for instance,[619] a golden-coloured variety has been
+    recently raised in England from a black grape without the aid of a
+    cross. {333} Van Mons[620] reared a multitude of varieties from the
+    seed of one vine, which was completely separated from all others, so
+    that there could not, at least in this generation, have been any
+    crossing, and the seedlings presented "les analogues de toutes les
+    sortes," and differed in almost every possible character both in the
+    fruit and foliage.
+
+    The cultivated varieties are extremely numerous; Count Odart says that
+    he will not deny that there may exist throughout the world 700 or 800,
+    perhaps even 1000 varieties, but not a third of these have any value.
+    In the Catalogue of fruit cultivated in the Horticultural Gardens of
+    London, published in 1842, 99 varieties are enumerated. Wherever the
+    grape is grown many varieties occur: Pallas describes 24 in the Crimea,
+    and Burnes mentions 10 in Cabool. The classification of the varieties
+    has much perplexed writers, and Count Odart is reduced to a
+    geographical system; but I will not enter on this subject, nor on the
+    many and great differences between the varieties. I will merely specify
+    a few curious and trifling peculiarities, all taken from Odart's highly
+    esteemed work,[621] for the sake of showing the diversified variability
+    of this plant. Simon has classed grapes into two main divisions, those
+    with downy leaves and those with smooth leaves, but he admits that in
+    one variety, namely the Rebazo, the leaves are either smooth or downy;
+    and Odart (p. 70) states that some varieties have the nerves alone, and
+    other varieties their young leaves, downy, whilst the old ones are
+    smooth. The Pedro-Ximenes grape (Odart, p. 397) presents a peculiarity
+    by which it can be at once recognised amongst a host of other
+    varieties, namely, that when the fruit is nearly ripe the nerves of the
+    leaves or even the whole surface becomes yellow. The Barbera d'Asti is
+    well marked by several characters (p. 426), amongst others, "by some of
+    the leaves, and it is always the lowest on the branches, suddenly
+    becoming of a dark red colour." Several authors in classifying grapes
+    have founded their main divisions on the berries being either round or
+    oblong; and Odart admits the value of this character; yet there is one
+    variety, the Maccabeo (p. 71), which often produces small round, and
+    large oblong, berries in the same bunch. Certain grapes called Nebbiolo
+    (p. 429) present a constant character, sufficient for their
+    recognition, namely, "the slight adherence of that part of the pulp
+    which surrounds the seeds to the rest of the berry, when cut through
+    transversely." A Rhenish variety is mentioned (p. 228) which likes a
+    dry soil; the fruit ripens well, but at the moment of maturity, if much
+    rain falls, the berries are apt to rot; on the other hand, the fruit of
+    a Swiss variety (p. 243) is valued for well sustaining prolonged
+    humidity. This latter variety sprouts late in the spring, yet matures
+    its fruit early; other varieties (p. 362) have the fault of being too
+    much excited by the April sun, and in consequence suffer from frost. A
+    Styrian variety (p. 254) has brittle foot-stalks, so that the clusters
+    of fruit are often blown off; this variety is said to be particularly
+    attractive to wasps and bees. Other varieties have tough stalks, which
+    resist the wind. Many other variable characters could be given, but the
+    foregoing facts are sufficient to show in how many small structural and
+    {334} constitutional details the vine varies. During the vine disease
+    in France certain whole groups of varieties[622] have suffered far more
+    from mildew than others. Thus "the group of the Chasselas, so rich in
+    varieties, did not afford a single fortunate exception;" certain other
+    groups suffered much less; the true old Burgundy, for instance, was
+    comparatively free from disease, and the Carminat likewise resisted the
+    attack. The American vines, which belong to a distinct species,
+    entirely escaped the disease in France; and we thus see that those
+    European varieties which best resist the disease must have acquired in
+    a slight degree the same constitutional peculiarities as the American
+    species.
+
+    _White Mulberry_ (_Morus alba_).--I mention this plant because it has
+    varied in certain characters, namely, in the texture and quality of the
+    leaves, fitting them to serve as food for the domesticated silkworm, in
+    a manner not observed with other plants; but this has arisen simply
+    from such variations in the mulberry having been attended to, selected,
+    and rendered more or less constant. M. de Quatrefages[623] briefly
+    describes six kinds cultivated in one valley in France: of these the
+    _amourouso_ produces excellent leaves, but is rapidly being abandoned
+    because it produces much fruit mingled with the leaves: the _antofino_
+    yields deeply cut leaves of the finest quality, but not in great
+    quantity: the _claro_ is much sought for because the leaves can be
+    easily collected: lastly, the _roso_ bears strong hardy leaves,
+    produced in large quantity, but with the one inconvenience, that they
+    are best adapted for the worms after their fourth moult. MM.
+    Jacquemet-Bonnefont, of Lyon, however, remark in their catalogue (1862)
+    that two sub-varieties have been confounded under the name of the
+    _roso,_ one having leaves too thick for the caterpillars, the other
+    being valuable because the leaves can easily be gathered from the
+    branches without the bark being torn.
+
+    In India the mulberry has also given rise to many varieties. The Indian
+    form is thought by many botanists to be a distinct species; but as
+    Royle remarks,[624] "so many varieties have been produced by
+    cultivation that it is difficult to ascertain whether they all belong
+    to one species;" they are, as he adds, nearly as numerous as those of
+    the silkworm.
+
+    _The Orange Group._--We here meet with great confusion in the specific
+    distinction and parentage of the several kinds. Gallesio,[625] who
+    almost devoted his life-time to the subject, considers that there are
+    four species, namely, sweet and bitter oranges, lemons, and citrons,
+    each of which has given rise to whole groups of varieties, monsters,
+    and supposed hybrids. One high authority[626] believes that these four
+    reputed species are all {335} varieties of the wild _Citrus medica_,
+    but that the shaddock (_Citrus decumana_), which is not known in a wild
+    state, is a distinct species; though its distinctness is doubted by
+    another writer "of great authority on such matters," namely, Dr.
+    Buchanan Hamilton. Alph. De Candolle,[627] on the other hand--and there
+    cannot be a more capable judge--advances what he considers sufficient
+    evidence of the orange (he doubts whether the bitter and sweet kinds
+    are specifically distinct), the lemon, and citron, having been found
+    wild, and consequently that they are distinct. He mentions two other
+    forms cultivated in Japan and Java, which he ranks as undoubted
+    species; he speaks rather more doubtfully about the shaddock, which
+    varies much, and has not been found wild; and finally he considers some
+    forms, such as Adam's apple and the bergamotte, as probably hybrids.
+
+    I have briefly abstracted these opinions for the sake of showing those
+    who have never attended to such subjects, how perplexed with doubt they
+    are. It would, therefore, be useless for my purpose to give a sketch of
+    the conspicuous differences between the several forms. Besides the
+    ever-recurrent difficulty of determining whether forms found wild are
+    truly aboriginal or are escaped seedlings, many of the forms, which
+    must be ranked as varieties, transmit their characters almost perfectly
+    by seed. Sweet and bitter oranges differ in no important respect except
+    in the flavour of their fruit, but Gallesio[628] is most emphatic that
+    both kinds can be propagated by seed with absolute certainty.
+    Consequently, in accordance with his simple rule, he classes them as
+    distinct species; as he does sweet and bitter almonds, the peach and
+    nectarine, &c. He admits, however, that the soft-shelled pine-tree
+    produces not only soft-shelled but some hard-shelled seedlings, so that
+    a little greater force in the power of inheritance would, according to
+    this rule, raise the soft-shelled pine-tree into the dignity of an
+    aboriginally created species. The positive assertion made by
+    Macfayden[629] that the pips of sweet oranges produce in Jamaica,
+    according to the nature of the soil in which they are sown, either
+    sweet or bitter oranges, is probably an error; for M. Alph. De Candolle
+    informs me that since the publication of his great work he has received
+    accounts from Guiana, the Antilles, and Mauritius, that in these
+    countries sweet oranges faithfully transmit their character. Gallesio
+    found that the willow-leafed and the Little China oranges reproduced
+    their proper leaves and fruit; but the seedlings were not quite equal
+    in merit to their parents. The red-fleshed orange, on the other hand,
+    fails to reproduce itself. Gallesio also observed that the seeds of
+    several other singular varieties all reproduced trees having a peculiar
+    physiognomy, but partly resembling their parent-forms. I can adduce
+    another case: the myrtle-leaved orange is ranked by all authors as a
+    variety, but is very distinct in general aspect: in my father's
+    greenhouse, during many years, it rarely yielded any seed, but at last
+    produced one; and a tree thus raised was identical with the
+    parent-form.
+
+    Another and more serious difficulty in determining the rank of the
+    several forms is that, according to Gallesio,[630] they largely
+    intercross without {336} artificial aid; thus he positively states that
+    seeds taken from lemon-trees (_C. lemonum_) growing mingled with the
+    citron (_C. medica_), which is generally considered as a distinct
+    species, produced a graduated series of varieties between these two
+    forms. Again, an Adam's apple was produced from the seed of a sweet
+    orange, which grew close to lemons and citrons. But such facts hardly
+    aid us in determining whether to rank these forms as species or
+    varieties; for it is now known that undoubted species of Verbascum,
+    Cistus, Primula, Salix, &c., frequently cross in a state of nature. If
+    indeed it were proved that plants of the orange tribe raised from these
+    crosses were even partially sterile, it would be a strong argument in
+    favour of their rank as species. Gallesio asserts that this is the
+    case; but he does not distinguish between sterility from hybridism and
+    from the effects of culture; and he almost destroys the force of this
+    statement by another,[631] namely, that when he impregnated the flowers
+    of the common orange with the pollen taken from undoubted _varieties_
+    of the orange, monstrous fruits were produced, which included "little
+    pulp, and had no seeds, or imperfect seeds."
+
+    In this tribe of plants we meet with instances of two highly remarkable
+    facts in vegetable physiology: Gallesio[632] impregnated an orange with
+    pollen from a lemon, and the fruit borne on the mother tree had a
+    raised stripe of peel like that of a lemon both in colour and taste,
+    but the pulp was like that of an orange and included only imperfect
+    seeds. The possibility of pollen from one variety or species directly
+    affecting the fruit produced by another variety or species, is a
+    subject which I shall fully discuss in the following chapter.
+
+    The second remarkable fact is that two supposed hybrids[633] (for their
+    hybrid nature was not ascertained) between an orange and either a lemon
+    or citron produced, on the same tree, leaves, flowers, and fruit of
+    both pure parent-forms, as well as of a mixed or crossed nature. A bud
+    taken from any one of the branches and grafted on another tree produces
+    either one of the pure kinds or a capricious tree reproducing the three
+    kinds. Whether the sweet lemon, which includes within the same fruit
+    segments of differently flavoured pulp,[634] is an analogous case, I
+    know not. But to this subject I shall have to recur.
+
+    I will conclude by giving from A. Risso[635] a short account of a very
+    singular variety of the common orange. It is the "_citrus aurantium
+    fructu variabili_," which on the young shoots produces rounded-oval
+    leaves spotted with yellow, borne on petioles with heart-shaped wings;
+    when these leaves fall off, they are succeeded by longer and narrower
+    leaves, with undulated margins, of a pale-green colour embroidered with
+    yellow, borne on foot-stalks without wings. The fruit whilst young is
+    pear-shaped, yellow, longitudinally striated, and sweet; but as it
+    ripens, it becomes spherical, of a reddish-yellow, and bitter.
+
+    _Peach and Nectarine (Amygdalus Persica)._ The best authorities are
+    {337} nearly unanimous that the peach has never been found wild. It was
+    introduced from Persia into Europe a little before the Christian era,
+    and at this period few varieties existed. Alph. De Candolle,[636] from
+    the fact of the peach not having spread from Persia at an earlier
+    period, and from its not having pure Sanscrit or Hebrew names, believes
+    that it is not an aboriginal of Western Asia, but came from the _terra
+    incognita_ of China. The supposition, however, that the peach is a
+    modified almond which acquired its present character at a comparatively
+    late period, would, I presume, account for these facts; on the same
+    principle that the nectarine, the offspring of the peach, has few
+    native names, and became known in Europe at a still later period.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 42.--Peach and Almond Stones, of natural size,
+    viewed edgeways. 1. Common English Peach. 2. Double, crimson-flowered,
+    Chinese Peach. 3. Chinese Honey Peach. 4. English Almond. 5. Barcelona
+    Almond. 6. Malaga Almond. 7. Soft-shelled French Almond. 8. Smyrna
+    Almond.]
+
+    {338}
+
+    Andrew Knight,[637] from finding that a seedling-tree, raised from a
+    sweet almond fertilised by the pollen of a peach, yielded fruit quite
+    like that of a peach, suspected that the peach-tree is a modified
+    almond; and in this he has been followed by various authors.[638] A
+    first-rate peach, almost globular in shape, formed of soft and sweet
+    pulp, surrounding a hard, much furrowed, and slightly-flattened stone,
+    certainly differs greatly from an almond, with its soft, slightly
+    furrowed, much flattened, and elongated stone, protected by a tough,
+    greenish layer of bitter flesh. Mr. Bentham[639] has particularly
+    called attention to the stone of the almond being so much more
+    flattened than that of the peach. But in the several varieties of the
+    almond, the stone differs greatly in the degree to which it is
+    compressed, in size, shape, strength, and in the depth of the furrows,
+    as may be seen in the accompanying drawings (Nos. 4 to 8) of such kinds
+    as I have been able to collect. With peach-stones, also (Nos. 1 to 3)
+    the degree of compression and elongation is seen to vary; so that the
+    stone of the Chinese Honey-peach (fig. 3) is much more elongated and
+    compressed than that of the (No. 8) Smyrna almond. Mr. Rivers of
+    Sawbridgeworth, to whom I am indebted for some of the specimens above
+    figured, and who has had such great horticultural experience, has
+    called my attention to several varieties which connect the almond and
+    the peach. In France there is a variety called the Peach-almond, which
+    Mr. Rivers formerly cultivated, and which is correctly described in a
+    French catalogue as being oval and swollen, with the aspect of a peach,
+    including a hard stone surrounded by a fleshy covering, which is
+    sometimes eatable.[640] A remarkable statement by M. Luizet has
+    recently appeared in the 'Revue Horticole,'[641] namely, that a
+    Peach-almond, grafted on a peach, bore during 1863 and 1864 almonds
+    alone, but in 1865 bore six peaches and no almonds. M. Carriere, in
+    commenting on this fact, cites the case of a double-flowered almond
+    which, after producing during several years almonds, suddenly bore for
+    two years in succession spherical fleshy peach-like fruits, but in 1865
+    reverted to its former state and produced large almonds.
+
+    Again, as I hear from Mr. Rivers, the double-flowering Chinese peaches
+    resemble almonds in their manner of growth and in their flowers; the
+    fruit is much elongated and flattened, with the flesh both bitter and
+    sweet, but {339} not uneatable, and it is said to be of better quality
+    in China. From this stage one small step leads us to such inferior
+    peaches as are occasionally raised from seed. For instance, Mr. Rivers
+    sowed a number of peach-stones imported from the United States, where
+    they are collected for raising stocks, and some of the trees raised by
+    him produced peaches which were very like almonds in appearance, being
+    small and hard, with the pulp not softening till very late in the
+    autumn. Van Mons[642] also states that he once raised from a
+    peach-stone a peach having the aspect of a wild tree, with fruit like
+    that of the almond. From inferior peaches, such as these just
+    described, we may pass by small transitions, through clingstones of
+    poor quality, to our best and most melting kinds. From this gradation,
+    from the cases of sudden variation above recorded, and from the fact
+    that the peach has not been found wild, it seems to me by far the most
+    probable view, that the peach is the descendant of the almond, improved
+    and modified in a marvellous manner.
+
+    One fact, however, is opposed to this conclusion. A hybrid, raised by
+    Knight from the sweet almond by the pollen of the peach, produced
+    flowers with little or no pollen, yet bore fruit, having been
+    apparently fertilised by a neighbouring nectarine. Another hybrid from
+    a sweet almond by the pollen of a nectarine produced during the first
+    three years imperfect blossoms, but afterwards perfect flowers with an
+    abundance of pollen. If this slight degree of sterility cannot be
+    accounted for by the youth of the trees (and this often causes lessened
+    fertility), or by the monstrous state of the flowers, or by the
+    conditions to which the trees were exposed, these two cases would
+    afford a strong argument against the peach being the descendant of the
+    almond.
+
+    Whether or not the peach has proceeded from the almond, it has
+    certainly given rise to nectarines, or smooth peaches, as they are
+    called by the French. Most of the varieties both of the peach and
+    nectarine reproduce themselves truly by seed. Gallesio[643] says he has
+    verified this with respect to eight races of the peach. Mr. Rivers[644]
+    has given some striking instances from his own experience, and it is
+    notorious that good peaches are constantly raised in North America from
+    seed. Many of the American sub-varieties come true or nearly true to
+    their kind, such as the white-blossom, several of the yellow-fruited
+    freestone peaches, the blood clingstone, the heath, and the
+    lemon-clingstone. On the other hand, a clingstone peach has been known
+    to give rise to a freestone.[645] In England it has been noticed that
+    seedlings inherit from their parents flowers of the same size and
+    colour. Some characters, however, contrary to what might have been
+    expected, often are not inherited; such as the presence and form of the
+    glands on the leaves.[646] With respect to nectarines, both cling and
+    {340} freestones are known in North America to reproduce themselves by
+    seed.[647] In England the new white nectarine was a seedling of the old
+    white, and Mr. Rivers[648] has recorded several similar cases. From
+    this strong tendency to inheritance, which both peach and nectarine
+    trees exhibit,--from certain slight constitutional differences[649] in
+    their nature,--and from the great difference in their fruit both in
+    appearance and flavour, it is not surprising, notwithstanding that the
+    trees differ in no other respects and cannot even be distinguished, as
+    I am informed by Mr. Rivers, whilst young, that they have been ranked
+    by some authors as specifically distinct. Gallesio does not doubt that
+    they are distinct; even Alph. De Candolle does not appear perfectly
+    assured of their specific identity; and an eminent botanist has quite
+    recently[650] maintained that the nectarine "probably constitutes a
+    distinct species."
+
+    Hence it may be worth while to give all the evidence on the origin of
+    the nectarine. The facts in themselves are curious, and will hereafter
+    have to be referred to when the important subject of bud-variation is
+    discussed. It is asserted[651] that the Boston nectarine was produced
+    from a peach-stone, and this nectarine reproduced itself by seed.[652]
+    Mr. Rivers states[653] that from stones of three distinct varieties of
+    the peach he raised three varieties of nectarine; and in one of these
+    cases no nectarine grew near the parent peach-tree. In another instance
+    Mr. Rivers raised a nectarine from a peach, and in the succeeding
+    generation another nectarine from this nectarine.[654] Other such
+    instances have been communicated to me, but they need not be given. Of
+    the converse case, namely, of nectarine-stones yielding peach-trees
+    (both free and cling-stones), we have six undoubted instances recorded
+    by Mr. Rivers; and in two of these instances the parent nectarines had
+    been seedlings from other nectarines.[655]
+
+    With respect to the more curious case of full-grown peach-trees
+    suddenly producing nectarines by bud-variation (or sports as they are
+    called by gardeners), the evidence is superabundant; there is also good
+    evidence of the same tree producing both peaches and nectarines, or
+    half and half fruit;--by this term I mean a fruit with the one-half a
+    perfect peach, and the other half a perfect nectarine.
+
+    Peter Collinson in 1741 recorded the first case of a peach-tree
+    producing a nectarine,[656] and in 1766 he added two other instances.
+    In the same work, the editor, Sir J. E. Smith, describes the more
+    remarkable case of a tree in Norfolk, which usually bore both perfect
+    nectarines and perfect peaches; but during two seasons some of the
+    fruit were half-and-half in nature.
+
+    {341} Mr. Salisbury in 1808[657] records six other cases of peach-trees
+    producing nectarines. Three of the varieties are named; viz., the
+    Alberge, Belle Chevreuse, and Royal George. This latter tree seldom
+    failed to produce both kinds of fruit. He gives another case of a
+    half-and-half fruit.
+
+    At Radford in Devonshire[658] a clingstone peach, purchased as the
+    Chancellor, was planted in 1815, and in 1824, after having previously
+    produced peaches alone, bore on one branch twelve nectarines; in 1825
+    the same branch yielded twenty-six nectarines, and in 1826 thirty-six
+    nectarines together with eighteen peaches. One of the peaches was
+    almost as smooth on one side as a nectarine. The nectarines were as
+    dark as, but smaller than, the Elruge.
+
+    At Beccles a Royal George peach[659] produced a fruit, "three parts of
+    it being peach and one part nectarine, quite distinct in appearance as
+    well as in flavour." The lines of division were longitudinal, as
+    represented in the engraving. A nectarine-tree grew five yards from
+    this tree.
+
+    Professor Chapman states[660] that he has often seen in Virginia very
+    old peach-trees bearing nectarines.
+
+    A writer in the 'Gardener's Chronicle' says that a peach-tree planted
+    fifteen years previously[661] produced this year a nectarine between
+    two peaches; a nectarine-tree grew close by.
+
+    In 1844[662] a Vanguard peach-tree produced, in the midst of its
+    ordinary fruit, a single red Roman nectarine.
+
+    Mr. Calver is stated[663] to have raised in the United States a
+    seedling peach which produced a mixed crop of both peaches and
+    nectarines.
+
+    Near Dorking[664] a branch of the Teton de Venus peach, which
+    reproduces itself truly by seed,[665] bore its own fruit "so remarkable
+    for its prominent point, and a nectarine rather smaller but well formed
+    and quite round."
+
+    The previous cases all refer to peaches suddenly producing nectarines,
+    but at Carclew[666] the unique case occurred, of a nectarine-tree,
+    raised twenty years before from seed and never grafted, producing a
+    fruit half peach and half nectarine; subsequently it bore a perfect
+    peach.
+
+    To sum up the foregoing facts: we have excellent evidence of
+    peach-stones producing nectarine-trees, and of nectarine-stones
+    producing peach-trees,--of the same tree bearing peaches and
+    nectarines,--of peach-trees suddenly producing by bud-variation
+    nectarines (such nectarines reproducing nectarines by seed), as well as
+    fruit in part nectarine and in part peach,--and lastly of one
+    nectarine-tree first bearing half-and-half fruit, and subsequently true
+    peaches. As the peach came into existence before the nectarine, it
+    might have been expected from the law of reversion that {342}
+    nectarines would give birth by bud-variation or by seed to peaches,
+    oftener than peaches to nectarines; but this is by no means the case.
+
+    Two explanations have been suggested to account for these conversions.
+    First, that the parent-trees have been in every case hybrids[667]
+    between the peach and nectarine, and have reverted by bud-variation or
+    by seed to one of their pure parent-forms. This view in itself is not
+    very improbable; for the Mountaineer peach, which was raised by Knight
+    from the red nutmeg peach by pollen of the violette hative
+    nectarine,[668] produces peaches, but these are said _sometimes_ to
+    partake of the smoothness and flavour of the nectarine. But let it be
+    observed that in the previous list no less than six well-known
+    varieties and several other unnamed varieties of the peach have once
+    suddenly produced perfect nectarines by bud-variation; and it would be
+    an extremely rash supposition that all these varieties of the peach,
+    which have been cultivated for years in many districts, and which show
+    not a vestige of a mixed parentage, are, nevertheless, hybrids. A
+    second explanation is, that the fruit of the peach has been directly
+    affected by the pollen of the nectarine: although this certainly is
+    possible, it cannot here apply; for we have not a shadow of evidence
+    that a branch which has borne fruit directly affected by foreign pollen
+    is so profoundly modified as afterwards to produce buds which continue
+    to yield fruit of the new and modified form. Now it is known that when
+    a bud on a peach-tree has once borne a nectarine the same branch has in
+    several instances gone on during successive years producing nectarines.
+    The Carclew nectarine, on the other hand, first produced half-and-half
+    fruit, and subsequently pure peaches. Hence we may confidently accept
+    the common view that the nectarine is a variety of the peach, which may
+    be produced either by bud-variation or from seed. In the following
+    chapter many analogous cases of bud-variation will be given.
+
+    The varieties of the peach and nectarine run in parallel lines. In both
+    classes the kinds differ from each other in the flesh of the fruit
+    being white, red, or yellow; in being clingstones or freestones; in the
+    flowers being large or small, with certain other characteristic
+    differences; and in the leaves being serrated without glands, or
+    crenated and furnished with globose or reniform glands.[669] We can
+    hardly account for this parallelism by supposing that each variety of
+    the nectarine is descended from a corresponding variety of the peach;
+    for though our nectarines are certainly the descendants of several
+    kinds of peaches, yet a large number are the descendants of other
+    nectarines, and they vary so much when thus reproduced that we can
+    scarcely admit the above explanation.
+
+    The varieties of the peach have largely increased in number since the
+    Christian era, when from two to five varieties alone were known;[670]
+    and the nectarine was unknown. At the present time, besides many
+    varieties said to exist in China, Downing describes in the United
+    States seventy-nine {343} native and imported varieties of the peach;
+    and a few years ago Lindley[671] enumerated one hundred and sixty-four
+    varieties of the peach and nectarine grown in England. I have already
+    indicated the chief points of difference between the several varieties.
+    Nectarines, even when produced from distinct kinds of peaches, always
+    possess their own peculiar flavour, and are smooth and small.
+    Clingstone and freestone peaches, which differ in the ripe flesh either
+    firmly adhering to the stone, or easily separating from it, also differ
+    in the character of the stone itself; that of the freestones or melters
+    being more deeply fissured, with the sides of the fissures smoother
+    than in clingstones. In the various kinds, the flowers differ not only
+    in size, but in the larger flowers the petals are differently shaped,
+    more imbricated, generally red in the centre and pale towards the
+    margin; whereas in the smaller flowers the margins of the petal are
+    usually more darkly coloured. One variety has nearly white flowers. The
+    leaves are more or less serrated, and are either destitute of glands,
+    or have globose or reniform glands;[672] and some few peaches, such as
+    the Brugnon, bear on the same tree both globular and kidney-shaped
+    glands.[673] According to Robertson[674] the trees with glandular
+    leaves are liable to blister, but not in any great degree to mildew;
+    whilst the non-glandular trees are more subject to curl, to mildew, and
+    to the attacks of aphides. The varieties differ in the period of their
+    maturity, in the fruit keeping well, and in hardiness,--the latter
+    circumstance being especially attended to in the United States. Certain
+    varieties, such as the Bellegarde, stand forcing in hot-houses better
+    than other varieties. The flat-peach of China is the most remarkable of
+    all the varieties; it is so much depressed towards the summit, that the
+    stone is here covered only by roughened skin and not by a fleshy
+    layer.[675] Another Chinese variety, called the Honey-peach, is
+    remarkable from the fruit terminating in a long sharp point; its leaves
+    are glandless and widely dentate.[676] The Emperor of Russia peach is a
+    third singular variety, having deeply and doubly serrated leaves; the
+    fruit is deeply cleft with one-half projecting considerably beyond the
+    other; it originated in America, and its seedlings inherit similar
+    leaves.[677]
+
+    The peach has also produced in China a small class of trees valued for
+    ornament, namely the double-flowered; of these five varieties are now
+    known in England, varying from pure white, through rose, to intense
+    crimson.[678] One of these varieties, called the camellia-flowered,
+    bears flowers above 21/4 inches in diameter, whilst those of the
+    fruit-bearing kinds do not at most exceed 11/4 inch in diameter. The
+    flowers of the {344} double-flowered peaches have the singular
+    property[679] of frequently producing double or treble fruit. Finally,
+    there is good reason to believe that the peach is an almond profoundly
+    modified; but whatever its origin may have been, there can be no doubt
+    that it has yielded during the last eighteen centuries many varieties,
+    some of them strongly characterised, belonging both to the nectarine
+    and peach form.
+
+    _Apricot_ (_Prunus armeniaca_).--It is commonly admitted that this tree
+    is descended from a single species, now found wild in the Caucasian
+    region.[680] On this view the varieties deserve notice, because they
+    illustrate differences supposed by some botanists to be of specific
+    value in the almond and plum. The best monograph on the apricot is by
+    Mr. Thompson,[681] who describes seventeen varieties. We have seen that
+    peaches and nectarines vary in a strictly parallel manner; and in the
+    apricot, which forms a closely allied genus, we again meet with
+    variations analogous to those of the peach, as well as to those of the
+    plum. The varieties differ considerably in the shape of their leaves,
+    which are either serrated or crenated, sometimes with ear-like
+    appendages at their bases, and sometimes with glands on the petioles.
+    The flowers are generally alike, but are small in the Masculine. The
+    fruit varies much in size, shape, and in having the suture little
+    pronounced or absent; in the skin being smooth, or downy as in the
+    orange-apricot; and in the flesh clinging to the stone, as in the
+    last-mentioned kind, or in readily separating from it, as in the
+    Turkey-apricot. In all these differences we see the closest analogy
+    with the varieties of the peach and nectarine. In the stone we have
+    more important differences, and these in the case of the plum have been
+    esteemed of specific value: in some apricots the stone is almost
+    spherical, in others much flattened, being either sharp in front or
+    blunt at both ends, sometimes channelled along the back, or with a
+    sharp ridge along both margins. In the Moorpark, and generally in the
+    Hemskirke, the stone presents a singular character in being perforated,
+    with a bundle of fibres passing through the perforation from end to
+    end. The most constant and important character, according to Thompson,
+    is whether the kernel is bitter or sweet; yet in this respect we have a
+    graduated difference, for the kernel is very bitter in Shipley's
+    apricot; in the Hemskirke less bitter than in some other kinds;
+    slightly bitter in the Royal; and "sweet like a hazel-nut" in the
+    Breda, Angoumois, and others. In the case of the almond, bitterness has
+    been thought by some high authorities to indicate specific difference.
+
+    In N. America the Roman apricot endures "cold and unfavourable
+    situations, where no other sort, except the Masculine, will succeed;
+    and its blossoms bear quite a severe frost without injury."[682]
+    According to Mr. Rivers[683] seedling apricots deviate but little from
+    the character of {345} their race: in France the Alberge is constantly
+    reproduced from seed with but little variation. In Ladakh, according to
+    Moorcroft,[684] ten varieties of the apricot, very different from each
+    other, are cultivated, and all are raised from seed, excepting one,
+    which is budded.
+
+    [Illustration: Fig. 43.--Plum Stones, of natural size, viewed
+    laterally. 1. Bullace Plum. 2. Shropshire Damson. 3. Blue Gage. 4.
+    Orleans. 5. Elvas. 6. Denyer's Victoria. 7. Diamond.]
+
+    _Plums_ (_Prunus insititia_).--Formerly the sloe, _P. spinosa_, was
+    thought to be the parent of all our plums; but now this honour is very
+    commonly accorded to _P. insititia_ or the bullace, which is found wild
+    in the Caucasus and N.-Western India, and is naturalised in
+    England.[685] It is not at all improbable, in accordance with some
+    observations made by Mr. Rivers[686] that both these forms, which some
+    botanists rank as a single species, may be the parents of our
+    domesticated plums. Another supposed parent-form, the _P. domestica_,
+    is said to be found wild in the region of the Caucasus. Godron
+    remarks[687] that the cultivated varieties may be divided into two main
+    groups, which he supposes to be descended from two aboriginal stocks;
+    namely, those with oblong fruit and stones pointed at both ends, having
+    narrow separate petals and upright branches; and those with rounded
+    fruit, with stones blunt at both ends, with rounded petals and
+    spreading branches. From what we know of the variability of the flowers
+    in the peach and of the diversified manner of growth in our various
+    fruit-trees, it is difficult to lay much weight on these latter {346}
+    characters. With respect to the shape of the fruit, we have conclusive
+    evidence that it is extremely variable: Downing[688] gives outlines of
+    the plums of two seedlings, namely, the red and imperial gages, raised
+    from the greengage; and the fruit of both is more elongated than that
+    of the greengage. The latter has a very blunt broad stone, whereas the
+    stone of the imperial gage is "oval and pointed at both ends." These
+    trees also differ in their manner of growth: "the greengage is a very
+    short-jointed, slow-growing tree, of spreading and rather dwarfish
+    habit;" whilst its offspring, the imperial gage, "grows freely and
+    rises rapidly, and has long dark shoots." The famous Washington plum
+    bears a globular fruit, but its offspring, the emerald drop, is nearly
+    as much elongated as the most elongated plum figured by Downing,
+    namely, Manning's prune. I have made a small collection of the stones
+    of twenty-five kinds, and they graduate in shape from the bluntest into
+    the sharpest kinds. As characters derived from seeds are generally of
+    high systematic importance, I have thought it worth while to give
+    drawings of the most distinct kinds in my small collection; and they
+    may be seen to differ in a surprising manner in size, outline,
+    thickness, prominence of the ridges, and state of surface. It deserves
+    notice that the shape of the stone is not always strictly correlated
+    with that of the fruit: thus the Washington plum is spherical and
+    depressed at the pole, with a somewhat elongated stone, whilst the
+    fruit of the Goliath is more elongated, but the stone less so, than in
+    the Washington. Again, Denyer's Victoria and Goliath bear fruit closely
+    resembling each other, but their stones are widely different. On the
+    other hand, the Harvest and Black Margate plums are very dissimilar,
+    yet include closely similar stones.
+
+    The varieties of the plum are numerous, and differ greatly in size,
+    shape, quality, and colour,--being bright yellow, green, almost white,
+    blue, purple, or red. There are some curious varieties, such as the
+    double or Siamese, and the Stoneless plum: in the latter the kernel
+    lies in a roomy cavity surrounded only by the pulp. The climate of
+    North America appears to be singularly favourable for the production of
+    new and good varieties; Downing describes no less than forty, seven of
+    which of first-rate quality have been recently introduced into
+    England.[689] Varieties occasionally arise having an innate adaptation
+    for certain soils, almost as strongly pronounced as with natural
+    species growing on the most distinct geological formations; thus in
+    America the imperial gage, differently from almost all other kinds, "is
+    peculiarly fitted for _dry light_ soils where many sorts drop their
+    fruit," whereas on rich heavy soils the fruit is often insipid.[690] My
+    father could never succeed in making the Wine-Sour yield even a
+    moderate crop in a sandy orchard near Shrewsbury, whilst in some parts
+    of the same county and in its native Yorkshire it bears abundantly: one
+    of my {347} relations also repeatedly tried in vain to grow this
+    variety in a sandy district in Staffordshire.
+
+    Mr. Rivers has given[691] a number of interesting facts, showing how
+    truly many varieties can be propagated by seed. He sowed the stones of
+    twenty bushels of the greengage for the sake of raising stocks, and
+    closely observed the seedlings; "all had the smooth shoots, the
+    prominent buds, and the glossy leaves of the greengage, but the greater
+    number had smaller leaves and thorns." There are two kinds of damson,
+    one the Shropshire with downy shoots, and the other the Kentish with
+    smooth shoots, and these differ but slightly in any other respect: Mr.
+    Rivers sowed some bushels of the Kentish damson, and all the
+    seedlings-had smooth shoots, but in some the fruit was oval, in others
+    round or roundish, and in a few the fruit was small, and, except in
+    being sweet, closely resembled that of the wild sloe. Mr. Rivers gives
+    several other striking instances of inheritance: thus, he raised eighty
+    thousand seedlings from the common German Quetsche plum, and "not one
+    could be found varying in the least, in foliage or habit." Similar
+    facts were observed with the Petite Mirabelle plum, yet this latter
+    kind (as well as the Quetsche) is known to have yielded some
+    well-established varieties; but, as Mr. Rivers remarks, they all belong
+    to the same group with the Mirabelle.
+
+    _Cherries (Prunus cerasus, avium_, &c.).--Botanists believe that our
+    cultivated cherries are descended from one, two, four, or even more
+    wild stocks.[692] That there must be at least two parent-species we may
+    infer from the sterility of twenty hybrids raised by Mr. Knight from
+    the morello fertilized by pollen of the Elton cherry; for these hybrids
+    produced in all only five cherries, and one alone of these contained a
+    seed.[693] Mr. Thompson[694] has classified the varieties in an
+    apparently natural method in two main groups by characters taken from
+    the flowers, fruit, and leaves; but some varieties which stand widely
+    separate in this classification are quite fertile when crossed; thus
+    Knight's Early Black cherry is the product of a cross between two such
+    kinds.
+
+    Mr. Knight states that seedling cherries are more variable than those
+    of any other fruit-tree.[695] In the Catalogue of the Horticultural
+    Society for 1842, eighty varieties are enumerated. Some varieties
+    present singular characters: thus the flower of the Cluster cherry
+    includes as many as twelve pistils, of which the majority abort; and
+    they are said generally to produce from two to five or six cherries
+    aggregated together and borne on a single peduncle. In the Ratafia
+    cherry several flower-peduncles arise from a common peduncle, upwards
+    of an inch in length. The fruit of Gascoigne's Heart has its apex
+    produced into a globule or drop: that of the white {348} Hungarian Gean
+    has almost transparent flesh. The Flemish cherry is "a very odd-looking
+    fruit," much flattened at the summit and base, with the latter deeply
+    furrowed, and borne on a stout very short footstalk. In the Kentish
+    cherry the stone adheres so firmly to the footstalk, that it can be
+    drawn out of the flesh; and this renders the fruit well fitted for
+    drying. The Tobacco-leaved cherry, according to Sageret and Thompson,
+    produces gigantic leaves, more than a foot and sometimes even eighteen
+    inches in length, and half a foot in breadth. The Weeping cherry, on
+    the other hand, is valuable only as an ornament, and, according to
+    Downing, is "a charming little tree with slender weeping branches,
+    clothed with small almost myrtle-like foliage." There is also a
+    peach-leaved variety.
+
+    Sageret describes a remarkable variety, _le griottier de la Toussaint_,
+    which bears at the same time, even as late as September, flowers and
+    fruit of all degrees of maturity. The fruit, which is of inferior
+    quality, is borne on long, very thin footstalks. But the extraordinary
+    statement is made that all the leaf-bearing shoots spring from old
+    flower-buds. Lastly, there is an important physiological distinction
+    between those kinds of cherries which bear fruit on young or on old
+    wood; but Sageret positively asserts that a Bigarreau in his garden
+    bore fruit on wood of both ages.[696]
+
+    _Apple (Pyrus malus)._--The one source of doubt felt by botanists with
+    respect to the parentage of the apple is whether, besides _P. malus_,
+    two or three other closely allied wild forms, namely, _P. acerba_ and
+    _praecox_ or _paradisiaca_, do not deserve to be ranked as distinct
+    species. The _P. praecox_ is supposed by some authors[697] to be the
+    parent of the dwarf paradise stock, which, owing to the fibrous roots
+    not penetrating deeply into the ground, is so largely used for
+    grafting; but the paradise stock, it is asserted,[698] cannot be
+    propagated true by seed. The common wild crab varies considerably in
+    England; but many of the varieties are believed to be escaped
+    seedlings.[699] Every one knows the great difference in the manner of
+    growth, in the foliage, flowers, and especially in the fruit, between
+    the almost innumerable varieties of the apple. The pips or seeds (as I
+    know by comparison) likewise differ considerably in shape, size, and
+    colour. The fruit is adapted for eating or for cooking in different
+    ways, and keeps for only a few weeks or for nearly two years. Some few
+    kinds have the fruit covered with a powdery secretion, called bloom,
+    like that on plums; {349} and "it is extremely remarkable that this
+    occurs almost exclusively among varieties cultivated in Russia."[700]
+    Another Russian apple, the white Astracan, possesses the singular
+    property of becoming transparent, when ripe, like some sorts of crabs.
+    The _api etoile_ has five prominent ridges, hence its name; the _api
+    noir_ is nearly black: the _twin cluster pippin_ often bears fruit
+    joined in pairs.[701] The trees of the several sorts differ greatly in
+    their periods of leafing and flowering; in my orchard the _Court Pendu
+    Plat_ produces its leaves so late, that during several springs I have
+    thought it dead. The Tiffin apple scarcely bears a leaf when in full
+    bloom; the Cornish crab, on the other hand, bears so many leaves at
+    this period that the flowers can hardly be seen.[702] In some kinds the
+    fruit ripens in midsummer; in others, late in the autumn. These several
+    differences in leafing, flowering, and fruiting, are not at all
+    necessarily correlated; for, as Andrew Knight has remarked,[703] no one
+    can judge from the early flowering of a new seedling, or from the early
+    shedding or change of colour of the leaves, whether it will mature its
+    fruit early in the season.
+
+    The varieties differ greatly in constitution. It is notorious that our
+    summers are not hot enough for the Newtown Pippin,[704] which is the
+    glory of the orchards near New York; and so it is with several
+    varieties which we have imported from the Continent. On the other hand,
+    our Court of Wick succeeds well under the severe climate of Canada. The
+    _Calville rouge de Micoud_ occasionally bears two crops during the same
+    year. The Burr Knot is covered with small excrescences, which emit
+    roots so readily that a branch with blossom-buds may be stuck in the
+    ground, and will root and bear a few fruit even during the first
+    year.[705] Mr. Rivers has recently described[706] some seedlings
+    valuable from their roots running near the surface. One of these
+    seedlings was remarkable from its extremely dwarfed size, "forming
+    itself into a bush only a few inches in height." Many varieties are
+    particularly liable to canker in certain soils. But perhaps the
+    strangest constitutional peculiarity is that the Winter Majetin is not
+    attacked by the mealy bug or coccus; Lindley[707] states that in an
+    orchard in Norfolk infested with these insects the Majetin was quite
+    free, though the stock on which it was grafted was affected: Knight
+    makes a similar statement with respect to a cider apple, and adds that
+    he only once saw these insects just above the stock, but that three
+    days afterwards they entirely disappeared; this apple, however, was
+    raised from a cross between {350} the Golden Harvey and the Siberian
+    Crab; and the latter, I believe, is considered by some authors as
+    specifically distinct.
+
+    The famous St. Valery apple must not be passed over; the flower has a
+    double calyx with ten divisions, and fourteen styles surmounted by
+    conspicuous oblique stigmas, but is destitute of stamens or corolla.
+    The fruit is constricted round the middle, and is formed of five
+    seed-cells, surmounted by nine other cells.[708] Not being provided
+    with stamens, the tree requires artificial fertilisation; and the girls
+    of St. Valery annually go to "_faire ses pommes_," each marking her own
+    fruit with a ribbon; and as different pollen is used, the fruit
+    differs, and we here have an instance of the direct action of foreign
+    pollen on the mother-plant. These monstrous apples include, as we have
+    seen, fourteen seed-cells; the pigeon-apple,[709] on the other hand,
+    has only four, instead of, as with all common apples, five cells; and
+    this certainly is a remarkable difference.
+
+    In the catalogue of apples published in 1842 by the Horticultural
+    Society, 897 varieties are enumerated; but the differences between most
+    of them are of comparatively little interest, as they are not strictly
+    inherited. No one can raise, for instance, from the seed of the Ribston
+    Pippin, a tree of the same kind; and it is said that the "Sister
+    Ribston Pippin" was a white, semi-transparent, sour-fleshed apple, or
+    rather large crab.[710] Yet it is a mistake to suppose that with most
+    varieties the characters are not to a certain extent inherited. In two
+    lots of seedlings raised from two well-marked kinds, many worthless,
+    crab-like seedlings will appear, but it is now known that the two lots
+    not only usually differ from each other, but resemble to a certain
+    extent their parents. We see this indeed in the several sub-groups of
+    Russetts, Sweetings, Codlins, Pearmains, Reinettes, &c.,[711] which are
+    all believed, and many are known, to be descended from other varieties
+    bearing the same names.
+
+    _Pears (Pyrus communis)._--I need say little on this fruit, which
+    varies much in the wild state, and to an extraordinary degree when
+    cultivated, in its fruit, flowers, and foliage. One of the most
+    celebrated botanists in Europe, M. Decaisne, has carefully studied the
+    many varieties;[712] although he formerly believed that they were
+    derived from more than one species, he is now convinced that all belong
+    to one. He has arrived at this conclusion from finding in the several
+    varieties a perfect gradation between the most extreme characters; so
+    perfect is this gradation that he maintains it to be impossible to
+    classify the varieties by any natural method. M. Decaisne raised many
+    seedlings from four distinct kinds, and has carefully recorded the
+    variations in each. Notwithstanding this extreme degree of {351}
+    variability, it is now positively known that many kinds reproduce by
+    seed the leading characters of their race.[713]
+
+    _Strawberries (Fragaria)._--This fruit is remarkable, on account of the
+    number of species which have been cultivated, and from their rapid
+    improvement within the last fifty or sixty years. Let any one compare
+    the fruit of one of the largest varieties exhibited at our Shows with
+    that of the wild wood strawberry, or, which will be a fairer
+    comparison, with the somewhat larger fruit of the wild American
+    Virginian Strawberry, and he will see what prodigies horticulture has
+    effected.[714] The number of varieties has likewise increased in a
+    surprisingly rapid manner. Only three kinds were known in France, in
+    1746, where this fruit was early cultivated. In 1766 five species had
+    been introduced, the same which are now cultivated, but only five
+    varieties of _Fragaria vesca_, with some sub-varieties, had been
+    produced. At the present day the varieties of the several species are
+    almost innumerable. The species consist of, firstly, the wood or Alpine
+    cultivated strawberries, descended from _F. vesca_, a native of Europe
+    and of North America. There are eight wild European varieties, as
+    ranked by Duchesne, of _F. vesca_, but several of these are considered
+    species by some botanists. Secondly, the green strawberries, descended
+    from the European _F. collina_, and little cultivated in England.
+    Thirdly, the Hautbois, from the European _F. elatior_. Fourthly, the
+    Scarlets, descended from _F. Virginiana_, a native of the whole breadth
+    of North America. Fifthly, the Chili, descended from _F. Chiloensis_,
+    an inhabitant of the west coast of the temperate parts both of North
+    and South America. Lastly, the Pines or Carolinas (including the old
+    Blacks), which have been ranked by most authors under the name of _F.
+    grandiflora_ as a distinct species, said to inhabit Surinam; but this
+    is a manifest error. This form is considered by the highest authority,
+    M. Gay, to be merely a strongly marked race of _F. Chiloensis_.[715]
+    These five or six forms have been ranked by most botanists as
+    specifically distinct; but this may be doubted, for Andrew Knight,[716]
+    who raised no less than 400 crossed strawberries, asserts that the _F.
+    Virginiana_, _Chiloensis_, and _grandiflora_ "may be made to breed
+    together indiscriminately," and he found, in accordance with the
+    principle of analogous variation, "that similar varieties could be
+    obtained from the seeds of any one of them."
+
+    Since Knight's time there is abundant and additional evidence[717] of
+    the extent to which the American forms spontaneously cross. We owe
+    {352} indeed to such crosses most of our choicest existing varieties.
+    Knight did not succeed in crossing the European wood-strawberry with
+    the American Scarlet or with the Hautbois. Mr. Williams, of Pitmaston,
+    however, succeeded; but the hybrid offspring from the Hautbois, though
+    fruiting well, never produced seed, with the exception of a single one,
+    which reproduced the parent hybrid form.[718] Major E. Trevor Clarke
+    informs me that he crossed two members of the Pine class (Myatt's B.
+    Queen and Keen's Seedling), with the wood and hautbois, and that in
+    each case he raised only a single seedling; one of these fruited, but
+    was almost barren. Mr. W. Smith, of York, has raised similar hybrids
+    with equally poor success.[719] We thus see[720] that the European and
+    American species can with some difficulty be crossed; but it is
+    improbable that hybrids sufficiently fertile to be worth cultivation
+    will ever be thus produced. This fact is surprising, as these forms
+    structurally are not widely distinct, and are sometimes connected in
+    the districts where they grow wild, as I hear from Professor Asa Gray,
+    by puzzling intermediate forms.
+
+    The energetic culture of the strawberry is of recent date, and the
+    cultivated varieties can in most cases still be classed under some one
+    of the above five native stocks. As the American strawberries cross so
+    freely and spontaneously, we can hardly doubt that they will ultimately
+    become inextricably confused. We find, indeed, that horticulturists at
+    present disagree under which class to rank some few of the varieties;
+    and a writer in the 'Bon Jardinier' of 1840 remarks that formerly it
+    was possible to class all of them under some one species, but that now
+    this is quite impossible with the American forms, the new English
+    varieties having completely filled up the gaps between them.[721] The
+    blending together of two or more aboriginal forms, which there is every
+    reason to believe has occurred with some of our anciently cultivated
+    productions, we now see actually occurring with our strawberries.
+
+    The cultivated species offer some variations worth notice. The Black
+    Prince, a seedling from Keen's Imperial (this latter being a seedling
+    of a very white strawberry, the white Carolina), is remarkable from
+    "its peculiar dark and polished surface, and from presenting an
+    appearance entirely unlike that of any other kind."[722] Although the
+    fruit in the different varieties differs so greatly in form, size,
+    colour, and quality, the so-called seed (which corresponds with the
+    whole fruit in the plum), with the exception of being more or less
+    deeply embedded in the pulp, is, according to De Jonghe,[723]
+    absolutely the same in all; and this no doubt may be accounted for by
+    the seed being of no value, and consequently not having been subjected
+    to selection. The strawberry is properly three-leaved, but in 1761
+    Duchesne raised a single-leaved variety of the European {353}
+    wood-strawberry, which Linnaeus doubtfully raised to the rank of a
+    species. Seedlings of this variety, like those of most varieties not
+    fixed by long-continued selection, often revert to the ordinary form,
+    or present intermediate states.[724] A variety raised by Mr.
+    Myatt,[725] apparently belonging to one of the American forms, presents
+    a variation of an opposite nature, for it has five leaves; Godron and
+    Lambertye also mention a five-leaved variety of _F. collina_.
+
+    The Red Bush Alpine strawberry (one of the _F. vesca_ section) does not
+    produce stolons or runners, and this remarkable deviation of structure
+    is reproduced truly by seed. Another sub-variety, the White Bush
+    Alpine, is similarly characterised, but when propagated by seed it
+    often degenerates and produces plants with runners.[726] A strawberry
+    of the American Pine section is also said to make but few runners.[727]
+
+    Much has been written on the sexes of strawberries; the true Hautbois
+    properly bears the male and female organs on separate plants,[728] and
+    was consequently named by Duchesne _dioica_; but it frequently produces
+    hermaphrodites; and Lindley,[729] by propagating such plants by
+    runners, at the same time destroying the males, soon raised a
+    self-prolific stock. The other species often show a tendency towards an
+    imperfect separation of the sexes, as I have noticed with plants forced
+    in a hot-house. Several English varieties, which in this country are
+    free from any such tendency, when cultivated in rich soils under the
+    climate of North America[730] commonly produce plants with separate
+    sexes. Thus a whole acre of Keen's Seedlings in the United States has
+    been observed to be almost sterile from the absence of male flowers;
+    but the more general rule is, that the male plants overrun the females.
+    Some members of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, especially
+    appointed to investigate this subject, report that "few varieties have
+    the flowers perfect in both sexual organs," &c. The most successful
+    cultivators in Ohio, plant for every seven rows of "pistillata," or
+    female plants, one row of hermaphrodites, which afford pollen for both
+    kinds; but the hermaphrodites, owing to their expenditure in the
+    production of pollen, bear less fruit than the female plants.
+
+    The varieties differ in constitution. Some of our best English kinds,
+    such as Keen's Seedlings, are too tender for certain parts of North
+    America, where other English and many American varieties succeed
+    perfectly. That splendid fruit, the British Queen, can be cultivated
+    but in few places either in England or France; but this apparently
+    depends more on the nature of the soil than on the climate: a famous
+    gardener says that "no mortal could grow the British Queen at Shrubland
+    Park unless the whole nature of the soil was altered."[731] La
+    Constantina is one of the {354} hardiest kinds, and can withstand
+    Russian winters, but is easily burnt by the sun, so that it will not
+    succeed in certain soils either in England or the United States.[732]
+    The Filbert Pine Strawberry "requires more water than any other
+    variety; and if the plants once suffer from drought, they will do
+    little or no good afterwards."[733] Cuthill's Black Prince Strawberry
+    evinces a singular tendency to mildew: no less than six cases have been
+    recorded of this variety suffering severely, whilst other varieties
+    growing close by, and treated in exactly the same manner, were not at
+    all infested by this fungus.[734] The time of maturity differs much in
+    the different varieties; some belonging to the wood or alpine section
+    produce a succession of crops throughout the summer.
+
+    _Gooseberry_ (_Ribes grossularia_).--No one, I believe, has hitherto
+    doubted that all the cultivated kinds are sprung from the wild plant
+    bearing this name, which is common in Central and Northern Europe;
+    therefore it will be desirable briefly to specify all the points,
+    though not very important, which have varied. If it be admitted that
+    these differences are due to culture, authors perhaps will not be so
+    ready to assume the existence of a large number of unknown wild
+    parent-stocks for our other cultivated plants. The gooseberry is not
+    alluded to by writers of the classical period. Turner mentions it in
+    1573, and Parkinson, in 1629, specifies eight varieties; the Catalogue
+    of the Horticultural Society for 1842 gives 149 varieties, and the
+    lists of the Lancashire nurserymen are said to include above 300
+    names.[735] In the 'Gooseberry Grower's Register for 1862' I find that
+    243 distinct varieties have at various periods won prizes; so that a
+    vast number must have been exhibited. No doubt the difference between
+    many of the varieties is very small; but Mr. Thompson in classifying
+    the fruit for the Horticultural Society found less confusion in the
+    nomenclature of the gooseberry than of any other fruit, and he
+    attributes this "to the great interest which the prize-growers have
+    taken in detecting sorts with wrong names," and this shows that all the
+    kinds, numerous as they are, can be recognised with certainty.
+
+    The bushes differ in their manner of growth, being erect, or spreading,
+    or pendulous. The periods of leafing and flowering differ both
+    absolutely and relatively to each other; thus the Whitesmith produces
+    early flowers, which from not being protected by the foliage, as it is
+    believed, continually fail to produce fruit.[736] The leaves vary in
+    size, tint, and in depth of lobes; they are smooth, downy, or hairy on
+    the upper surface. The branches are more or less downy or spinose; "the
+    Hedgehog has probably derived its name from the singular bristly
+    condition of its shoots and fruit." The branches of the wild
+    gooseberry, I may remark, are smooth, with the exception of thorns at
+    the bases of the buds. The thorns themselves are either very small, few
+    and single, or very large and triple; they are {355} sometimes reflexed
+    and much dilated at their bases. In the different varieties the fruit
+    varies in abundance, in the period of maturity, in hanging until
+    shrivelled, and greatly in size, "some sorts having their fruit large
+    during a very early period of growth, whilst others are small until
+    nearly ripe." The fruit varies also much in colour, being red, yellow,
+    green, and white--the pulp of one dark-red gooseberry being tinged with
+    yellow; in flavour; in being smooth or downy,--few, however, of the Red
+    gooseberries, whilst many of the so-called Whites, are downy; or in
+    being so spinose that one kind is called Henderson's Porcupine. Two
+    kinds acquire when mature a powdery bloom on their fruit. The fruit
+    varies in the thickness and veining of the skin, and, lastly, in shape,
+    being spherical, oblong, oval, or obovate.[737]
+
+    I cultivated fifty-four varieties, and, considering how greatly the
+    fruit differs, it was curious how closely similar the flowers were in
+    all these kinds. In only a few I detected a trace of difference in the
+    size or colour of the corolla. The calyx differed in a rather greater
+    degree, for in some kinds it was much redder than in others; and in one
+    smooth white gooseberry it was unusually red. The calyx also differed
+    in the basal part being smooth or woolly, or covered with glandular
+    hairs. It deserves notice, as being contrary to what might have been
+    expected from the law of correlation, that a smooth red gooseberry had
+    a remarkably hairy calyx. The flowers of the Sportsman are furnished
+    with very large coloured bracteae; and this is the most singular
+    deviation of structure which I have observed. These same flowers also
+    varied much in the number of the petals, and occasionally in the number
+    of the stamens and pistils; so that they were semi-monstrous in
+    structure, yet they produced plenty of fruit. Mr. Thompson remarks that
+    in the Pastime gooseberry "extra bracts are often attached to the sides
+    of the fruit."[738]
+
+    The most interesting point in the history of the gooseberry is the
+    steady increase in the size of the fruit. Manchester is the metropolis
+    of the fanciers, and prizes from five shillings to five or ten pounds
+    are yearly given for the heaviest fruit. The 'Gooseberry Grower's
+    Register' is published annually; the earliest known copy is dated 1786,
+    but it is certain that meetings for the adjudication of prizes were
+    held some years previously.[739] The 'Register' for 1845 gives an
+    account of 171 Gooseberry Shows, held in different places during that
+    year; and this fact shows on how large a scale the culture has been
+    carried on. The fruit of the wild gooseberry is said[740] to weigh
+    about a quarter of an ounce or 5 dwts., that is, 120 grains; about the
+    year 1786 gooseberries were exhibited weighing 10 dwts., so that the
+    weight was then doubled; in 1817 26 dwts. 17 grs. was attained; there
+    was no advance till 1825, when 31 dwts. 16 grs. was reached; in {356}
+    1830 "Teazer" weighed 32 dwts. 13 grs.; in 1841 "Wonderful" weighed 32
+    dwts. 16 grs.; in 1844 "London" weighed 35 dwts. 12 grs., and in the
+    following year 36 dwts. 16 grs.; and in 1852 in Staffordshire the fruit
+    of this same variety reached the astonishing weight of 37 dwts. 7
+    grs.,[741] or 895 grs.; that is, between seven and eight times the
+    weight of the wild fruit. I find that a small apple, 61/2 inches in
+    circumference, has exactly this same weight. The "London" gooseberry
+    (which in 1862 had altogether gained 343 prizes) has, up to the present
+    year of 1864, never reached a greater weight than that attained in
+    1852. Perhaps the fruit of the gooseberry has now reached the greatest
+    possible weight, unless in the course of time some quite new and
+    distinct variety shall arise.
+
+    This gradual, and on the whole steady increase of weight from the
+    latter part of the last century to the year 1852, is probably in large
+    part due to improved methods of cultivation, for extreme care is now
+    taken; the branches and roots are trained, composts are made, the soil
+    is mulched, and only a few berries are left on each bush;[742] but the
+    increase no doubt is in main part due to the continued selection of
+    seedlings which have been found to be more and more capable of yielding
+    such extraordinary fruit. Assuredly the "Highwayman" in 1817 could not
+    have produced fruit like that of the "Roaring Lion" in 1825; nor could
+    the "Roaring Lion," though it was grown by many persons in many places,
+    gain the supreme triumph achieved in 1852 by the "London" Gooseberry.
+
+    _Walnut_ (_Juglans regia_).--This tree and the common nut belong to a
+    widely different order from the foregoing fruits, and are therefore
+    here noticed. The walnut grows wild in the Caucasus and Himalaya, where
+    Dr. Hooker[743] found the fruit of full size, but "as hard as a
+    hickory-nut." In England the walnut presents considerable differences,
+    in the shape and size of the fruit, in the thickness of the husk, and
+    in the thinness of the shell; this latter quality has given rise to a
+    variety called the thin-shelled, which is valuable, but suffers from
+    the attacks of tom-tits.[744] The degree to which the kernel fills the
+    shell varies much. In France there is a variety called the Grape or
+    cluster-walnut, in which the nuts grow in "bunches of ten, fifteen, or
+    even twenty together." There is another variety which bears on the same
+    tree differently shaped leaves, like the heterophyllous hornbeam; this
+    tree is also remarkable from having pendulous branches, and bearing
+    elongated, large, thin-shelled nuts.[745] M. Cardan has minutely
+    described[746] some singular physiological peculiarities in the
+    June-leafing variety, which produces its leaves and flowers four or
+    five weeks later, and retains its leaves and fruit in the autumn much
+    longer, than the common varieties; {357} but in August is in exactly
+    the same state with them. These constitutional peculiarities are
+    strictly inherited. Lastly, walnut-trees, which are properly monoicous,
+    sometimes entirely fail to produce male flowers.[747]
+
+    _Nuts_ (_Corylus avellana_).--Most botanists rank all the varieties
+    under the same species, the common wild nut.[748] The husk, or
+    involucre, differs greatly, being extremely short in Barr's Spanish,
+    and extremely long in filberts, in which it is contracted so as to
+    prevent the nut falling out. This kind of husk also protects the nut
+    from birds, for titmice (_Parus_) have been observed[749] to pass over
+    filberts, and attack cobs and common nuts growing in the same orchard.
+    In the purple-filbert the husk is purple, and in the frizzled-filbert
+    it is curiously laciniated; in the red-filbert the pellicle of the
+    kernel is red. The shell is thick in some varieties, but is thin in
+    Cosford's-nut, and in one variety is of a bluish colour. The nut itself
+    differs much in size and shape, being ovate and compressed in filberts,
+    nearly round and of great size in cobs and Spanish nuts, oblong and
+    longitudinally striated in Cosford's, and obtusely four-sided in the
+    Downton Square nut.
+
+    _Cucurbitaceous plants._--These plants have been for a long period the
+    opprobrium of botanists; numerous varieties have been ranked as
+    species, and, what happens more rarely, forms which now must be
+    considered as species have been classed as varieties. Owing to the
+    admirable experimental researches of a distinguished botanist, M.
+    Naudin,[750] a flood of light has recently been thrown on this group of
+    plants. M. Naudin, during many years, observed and experimented on
+    above 1200 living specimens, collected from all quarters of the world.
+    Six species are now recognised in the genus Cucurbita; but three alone
+    have been cultivated and concern us, namely, _C. maxima_ and _pepo_,
+    which include all pumpkins, gourds, squashes, and vegetable marrow, and
+    _C. moschata_, the water-melon. These three species are not known in a
+    wild state; but Asa Gray[751] gives good reason for believing that some
+    pumpkins are natives of N. America.
+
+    These three species are closely allied, and have the same general
+    habit, but their innumerable varieties can always be distinguished,
+    according to Naudin, by certain almost fixed characters; and what is
+    still more important, when crossed they yield no seed, or only sterile
+    seed; whilst the varieties spontaneously intercross with the utmost
+    freedom. Naudin insists strongly (p. 15), that, though these three
+    species have varied greatly in many characters, yet it has been in so
+    closely an analogous manner that the varieties can be arranged in
+    almost parallel series, as we have seen with the forms of wheat, with
+    the two main races of the peach, and in other cases. Though some of the
+    varieties are inconstant in character, yet others, when grown
+    separately under uniform conditions of life, are, as Naudin repeatedly
+    (pp. 6, 16, 35) urges, "douees d'une stabilite {358} presque comparable
+    a celle des especes les mieux caracterisees." One variety, l'Orangin
+    (pp. 43, 63), has such prepotency in transmitting its character that
+    when crossed with other varieties a vast majority of the seedlings come
+    true. Naudin, referring (p. 47) to _C. pepo_, says that its races "ne
+    different des especes veritables qu'en ce qu'elles peuvent s'allier les
+    unes aux autres par voie d'hybridite, sans que leur descendance perde
+    la faculte de se perpetuer." If we were to trust to external
+    differences alone, and give up the test of sterility, a multitude of
+    species would have to be formed out of the varieties of these three
+    species of Cucurbita. Many naturalists at the present day lay far too
+    little stress, in my opinion, on the test of sterility; yet it is not
+    improbable that distinct species of plants after a long course of
+    cultivation and variation may have their mutual sterility eliminated,
+    as we have every reason to believe has occurred with domesticated
+    animals. Nor, in the case of plants under cultivation, should we be
+    justified in assuming that varieties never acquire a slight degree of
+    mutual sterility, as we shall more fully see in a future chapter when
+    certain facts are given on the high authority of Gaertner and
+    Koelreuter.[752]
+
+    The forms of _C. pepo_ are classed by Naudin under seven sections, each
+    including subordinate varieties. He considers this plant as probably
+    the most variable in the world. The fruit of one variety (pp. 33, 46)
+    exceeds in volume that of another by more than two thousand fold! When
+    the fruit is of very large size, the number produced is few (p. 45);
+    when of small size, many are produced. No less astonishing (p. 33) is
+    the variation in the shape of the fruit; the typical form apparently is
+    egg-like, but this becomes either drawn out into a cylinder, or
+    shortened into a flat disc. We have also an almost infinite diversity
+    in the colour and state of surface of the fruit, in the hardness both
+    of the shell and of the flesh, and in the taste of the flesh, which is
+    either extremely sweet, farinaceous, or slightly bitter. The seeds also
+    differ in a slight degree in shape, and wonderfully in size (p. 34),
+    namely, from six or seven to more than twenty-five millimetres in
+    length.
+
+    In the varieties which grow upright or do not run and climb, the
+    tendrils, though useless (p. 31), are either present or are represented
+    by various semi-monstrous organs, or are quite absent. The tendrils are
+    even absent in some running varieties in which the stems are much
+    elongated. It is a singular fact that (p. 31), in all the varieties
+    with dwarfed stems, the leaves closely resemble each other in shape.
+
+    Those naturalists who believe in the immutability of species often
+    maintain that, even in the most variable forms, the characters which
+    they consider of specific value are unchangeable. To give an example
+    from a conscientious writer,[753] who, relying on the labours of M.
+    Naudin and {359} referring to the species of Cucurbita, says, "au
+    milieu de toutes les variations du fruit, les tiges, les feuilles, les
+    calices, les corolles, les etamines restent invariables dans chacune
+    d'elles." Yet M. Naudin in describing _Cucurbita pepo_ (p. 30) says,
+    "Ici, d'ailleurs, ce ne sont pas seulement les fruits qui varient,
+    c'est aussi le feuillage et tout le port de la plante. Neanmoins, je
+    crois qu'on la distinguera toujours facilement des deux autres especes,
+    si l'on veut ne pas perdre de vue les caracteres differentiels que je
+    m'efforce de faire ressortir. Ces caracteres sont quelquefois peu
+    marques: il arrive meme que plusieurs d'entre eux s'effacent presque
+    entierement, mais il en reste toujours quelques-uns qui remettent
+    l'observateur sur la voie." Now let it be noted what a difference, with
+    regard to the immutability of the so-called specific characters, this
+    paragraph produces on the mind, from that above quoted from M. Godron.
+
+    I will add another remark: naturalists continually assert that no
+    important organ varies; but in saying this they unconsciously argue in
+    a vicious circle; for if an organ, let it be what it may, is highly
+    variable, it is regarded as unimportant, and under a systematic point
+    of view this is quite correct. But as long as constancy is thus taken
+    as the criterion of importance, it will indeed be long before an
+    important organ can be shown to be inconstant. The enlarged form of the
+    stigmas, and their sessile position on the summit of the ovary, must be
+    considered as important characters, and were used by Gasparini to
+    separate certain pumpkins as a _distinct genus_; but Naudin says (p.
+    20) these parts have no constancy, and in the flowers of the Turban
+    varieties of _C. maxima_ they sometimes resume their ordinary
+    structure. Again, in _C. maxima_, the carpels (p. 19) which form the
+    Turban project even as much as two-thirds of their length out of the
+    receptacle, and this latter part is thus reduced to a sort of platform;
+    but this remarkable structure occurs only in certain varieties, and
+    graduates into the common form in which the carpels are almost entirely
+    enveloped within the receptacle. In _C. moschata_ the ovarium (p. 50)
+    varies greatly in shape, being oval, nearly spherical, or cylindrical,
+    more or less swollen in the upper part, or constricted round the
+    middle, and either straight or curved. When the ovarium is short and
+    oval the interior structure does not differ from that of _C. maxima_
+    and _pepo_, but when it is elongated the carpels occupy only the
+    terminal and swollen portion. I may add that in one variety of the
+    cucumber (_Cucumis sativus_) the fruit regularly contains five carpels
+    instead of three.[754] I presume that it will not be disputed that we
+    here have instances of great variability in organs of the highest
+    physiological importance, and with most plants of the highest
+    classificatory importance.
+
+    Sageret[755] and Naudin found that the cucumber (_C. sativus_) could
+    not be crossed with any other species of the genus; therefore no doubt
+    it is specifically distinct from the melon. This will appear to most
+    persons a superfluous statement; yet we hear from Naudin[756] that
+    there is a race {360} of melons, in which the fruit is so like that of
+    the cucumber, "both externally and internally, that it is hardly
+    possible to distinguish the one from the other except by the leaves."
+    The varieties of the melon seem to be endless, for Naudin after six
+    years' study has not come to the end of them: he divides them into ten
+    sections, including numerous sub-varieties which all intercross with
+    perfect ease.[757] Of the forms considered by Naudin to be varieties,
+    botanists have made thirty distinct species! "and they had not the
+    slightest acquaintance with the multitude of new forms which have
+    appeared since their time." Nor is the creation of so many species at
+    all surprising when we consider how strictly their characters are
+    transmitted by seed, and how wonderfully they differ in appearance:
+    "Mira est quidem foliorum et habitus diversitas, sed multo magis
+    fructuum," says Naudin. The fruit is the valuable part, and this, in
+    accordance with the common rule, is the most modified part. Some melons
+    are only as large as small plums, others weigh as much as sixty-six
+    pounds. One variety has a scarlet fruit! Another is not more than an
+    inch in diameter, but sometimes more than a yard in length, "twisting
+    about in all directions like a serpent." It is a singular fact that in
+    this latter variety many parts of the plant, namely, the stems, the
+    footstalks of the female flowers, the middle lobe of the leaves, and
+    especially the ovarium, as well as the mature fruit, all show a strong
+    tendency to become elongated. Several varieties of the melon are
+    interesting from assuming the characteristic features of distinct
+    species and even of distinct though allied genera: thus the
+    serpent-melon has some resemblance to the fruit of _Trichosanthes
+    anguina_; we have seen that other varieties closely resemble cucumbers;
+    some Egyptian varieties have their seeds attached to a portion of the
+    pulp, and this is characteristic of certain wild forms. Lastly, a
+    variety of melon from Algiers is remarkable from announcing its
+    maturity by "a spontaneous and almost sudden dislocation," when deep
+    cracks suddenly appear, and the fruit falls to pieces; and this occurs
+    with the wild _C. momordica_. Finally, M. Naudin well remarks that this
+    "extraordinary production of races and varieties by a single species,
+    and their permanence when not interfered with by crossing, are
+    phenomena well calculated to cause reflection."
+
+    USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL TREES.
+
+    Trees deserve a passing notice on account of the numerous varieties
+    which they present, differing in their precocity, in their manner of
+    growth, foliage, and bark. Thus of the common ash (_Fraxinus
+    excelsior_) the catalogue of Messrs. Lawson of Edinburgh includes
+    twenty-one varieties, some of which differ much in their bark; there is
+    a yellow, a streaked reddish-white, a purple, a wart-barked and a
+    fungous-barked variety.[758] Of hollies no less than eighty-four
+    varieties are grown alongside each other in Mr. {361} Paul's
+    nursery.[759] In the case of trees, all the recorded varieties, as far
+    as I can find out, have been suddenly produced by one single act of
+    variation. The length of time required to raise many generations, and
+    the little value set on the fanciful varieties, explains how it is that
+    successive modifications have not been accumulated by selection; hence,
+    also it follows that we do not here meet with sub-varieties subordinate
+    to varieties, and these again subordinate to higher groups. On the
+    Continent, however, where the forests are more carefully attended to
+    than in England, Alph. De Candolle[760] says that there is not a
+    forester who does not search for seeds from that variety which he
+    esteems the most valuable.
+
+    Our useful trees have seldom been exposed to any great change of
+    conditions; they have not been richly manured, and the English kinds
+    grow under their proper climate. Yet in examining extensive beds of
+    seedlings in nursery-gardens considerable differences may be generally
+    observed in them; and whilst touring in England I have been surprised
+    at the amount of difference in the appearance of the same species in
+    our hedgerows and woods. But as plants vary so much in a truly wild
+    state, it would be difficult for even a skilful botanist to pronounce
+    whether, as I believe to be the case, hedgerow trees vary more than
+    those growing in a primeval forest. Trees when planted by man in woods
+    or hedges do not grow where they would naturally be able to hold their
+    place against a host of competitors, and are therefore exposed to
+    conditions not strictly natural: even this slight change would probably
+    suffice to cause seedlings raised from such trees to be variable.
+    Whether or not our half-wild English trees, as a general rule, are more
+    variable than trees growing in their native forests, there can hardly
+    be a doubt that they have yielded a greater number of strongly-marked
+    and singular variations of structure.
+
+    In manner of growth, we have weeping or pendulous varieties of the
+    willow, ash, elm, oak, and yew, and other trees; and this weeping habit
+    is sometimes inherited, though in a singularly capricious manner. In
+    the Lombardy poplar, and in certain fastigate or pyramidal varieties of
+    thorns, junipers, oaks, &c., we have an opposite kind of growth. The
+    Hessian oak,[761] which is famous from its fastigate habit and size,
+    bears hardly any resemblance in general appearance to a common oak;
+    "its acorns are not sure to produce plants of the same habit; some,
+    however, turn out the same as the parent-tree." Another fastigate oak
+    is said to have been found wild in the Pyrenees, and this is a
+    surprising circumstance; it generally comes so true by seed, that De
+    Candolle considered it as specifically distinct.[762] The fastigate
+    Juniper (_J. suecica_) likewise transmits its character by seed.[763]
+    Dr. Falconer informs me that in the Botanic Gardens at Calcutta the
+    great heat causes apple-trees to become fastigate; and we {362} thus
+    see the same result following from the effects of climate and from an
+    innate spontaneous tendency.[764]
+
+    In foliage we have variegated leaves which are often inherited; dark
+    purple or red leaves, as in the hazel, barberry, and beech, the colour
+    in these two latter trees being sometimes strongly and sometimes weakly
+    inherited;[765] deeply-cut leaves; and leaves covered with prickles, as
+    in the variety of the holly well called _ferox_, which is said to
+    reproduce itself by seed.[766] In fact, nearly all the peculiar
+    varieties evince a tendency, more or less strongly marked, to reproduce
+    themselves by seed.[767] This is to a certain extent the case,
+    according to Bose,[768] with three varieties of the elm, namely, the
+    broad-leafed, lime-leafed, and twisted elm, in which latter the fibres
+    of the wood are twisted. Even with the heterophyllous hornbeam
+    (_Carpinus betulus_), which bears on each twig leaves of two shapes,
+    "several plants raised from seed all retained the same
+    peculiarity."[769] I will add only one other remarkable case of
+    variation in foliage, namely, the occurrence of two sub-varieties of
+    the ash with simple instead of pinnated leaves, and which generally
+    transmit their character by seed.[770] The occurrence, in trees
+    belonging to widely different orders, of weeping and fastigate
+    varieties, and of trees bearing deeply cut, variegated, and purple
+    leaves, shows that these deviations of structure must result from some
+    very general physiological laws.
+
+    Differences in general appearance and foliage, not more strongly marked
+    than those above indicated, have led good observers to rank as distinct
+    species certain forms which are now known to be mere varieties. Thus a
+    plane-tree long cultivated in England was considered by almost every
+    one as a North American species; but is now ascertained by old records,
+    as I am informed by Dr. Hooker, to be a variety. So again the _Thuja
+    pendula_ or _filiformis_ was ranked by such good observers as Lambert,
+    Wallich, and others as a true species; but it is now known that the
+    original plants, five in number, suddenly appeared in a bed of
+    seedlings, raised at Mr. Loddige's nursery, from _T. orientalis_; and
+    Dr. Hooker has adduced excellent evidence that at Turin seeds of _T.
+    pendula_ have reproduced the parent-form, _T. orientalis_.[771]
+
+    Every one must have noticed how certain individual trees regularly put
+    forth and shed their leaves earlier or later than others of the same
+    species. There is a famous horse-chesnut in the Tuileries which is
+    named from {363} leafing so much earlier than the others. There is also
+    an oak near Edinburgh which retains its leaves to a very late period.
+    These differences have been attributed by some authors to the nature of
+    the soil in which the trees grow; but Archbishop Whately grafted an
+    early thorn on a late one, and _vice versa_, and both grafts kept to
+    their proper periods, which differed by about a fortnight, as if they
+    still grew on their own stocks.[772] There is a Cornish variety of the
+    elm which is almost an evergreen, and is so tender that the shoots are
+    often killed by the frost; and the varieties of the Turkish oak (_Q.
+    cerris_) may be arranged as deciduous, sub-evergreen, and
+    evergreen.[773]
+
+    _Scotch Fir_ (_Pinus sylvestris_).--I allude to this tree as it bears
+    on the question of the greater variability of our hedgerow trees
+    compared with those under strictly natural conditions. A well-informed
+    writer[774] states that the Scotch fir presents few varieties in its
+    native Scotch forests; but that it "varies much in figure and foliage,
+    and in the size, shape, and colour of its cones, when several
+    generations have been produced away from its native locality." There is
+    little doubt that the highland and lowland varieties differ in the
+    value of their timber, and that they can be propagated truly by seed;
+    thus justifying Loudon's remark, that "a variety is often of as much
+    importance as a species, and sometimes far more so."[775] I may mention
+    one rather important point in which this tree occasionally varies; in
+    the classification of the Coniferae, sections are founded on whether
+    two, three, or five leaves are included in the same sheath; the Scotch
+    fir has properly only two leaves thus enclosed, but specimens have been
+    observed with groups of three leaves in a sheath.[776] Besides these
+    differences in the semi-cultivated Scotch fir, there are in several
+    parts of Europe natural or geographical races, which have been ranked
+    by some authors as distinct species.[777] Loudon[778] considers _P.
+    pumilio_, with its several sub-varieties, as _Mughus_, _nana_, &c.,
+    which differ much when planted in different soils and only come
+    "tolerably true from seed," as alpine varieties of the Scotch fir; if
+    this were proved to be the case, it would be an interesting fact as
+    showing that dwarfing from long exposure to a severe climate is to a
+    certain extent inherited.
+
+    The _Hawthorn_ (_Crataegus oxycantha_) has varied much. Besides endless
+    slighter variations in the form of the leaves, and in the size,
+    hardness, fleshiness, and shape of the berries, Loudon[779] enumerates
+    twenty-nine well-marked varieties. Besides those cultivated for their
+    pretty flowers, there are others with golden-yellow, black, and whitish
+    berries; others {364} with woolly berries, and others with recurved
+    thorns. Loudon truly remarks that the chief reason why the hawthorn has
+    yielded more varieties than most other trees, is that curious
+    nurserymen select any remarkable variety out of the immense beds of
+    seedlings which are annually raised for making hedges. The flowers of
+    the hawthorn usually include from one to three pistils; but in two
+    varieties, named _Monogyna_ and _Sibirica_, there is only a single
+    pistil; and d'Asso states that the common thorn in Spain is constantly
+    in this state.[780] There is also a variety which is apetalous, or has
+    its petals reduced to mere rudiments. The famous Glastonbury thorn
+    flowers and leafs towards the end of December, at which time it bears
+    berries produced from an earlier crop of flowers.[781] It is worth
+    notice that several varieties of the hawthorn, as well as of the lime
+    and juniper, are very distinct in their foliage and habit whilst young,
+    but in the course of thirty or forty years become extremely like each
+    other;[782] thus reminding us of the well-known fact that the deodar,
+    the cedar of Lebanon, and that of the Atlas, are distinguished with the
+    greatest ease whilst young, but with difficulty when old.
+
+    FLOWERS.
+
+    I shall not for several reasons treat the variability of plants which
+    are cultivated for their flowers alone at any great length. Many of our
+    favourite kinds in their present state are the descendants of two or
+    more species crossed and commingled together, and this circumstance
+    alone would render it difficult to detect the differences due to
+    variation. For instance, our Roses, Petunias, Calceolarias, Fuchsias,
+    Verbenas, Gladioli, Pelargoniums, &c., certainly have had a multiple
+    origin. A botanist well acquainted with the parent-forms would probably
+    detect some curious structural differences in their crossed and
+    cultivated descendant; and he would certainly observe many new and
+    remarkable constitutional peculiarities. I will give a few instances,
+    all relating to the Pelargonium, and taken chiefly from Mr. Beck,[783]
+    a famous cultivator of this plant: some varieties require more water
+    than others; some are "very impatient of the knife if too greedily used
+    in making cuttings;" some, when potted, scarcely "show a root at the
+    outside of the ball of the earth;" one variety requires a certain
+    amount of confinement in the pot to make it throw up a flower-stem;
+    some varieties bloom well at the commencement of the season, others at
+    the close; one variety is known,[784] which will stand "even pine-apple
+    top and bottom heat, without looking any more drawn than if it had
+    stood in a common greenhouse; and Blanche Fleur seems as if made on
+    purpose for growing in winter, like many bulbs, and to rest all
+    summer." These odd constitutional peculiarities would fit a plant when
+    growing in a state of nature for widely different circumstances and
+    climates.
+
+    {365}
+
+    Flowers possess little interest under our present point of view,
+    because they have been almost exclusively attended to and selected for
+    their beautiful colours, size, perfect outline, and manner of growth.
+    In these particulars hardly one long-cultivated flower can be named
+    which has not varied greatly. What does a florist care for the shape
+    and structure of the organs of fructification, unless, indeed, they add
+    to the beauty of the flower? When this is the case, flowers become
+    modified in important points; stamens and pistils may be converted into
+    petals, and additional petals may be developed, as in all double
+    flowers. The process of gradual selection by which flowers have been
+    rendered more and more double, each step in the process of conversion
+    being inherited, has been recorded in several instances. In the
+    so-called double flowers of the Compositae, the corollas of the central
+    florets are greatly modified, and the modifications are likewise
+    inherited. In the columbine _(Aquilegia vulgaris)_ some of the stamens
+    are converted into petals having the shape of nectaries, one neatly
+    fitting into the other; but in one variety they are converted into
+    simple petals.[785] In the hose and hose primulae, the calyx becomes
+    brightly coloured and enlarged so as to resemble a corolla; and Mr. W.
+    Wooler informs me that this peculiarity is transmitted; for he crossed
+    a common polyanthus with one having a coloured calyx,[786] and some of
+    the seedlings inherited the coloured calyx during at least six
+    generations. In the "hen-and-chicken" daisy the main flower is
+    surrounded by a brood of small flowers developed from buds in the axils
+    of the scales of the involucre. A wonderful poppy has been described,
+    in which the stamens are converted into pistils; and so strictly was
+    this peculiarity inherited that, out of 154 seedlings, one alone
+    reverted to the ordinary and common type.[787] Of the cock's-comb
+    (_Celosia cristata_), which is an annual, there are several races in
+    which the flower-stem is wonderfully "fasciated" or compressed; and one
+    has been exhibited[788] actually eighteen inches in breadth. Peloric
+    races of _Gloxinia speciosa_ and _Antirrhinum majus_ can be propagated
+    by seed, and they differ in a wonderful manner from the typical form
+    both in structure and appearance.
+
+    A much more remarkable modification has been recorded by Sir William
+    and Dr. Hooker[789] in _Begonia frigida_. This plant properly produces
+    male and female flowers on the same fascicles; and in the female
+    flowers the perianth is superior; but a plant at Kew produced, besides
+    the ordinary flowers, others which graduated towards a perfect
+    hermaphrodite structure; and in these flowers the perianth was
+    inferior. To show the importance of this modification under a
+    classificatory point of view, I may quote what Prof. Harvey says,
+    namely, that had it "occurred in a state of nature, and had a botanist
+    collected a plant with such flowers, he would not only have {366}
+    placed it in a distinct genus from Begonia, but would probably have
+    considered it as the type of a new natural order." This modification
+    cannot in one sense be considered as a monstrosity, for analogous
+    structures naturally occur in other orders, as with Saxifragas and
+    Aristolochiaceae. The interest of the case is largely added to by Mr. C.
+    W. Crocker's observation that seedlings from the _normal_ flowers
+    produced plants which bore, in about the same proportion as the
+    parent-plant, hermaphrodite flowers having inferior perianths. The
+    hermaphrodite flowers fertilised with their own pollen were sterile.
+
+    If florists had attended to, selected, and propagated by seed other
+    modifications of structure besides those which are beautiful, a host of
+    curious varieties would certainly have been raised; and they would
+    probably have transmitted their characters so truly that the cultivator
+    would have felt aggrieved, as in the case of culinary vegetables, if
+    his whole bed had not presented a uniform appearance. Florists have
+    attended in some instances to the leaves of their plant, and have thus
+    produced the most elegant and symmetrical patterns of white, red, and
+    green, which, as in the case of the pelargonium, are sometimes strictly
+    inherited.[790] Any one who will habitually examine highly-cultivated
+    flowers in gardens and greenhouses will observe numerous deviations in
+    structure; but most of these must be ranked as mere monstrosities, and
+    are only so far interesting as showing how plastic the organisation
+    becomes under high cultivation. From this point of view such works as
+    Professor Moquin-Tandon's 'Teratologie' are highly instructive.
+
+    _Roses._--These flowers offer an instance of a number of forms
+    generally ranked as species, namely, _R. centifolia_, _gallica_,
+    _alba_, _damascena_, _spinosissima_, _bracteata_, _Indica_,
+    _semperflorens_, _moschata_, &c., which have largely varied and been
+    intercrossed. The genus Rosa is a notoriously difficult one, and,
+    though some of the above forms are admitted by all botanists to be
+    distinct species, others are doubtful; thus, with respect to the
+    British forms, Babington makes seventeen, and Bentham only five
+    species. The hybrids from some of the most distinct forms--for
+    instance, from _R. Indica_, fertilised by the pollen of _R.
+    centifolia_--produce an abundance of seed; I state this on the
+    authority of Mr. Rivers,[791] from whose work I have drawn most of the
+    following statements. As almost all the aboriginal forms brought from
+    different countries have been crossed and recrossed, it is no wonder
+    that Targioni-Tozzetti, in speaking of the common roses of the Italian
+    gardens, remarks that "the native country and precise form of the wild
+    type of most of them are involved in much uncertainty."[792]
+    Nevertheless Mr. Rivers in referring to _R. Indica_ (p. 68) says that
+    the descendants of each group may generally be recognised by a close
+    observer. The same author often speaks of roses as having been a little
+    hybridised; but {367} it is evident that in very many cases the
+    differences due to variation and to hybridisation can now only be
+    conjecturally distinguished.
+
+    The species have varied both by seed and by buds; such modified buds
+    being often called by gardeners sports. In the following chapter I
+    shall fully discuss this latter subject, and shall show that
+    bud-variations can be propagated not only by grafting and budding, but
+    often even by seed. Whenever a new rose appears with any peculiar
+    character, however produced, if it yields seed, Mr. Rivers (p. 4) fully
+    expects it to become the parent-type of a new family. The tendency to
+    vary is so strong in some kinds, as in the Village Maid (Rivers, p.
+    16), that when grown in different soils it varies so much in colour
+    that it has been thought to form several distinct kinds. Altogether the
+    number of kinds is very great: thus M. Desportes, in his Catalogue for
+    1829, enumerates 2562 as cultivated in France; but no doubt a large
+    proportion of these are merely nominal.
+
+    It would be useless to specify the many points of difference between
+    the various kinds, but some constitutional peculiarities may be
+    mentioned. Several French roses (Rivers, p. 12) will not succeed in
+    England; and an excellent horticulturist[793] remarks, that "Even in
+    the same garden you will find that a rose that will do nothing under a
+    south wall will do well under a north one. That is the case with Paul
+    Joseph here. It grows strongly and blooms beautifully close to a north
+    wall. For three years seven plants have done nothing under a south
+    wall." Many roses can be forced, "many are totally unfit for forcing,
+    among which is General Jacqueminot."[794] From the effects of crossing
+    and variation Mr. Rivers enthusiastically anticipates (p. 87) that the
+    day will come when all our roses, even moss-roses, will have evergreen
+    foliage, brilliant and fragrant flowers, and the habit of blooming from
+    June till November. "A distant view this seems, but perseverance in
+    gardening will yet achieve wonders," as assuredly it has already
+    achieved wonders.
+
+    It may be worth while briefly to give the well-known history of one
+    class of roses. In 1793 some wild Scotch roses (_R. spinosissima_) were
+    transplanted into a garden;[795] and one of these bore flowers slightly
+    tinged with red, from which a plant was raised with semi-monstrous
+    flowers, also tinged with red; seedlings from this flower were
+    semi-double, and by continued selection, in about nine or ten years,
+    eight sub-varieties were raised. In the course of less than twenty
+    years these double Scotch roses had so much increased in number and
+    kind, that twenty-six well-marked varieties, classed in eight sections,
+    were described by Mr. Sabine. In 1841[796] it is said that three
+    hundred varieties could be procured in the nursery-gardens near
+    Glasgow; and these are described as blush, crimson, purple, red,
+    marbled, two-coloured, white, and yellow, and as differing much in the
+    size and shape of the flower.
+
+    {368}
+
+    _Pansy or Heartsease_ (_Viola tricolor_, &c.).--The history of this
+    flower seems to be pretty well known; it was grown in Evelyn's garden
+    in 1687; but the varieties were not attended to till 1810-1812, when
+    Lady Monke, together with Mr. Lee the well-known nurseryman,
+    energetically commenced their culture; and in the course of a few years
+    twenty varieties could be purchased.[797] At about the same period,
+    namely in 1813 or 1814, Lord Gambier collected some wild plants, and
+    his gardener, Mr. Thomson, cultivated them together with some common
+    garden varieties, and soon effected a great improvement. The first
+    great change was the conversion of the dark lines in the centre of the
+    flower into a dark eye or centre, which at that period had never been
+    seen, but is now considered one of the chief requisites of a first-rate
+    flower. In 1835 a book entirely devoted to this flower was published,
+    and four hundred named varieties were on sale. From these circumstances
+    this plant seemed to me worth studying, more especially from the great
+    contrast between the small, dull, elongated, irregular flowers of the
+    wild pansy, and the beautiful, flat, symmetrical, circular, velvet-like
+    flowers, more than two inches in diameter, magnificently and variously
+    coloured, which are exhibited at our shows. But when I came to inquire
+    more closely, I found that, though the varieties were so modern, yet
+    that much confusion and doubt prevailed about their parentage. Florists
+    believe that the varieties[798] are descended from several wild stocks,
+    namely, _V. tricolor_, _lutea_, _grandiflora_, _amoena_, and _Altaica_,
+    more or less intercrossed. And when I looked to botanical works to
+    ascertain whether these forms ought to be ranked as species, I found
+    equal doubt and confusion. _Viola Altaica_ seems to be a distinct form,
+    but what part it has played in the origin of our varieties I know not;
+    it is said to have been crossed with _V. lutea_. _Viola amoena_[799] is
+    now looked at by all botanists as a natural variety of _V.
+    grandiflora_; and this and _V. sudetica_ have been proved to be
+    identical with _V. lutea_. The latter and _V. tricolor_ (including its
+    admitted variety _V. arvensis_) are ranked as distinct species by
+    Babington; and likewise by M. Gay,[800] who has paid particular
+    attention to the genus; but the specific distinction between _V. lutea_
+    and _tricolor_ is chiefly grounded on the one being strictly and the
+    other not strictly perennial, as well as on some other slight and
+    unimportant differences in the form of the stem and stipules. Bentham
+    unites these two forms; and a high authority on such matters, Mr. H. C.
+    Watson,[801] says that, "while _V. tricolor_ passes into _V. arvensis_
+    on the one side, it approximates so much towards _V. lutea_ and _V.
+    Curtisii_ on the other side, that a distinction becomes scarcely more
+    easy between them."
+
+    {369}
+
+    Hence, after having carefully compared numerous varieties, I gave up
+    the attempt as too difficult for any one except a professed botanist.
+    Most of the varieties present such inconstant characters, that when
+    grown in poor soil, or when flowering out of their proper season, they
+    produce differently coloured and much smaller flowers. Cultivators
+    speak of this or that kind as being remarkably constant or true; but by
+    this they do not mean, as in other cases, that the kind transmits its
+    character by seed, but that the individual plant does not change much
+    under culture. The principle of inheritance, however, does hold good to
+    a certain extent even with the fleeting varieties of the Heartease, for
+    to gain good sorts it is indispensable to sow the seed of good sorts.
+    Nevertheless in every large seed-bed a few almost wild seedlings often
+    reappear through reversion. On comparing the choicest varieties with
+    the nearest allied wild forms, besides the difference in the size,
+    outline, and colour of the flowers, the leaves are seen sometimes to
+    differ in shape, as does the calyx occasionally in the length and
+    breadth of the sepals. The differences in the form of the nectary more
+    especially deserve notice; because characters derived from this organ
+    have been much used in the discrimination of most of the species of
+    Viola. In a large number of flowers compared in 1842 I found that in
+    the greater number the nectary was straight; in others the extremity
+    was a little turned upwards, or downwards, or inwards, so as to be
+    completely hooked; in others, instead of being hooked, it was first
+    turned rectangularly downwards, and then backwards and upwards; in
+    others the extremity was considerably enlarged; and lastly, in some the
+    basal part was depressed, becoming, as usual, laterally compressed
+    towards the extremity. In a large number of flowers, on the other hand,
+    examined by me in 1856 from a nursery-garden in a different part of
+    England, the nectary hardly varied at all. Now M. Gay says that in
+    certain districts, especially in Auvergne, the nectary of the wild _V.
+    grandiflora_ varies in the manner just described. Must we conclude from
+    this that the cultivated varieties first mentioned were all descended
+    from _V. grandiflora_, and that the second lot, though having the same
+    general appearance, were descended from _V. tricolor_, of which the
+    nectary, according to M. Gay, is subject to little variation? Or is it
+    not more probable that both these wild forms would be found under other
+    conditions to vary in the same manner and degree, thus showing that
+    they ought not to be ranked as specifically distinct?
+
+    The _Dahlia_ has been referred to by almost every author who has
+    written on the variation of plants, because it is believed that all the
+    varieties are descended from a single species, and because all have
+    arisen since 1802 in France, and since 1804 in England.[802] Mr. Sabine
+    remarks that "it seems as if some period of cultivation had been
+    required before the fixed qualities of the native plant gave way and
+    began to sport into those changes which now so delight us."[803] The
+    flowers have been greatly modified in shape from a flat to a globular
+    form. Anemone and {370} ranunculus-like races,[804] which differ in the
+    form and arrangement of the florets, have arisen; also dwarfed races,
+    one of which is only eighteen inches in height. The seeds vary much in
+    size. The petals are uniformly coloured or tipped or striped, and
+    present an almost infinite diversity of tints. Seedlings of fourteen
+    different colours[805] have been raised from the same plant; yet, as
+    Mr. Sabine has remarked, "many of the seedlings follow their parents in
+    colour." The period of flowering has been considerably hastened, and
+    this has probably been effected by continued selection. Salisbury,
+    writing 1808, says that they then flowered from September to November;
+    in 1828 some new dwarf varieties began flowering in June;[806] and Mr.
+    Grieve informs me that the dwarf purple Zelinda in his garden is in
+    full bloom by the middle of June and sometimes even earlier. Slight
+    constitutional differences have been observed between certain
+    varieties: thus, some kinds succeed much better in one part of England
+    than in another;[807] and it has been noticed that some varieties
+    require much more moisture than others.[808]
+
+    Such flowers as the carnation, common tulip, and hyacinth, which are
+    believed to be descended, each from a single wild form, present
+    innumerable varieties, differing almost exclusively in the size, form,
+    and colour of the flowers. These and some other anciently cultivated
+    plants which have been long propagated by offsets, pipings, bulbs, &c.,
+    become so excessively variable, that almost each new plant raised from
+    seed forms a new variety, "all of which to describe particularly," as
+    old Gerarde wrote in 1597, "were to roll Sisyphus's stone, or to number
+    the sands."
+
+    _Hyacinth_ (_Hyacinthus orientalis_).--It may, however, be worth while
+    to give a short account of this plant, which was introduced into
+    England in 1596 from the Levant.[809] The petals of the original
+    flower, says Mr. Paul, were narrow, wrinkled, pointed, and of a flimsy
+    texture; now they are broad, smooth, solid, and rounded. The erectness,
+    breadth, and length of the whole spike, and the size of the flowers,
+    have all increased. The colours have been intensified and diversified.
+    Gerarde, in 1597, enumerates four, and Parkinson, in 1629, eight
+    varieties. Now the varieties are very numerous, and they were still
+    more numerous a century ago. Mr. Paul remarks that "it is interesting
+    to compare the Hyacinths of 1629 with those of 1864, and to mark the
+    improvement. Two hundred and thirty-five years have elapsed since then,
+    and this simple flower serves well to illustrate the great fact that
+    the original forms of nature do not remain fixed and stationary, at
+    least when brought under cultivation. While looking at the extremes, we
+    must not however forget that there are intermediate stages which are
+    for the most part lost to us. Nature will {371} sometimes indulge
+    herself with a leap, but as a rule her march is slow and gradual." He
+    adds that the cultivator should have "in his mind an ideal of beauty,
+    for the realisation of which he works with head and hand." We thus see
+    how clearly Mr. Paul, an eminently successful cultivator of this
+    flower, appreciates the action of methodical selection.
+
+    In a curious and apparently trustworthy treatise, published at
+    Amsterdam[810] in 1768, it is stated that nearly 2000 sorts were then
+    known; but in 1864 Mr. Paul found only 700 in the largest garden at
+    Haarlem. In this treatise it is said that not an instance is known of
+    any one variety reproducing itself truly by seed: the white kinds,
+    however, now[811] almost always yield white hyacinths, and the yellow
+    kinds come nearly true. The hyacinth is remarkable from having given
+    rise to varieties with bright blue, pink, and distinctly yellow
+    flowers. These three primary colours do not occur in the varieties of
+    any other species; nor do they often all occur even in the distinct
+    species of the same genus. Although the several kinds of hyacinths
+    differ but slightly from each other except in colour, yet each kind has
+    its own individual character, which can be recognised by a highly
+    educated eye; thus the writer of the Amsterdam treatise asserts (p. 43)
+    that some experienced florists, such as the famous G. Voorholm, seldom
+    failed in a collection of above twelve hundred sorts to recognise each
+    variety by the bulb alone! This same writer mentions some few singular
+    variations: for instance, the hyacinth commonly produces six leaves,
+    but there is one kind (p. 35) which scarcely ever has more than three
+    leaves; another never more than five; whilst others regularly produce
+    either seven or eight leaves. A variety, called la Coriphee, invariably
+    produces (p. 116) two flower-stems, united together and covered by one
+    skin. The flower-stem in another kind (p. 128) comes out of the ground
+    in a coloured sheath, before the appearance of the leaves, and is
+    consequently liable to suffer from frost. Another variety always pushes
+    a second flower-stem after the first has begun to develop itself.
+    Lastly, white hyacinths with red, purple, or violet centres (p. 129)
+    are the most liable to rot. Thus, the hyacinth, like so many previous
+    plants, when long cultivated and closely watched, is found to offer
+    many singular variations.
+
+In the two last chapters I have given in some detail the range of
+variation, and the history, as far as known, of a considerable number of
+plants, which have been cultivated for various purposes. But some of the
+most variable plants, such as Kidney-beans, Capsicum, Millets, Sorghum,
+&c., have been passed over; for botanists are not agreed which kinds ought
+to rank as species and which as varieties; and the wild parent-species are
+unknown.[812] Many plants long cultivated in tropical {372} countries, such
+as the Banana, have produced numerous varieties; but as these have never
+been described with even moderate care, they also are here passed over.
+Nevertheless a sufficient, and perhaps more than sufficient, number of
+cases have been given, so that the reader may be enabled to judge for
+himself on the nature and extent of the variation which cultivated plants
+have undergone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+{373}
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+ON BUD-VARIATION, AND ON CERTAIN ANOMALOUS MODES OF REPRODUCTION AND
+VARIATION.
+
+    BUD-VARIATIONS IN THE PEACH, PLUM, CHERRY, VINE, GOOSEBERRY, CURRANT,
+    AND BANANA, AS SHOWN BY THE MODIFIED FRUIT--IN FLOWERS: CAMELLIAS,
+    AZALEAS, CHRYSANTHEMUMS, ROSES, ETC.--ON THE RUNNING OF THE COLOUR IN
+    CARNATIONS--BUD-VARIATIONS IN LEAVES--VARIATIONS BY SUCKERS, TUBERS,
+    AND BULBS--ON THE BREAKING OF TULIPS--BUD-VARIATIONS GRADUATE INTO
+    CHANGES CONSEQUENT ON CHANGED CONDITIONS OF LIFE--CYTISUS ADAMI, ITS
+    ORIGIN AND TRANSFORMATION--ON THE UNION OF TWO DIFFERENT EMBRYOS IN ONE
+    SEED--THE TRIFACIAL ORANGE--ON REVERSION BY BUDS IN HYBRIDS AND
+    MONGRELS--ON THE PRODUCTION OF MODIFIED BUDS BY THE GRAFTING OF ONE
+    VARIETY OR SPECIES ON ANOTHER--ON THE DIRECT OR IMMEDIATE ACTION OF
+    FOREIGN POLLEN ON THE MOTHER-PLANT--ON THE EFFECTS IN FEMALE ANIMALS OF
+    A FIRST IMPREGNATION ON THE SUBSEQUENT OFFSPRING--CONCLUSION AND
+    SUMMARY.
+
+This chapter will be chiefly devoted to a subject in many respects
+important, namely, bud-variation. By this term I include all those sudden
+changes in structure or appearance which occasionally occur in full-grown
+plants in their flower-buds or leaf-buds. Gardeners call such changes
+"Sports;" but this, as previously remarked, is an ill-defined expression,
+as it has often been applied to strongly marked variations in seedling
+plants. The difference between seminal and bud reproduction is not so great
+as it at first appears; for each bud is in one sense a new and distinct
+individual; but such individuals are produced through the formation of
+various kinds of buds without the aid of any special apparatus, whilst
+fertile seeds are produced by the concourse of the two sexual elements. The
+modifications which arise through bud-variation can generally be propagated
+to any extent by grafting, budding, cuttings, bulbs, &c., and occasionally
+even by seed. Some few of our most beautiful and useful productions have
+arisen by bud-variation.
+
+Bud-variations have as yet been observed only in the vegetable {374}
+kingdom; but it is probable that if compound animals, such as corals, &c.,
+had been subjected to a long course of domestication, they would have
+varied by buds; for they resemble plants in many respects. Thus any new or
+peculiar character presented by a compound animal is propagated by budding,
+as occurs with differently coloured Hydras, and as Mr. Gosse has shown to
+be the case with a singular variety of a true coral. Varieties of the Hydra
+have also been grafted on other varieties, and have retained their
+character.
+
+I will in the first place give all the cases of bud-variations which I have
+been able to collect, and afterwards show their importance. These cases
+prove that those authors who, like Pallas, attribute all variability to the
+crossing either of distinct races, or of individuals belonging to the same
+race but somewhat different from each other, are in error; as are those
+authors who attribute all variability to the mere act of sexual union. Nor
+can we account in all cases for the appearance through bud-variation of new
+characters by the principle of reversion to long-lost characters. He who
+wishes to judge how far the conditions of life directly cause each
+particular variation ought to reflect well on the cases immediately to be
+given. I will commence with bud-variations, as exhibited in the fruit, and
+then pass on to flowers, and finally to leaves.
+
+    _Peach_ (_Amygdalus Persica_).--In the last chapter I gave two cases of
+    a peach-almond and double-flowered almond which suddenly produced fruit
+    closely resembling true peaches. I have also recorded many cases of
+    peach-trees producing buds, which, when developed into branches, have
+    yielded nectarines. We have seen that no less than six named and
+    several unnamed varieties of the peach have thus produced several
+    varieties of nectarine. I have shown that it is highly improbable that
+    all these peach-trees, some of which are old varieties, and have been
+    propagated by the million, are hybrids from the peach and nectarine,
+    and that it is opposed to all analogy to attribute the occasional
+    production of nectarines on peach-trees to the direct action of pollen
+    from some neighbouring nectarine-tree. Several of the cases are highly
+    remarkable, because, firstly, the fruit thus produced has sometimes
+    been in part a nectarine and in part a peach; secondly, because
+    nectarines thus suddenly produced have reproduced themselves by seed;
+    and thirdly, because nectarines are produced from peach-trees from seed
+    as well as from buds. The seed of the nectarine, on the other hand,
+    occasionally produces peaches; and we have seen in one instance that a
+    nectarine-tree yielded peaches by bud-variation. As the peach is
+    certainly the oldest or primary variety, the {375} production of
+    peaches from nectarines, either by seeds or buds, may perhaps be
+    considered as a case of reversion. Certain trees have also been
+    described as indifferently bearing peaches or nectarines, and this may
+    be considered as bud-variation carried to an extreme degree.
+
+    The _grosse mignonne_ peach at Montreuil produced "from a sporting
+    branch" the _grosse mignonne tardive_, "a most excellent variety,"
+    which ripens its fruit a fortnight later than the parent tree, and is
+    equally good.[813] This same peach has likewise produced by
+    bud-variation the _early grosse mignonne_. Hunt's large tawny nectarine
+    "originated from Hunt's small tawny nectarine, but not through seminal
+    reproduction."[814]
+
+    _Plums._--Mr. Knight states that a tree of the yellow magnum bonum
+    plum, forty years old, which had always borne ordinary fruit, produced
+    a branch which yielded red magnum bonums.[815] Mr. Rivers, of
+    Sawbridgeworth, informs me (Jan. 1863) that a single tree out of 400 or
+    500 trees of the Early Prolific plum, which is a purple kind, descended
+    from an old French variety bearing purple fruit, produced when about
+    ten years old bright yellow plums; these differed in no respect except
+    colour from those on the other trees, but were unlike any other known
+    kind of yellow plum.[816]
+
+    _Cherry_ (_Prunus cerasus_).--Mr. Knight has recorded (_idem_) the case
+    of a branch of a May-Duke cherry, which, though certainly never
+    grafted, always produced fruit, ripening later, and more oblong, than
+    the fruit on the other branches. Another account has been given of two
+    May-Duke cherry-trees in Scotland, with branches bearing oblong, and
+    very fine fruit, which invariably ripened, as in Knight's case, a
+    fortnight later than the other cherries.[817]
+
+    _Grapes_ (_Vitis vinifera_).--The black or purple Frontignan in one
+    case produced during two successive years (and no doubt permanently)
+    spurs which bore white Frontignan grapes. In another case, on the same
+    footstalk, the lower berries "were well-coloured black Frontignans;
+    those next the stalk were white, with the exception of one black and
+    one streaked berry;" and altogether there were fifteen black and twelve
+    white berries on the same stalk. In another kind of grape black and
+    amber-coloured berries were produced in the same cluster.[818] Count
+    Odart describes a variety which often bears on the same stalk small
+    round and large oblong berries; though the shape of the berry is
+    generally a fixed character.[819] Here is another striking case given
+    on the excellent authority of M. Carriere:[820] "a black Hamburgh grape
+    (Frankenthal) was cut down, and produced three suckers; one of these
+    was layered, and after a time produced much smaller berries, which
+    always ripened at least a fortnight {376} earlier than the others. Of
+    the remaining two suckers, one produced every year fine grapes, whilst
+    the other, although it set an abundance of fruit, matured only a few,
+    and these of inferior quality.
+
+    _Gooseberry_ (_Ribes grossularia_).--A remarkable case has been
+    described by Dr. Lindley[821] of a bush which bore at the same time no
+    less than four kinds of berries, namely, hairy and red,--smooth, small
+    and red,--green,--and yellow tinged with buff; the two latter kinds had
+    a different flavour from the red berries, and their seeds were coloured
+    red. Three twigs on this bush grew close together; the first bore three
+    yellow berries and one red; the second twig bore four yellow and one
+    red; and the third four red and one yellow. Mr. Laxton also informs me
+    that he has seen a Red Warrington gooseberry bearing both red and
+    yellow fruit on the same branch.
+
+    _Currant_ (_Ribes rubrum_).--A bush purchased as the Champagne, which
+    is a variety that bears blush-coloured fruit intermediate between red
+    and white, produced during fourteen years, on separate branches and
+    mingled on the same branch, berries of the red, white, and champagne
+    kinds.[822] The suspicion naturally arises that this variety may have
+    originated from a cross between a red and white variety, and that the
+    above transformation may be accounted for by reversion to both
+    parent-forms; but from the foregoing complex case of the gooseberry
+    this view is doubtful. In France, a branch of a red-currant bush, about
+    ten years old, produced near the summit five white berries, and lower
+    down, amongst the red berries, one berry half red and half white.[823]
+    Alexander Braun[824] also has often seen branches bearing red berries
+    on white currants.
+
+    _Pear_ (_Pyrus communis_).--Dureau de la Malle states that the flowers
+    on some trees of an ancient variety, the _doyenne galeux_, were
+    destroyed by frost: other flowers appeared in July, which produced six
+    pears; these exactly resembled in their skin and taste the fruit of a
+    distinct variety, the _gros doyenne blanc_, but in shape were like the
+    _bon-chretien_: it was not ascertained whether this new variety could
+    be propagated by budding or grafting. The same author grafted a
+    _bon-chretien_ on a quince, and it produced, besides its proper fruit,
+    an apparently new variety, of a peculiar form, with thick and rough
+    skin.[825]
+
+    _Apple_ (_Pyrus malus_).--In Canada, a tree of the variety called Pound
+    Sweet, produced,[826] between two of its proper fruit, an apple which
+    was well russetted, small in size, different in shape, and with a short
+    peduncle. As no russet apple grew anywhere near, this case apparently
+    cannot be accounted for by the direct action of foreign pollen. I shall
+    hereafter give {377} cases of apple-trees which regularly produce fruit
+    of two kinds, or half-and-half fruit; these trees are generally
+    supposed, and probably with truth, to be of crossed parentage, and that
+    the fruit reverts to both parent-forms.
+
+    _Banana_ (_Musa sapientium_).--Sir R. Schomburgk states that he saw in
+    St. Domingo a raceme on the Fig Banana which bore towards the base 125
+    fruits of the proper kind; and these were succeeded, as is usual,
+    higher up the raceme, by barren flowers, and these by 420 fruits,
+    having a widely different appearance, and ripening earlier than the
+    proper fruit. The abnormal fruit closely resembled, except in being
+    smaller, that of the _Musa Chinensis_ or _Cavendishii_, which has
+    generally been ranked as a distinct species.[827]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    FLOWERS.--Many cases have been recorded of a whole plant, or single
+    branch, or bud, suddenly producing flowers different from the proper
+    type in colour, form, size, doubleness, or other character. Half the
+    flower, or a smaller segment, sometimes changes colour.
+
+    _Camellia._--The myrtle-leaved species (_C. myrtifolia_), and two or
+    three varieties of the common species, have been known to produce
+    hexagonal and imperfectly quadrangular flowers; and the branches
+    producing such flowers have been propagated by grafting.[828] The
+    Pompone variety often bears "four distinguishable kinds of
+    flowers,--the pure white and the red-eyed, which appear promiscuously;
+    the brindled pink and the rose-coloured, which may be kept separate
+    with tolerable certainty by grafting from the branches that bear them."
+    A branch, also, on an old tree of the rose-coloured variety has been
+    seen to "revert to the pure white colour, an occurrence less common
+    than the departure from it."[829]
+
+    _Crataegus oxycantha._--A dark pink hawthorn has been known to throw out
+    a single tuft of pure white blossoms;[830] and Mr. A. Clapham,
+    nurseryman, of Bradford, informs me that his father had a deep crimson
+    thorn grafted on a white thorn, which, during several years, always
+    bore, high above the graft, bunches of white, pink, and deep crimson
+    flowers.
+
+    _Azalea Indica_ is well known often to produce by buds new varieties. I
+    have myself seen several cases. A plant of _Azalea Indica variegata_
+    has been exhibited bearing a truss of flowers of _A. Ind. Gledstanesii_
+    "as true as could possibly be produced, thus evidencing the origin of
+    that fine variety." On another plant of _A. Ind. variegata_ a perfect
+    flower of _A. Ind. lateritia_ was produced; so that both _Gledstanesii_
+    and _lateritia_ no doubt originally appeared as sporting branches of
+    _A. Ind. variegata_.[831]
+
+    _Cistus tricuspis._--A seedling of this plant, when some years old,
+    produced, at Saharunpore,[832] some branches "which bore leaves and
+    flowers widely different from the normal form." "The abnormal leaf is
+    much less {378} divided, and not acuminated. The petals are
+    considerably larger, and quite entire. There is also in the fresh state
+    a conspicuous, large, oblong gland, full of a viscid secretion, on the
+    back of each of the calycine segments."
+
+    _Althaea rosea._--A double yellow Hollyock suddenly turned one year into
+    a pure white single kind; subsequently a branch bearing the original
+    double yellow flowers reappeared in the midst of the branches of the
+    single white kind.[833]
+
+    _Pelargonium._--These highly cultivated plants seem eminently liable to
+    bud-variation. I will give only a few well-marked cases. Gaertner has
+    seen[834] a plant of _P. zonale_ with a branch having white-edged
+    leaves, which remained constant for years, and bore flowers of a deeper
+    red than usual. Generally speaking, such branches present little or no
+    difference in their flowers: thus a writer[835] pinched off the leading
+    shoot of a seedling _P. zonale_, and it threw out three branches, which
+    differed in the size and colour of their leaves and stems; but on all
+    three branches "the flowers were identical," except in being largest in
+    the green-stemmed variety, and smallest in that with variegated
+    foliage: these three varieties were subsequently propagated and
+    distributed. Many branches, and some whole plants, of a variety called
+    _compactum_, which bears orange-scarlet flowers, have been seen to
+    produce pink flowers.[836] Hill's Hector, which is a pale red variety,
+    produced a branch with lilac flowers, and some trusses with both red
+    and lilac flowers. This apparently is a case of reversion, for Hill's
+    Hector was a seedling from a lilac variety.[837] Of all Pelargoniums,
+    Rollisson's Unique seems to be the most sportive; its origin is not
+    positively known, but is believed to be from a cross. Mr. Salter, of
+    Hammersmith, states[838] that he has himself known this purple variety
+    to produce the lilac, the rose-crimson or _conspicuum_, and the red or
+    _coccineum_ varieties; the latter has also produced the _rose d'amour_;
+    so that altogether four varieties have originated by bud variation from
+    Rollisson's Unique. Mr. Salter remarks that these four varieties "may
+    now be considered as fixed, although they occasionally produce flowers
+    of the original colour. This year _coccineum_ has pushed flowers of
+    three different colours, red, rose, and lilac, upon the same truss, and
+    upon other trusses are flowers half red and half lilac." Besides these
+    four varieties, two other scarlet Uniques are known to exist, both of
+    which occasionally produce lilac flowers identical with Rollisson's
+    Unique;[839] but one at least of these did not arise through
+    bud-variation, but is believed to be a seedling from Rollisson's
+    Unique.[840] There are, also, in the trade[841] two other slightly
+    different varieties, of unknown origin, of Rollisson's Unique: so that
+    altogether we have a curiously complex case {379} of variation both by
+    buds and seeds.[842] An English wild plant, the _Geranium pratense_,
+    when cultivated in a garden, has been seen to produce on the same plant
+    both blue and white, and striped blue and white flowers.[843]
+
+    _Chrysanthemum._--This plant frequently sports, both by its lateral
+    branches and occasionally by suckers. A seedling raised by Mr. Salter
+    has produced by bud-variation six distinct sorts, five different in
+    colour and one in foliage, all of which are now fixed.[844] The
+    varieties which were first introduced from China were so excessively
+    variable, "that it was extremely difficult to tell which was the
+    original colour of the variety, and which was the sport." The same
+    plant would produce one year only buff-coloured, and next year only
+    rose-coloured flowers; and then would change again, or produce at the
+    same time flowers of both colours. These fluctuating varieties are now
+    all lost, and, when a branch sports into a new variety, it can
+    generally be propagated and kept true; but, as Mr. Salter remarks,
+    "every sport should be thoroughly tested in different soils before it
+    can be really considered as fixed, as many have been known to run back
+    when planted in rich compost; but when sufficient care and time are
+    expended in proving, there will exist little danger of subsequent
+    disappointment." Mr. Salter informs me that with all the varieties the
+    commonest kind of bud-variation is the production of yellow flowers,
+    and, as this is the primordial colour, these cases may be attributed to
+    reversion. Mr. Salter has given me a list of seven differently coloured
+    chrysanthemums, which have all produced branches with yellow flowers;
+    but three of them have also sported into other colours. With any change
+    of colour in the flower, the foliage generally changes in a
+    corresponding manner in lightness or darkness.
+
+    Another Compositous plant, namely, _Centauria cyanus_, when cultivated
+    in a garden, not unfrequently produces on the same root flowers of four
+    different colours, viz., blue, white, dark-purple, and
+    particoloured.[845] The flowers of Anthemis also vary on the same
+    plant.[846]
+
+    _Roses._--Many varieties of the rose are known or are believed to have
+    originated by bud-variation.[847] The common double moss-rose was
+    imported into England from Italy about the year 1735.[848] Its origin
+    is unknown, but from analogy it probably arose from the Provence rose
+    (_R. centifolia_) by bud-variation; for branches of the common
+    moss-rose have several times been known to produce Provence roses,
+    wholly or partially destitute of moss: I have seen one such instance,
+    and several others have been recorded.[849] {380} Mr. Rivers also
+    informs me that he raised two or three roses of the Provence class from
+    seed of the old single moss-rose;[850] and this latter kind was
+    produced in 1807 by bud-variation from the common moss-rose. The white
+    moss-rose was also produced in 1788 by an offset from the common red
+    moss-rose: it was at first pale blush-coloured, but became white by
+    continued budding. On cutting down the shoots which had produced this
+    white moss-rose, two weak shoots were thrown up, and buds from these
+    yielded the beautiful striped moss-rose. The common moss-rose has
+    yielded by bud-variation, besides the old single red moss-rose, the old
+    scarlet semi-double moss-rose, and the sage-leaf moss-rose, which "has
+    a delicate shell-like form, and is of a beautiful blush colour; it is
+    now (1852) nearly extinct."[851] A white moss-rose has been seen to
+    bear a flower half white and half pink.[852] Although several
+    moss-roses have thus certainly arisen by bud-variation, the greater
+    number probably owe their origin to seed of moss-roses. For Mr. Rivers
+    informs me that his seedlings from the old single moss-rose almost
+    always produced moss-roses; and the old single moss-rose was, as we
+    have seen, the product by bud-variation of the double moss-rose
+    originally imported from Italy. That the original moss-rose was the
+    product of bud-variation is probable, from the facts above given and
+    from the moss-rose de Meaux (also a var. of _R. centifolia_)[853]
+    having appeared as a sporting branch on the common rose de Meaux.
+
+    Prof. Caspary has carefully described[854] the case of a six-year-old
+    white moss-rose, which sent up several suckers, one of which was
+    thorny, and produced red flowers, destitute of moss, exactly like those
+    of the Provence rose (_R. centifolia_): another shoot bore both kinds
+    of flowers and in addition longitudinally striped flowers. As this
+    white moss-rose had been grafted on the Provence rose, Prof. Caspary
+    attributes the above changes to the influence of the stock; but from
+    the facts already given, and from others to be given, bud-variation,
+    with reversion, is probably a sufficient explanation.
+
+    Many other instances could be added of roses varying by buds. The white
+    Provence rose apparently thus originated.[855] The double and
+    highly-coloured Belladonna rose has been known[856] to produce by
+    suckers both semi-double and almost single white roses; whilst suckers
+    from one of these semi-double white roses reverted to perfectly
+    characterised Belladonnas. Varieties of the China rose propagated by
+    cuttings in St. Domingo often revert after a year or two into the old
+    China rose.[857] Many cases {381} have been recorded of roses suddenly
+    becoming striped or changing their character by segments: some plants
+    of the Comtesse de Chabrillant, which is properly rose-coloured, were
+    exhibited in 1862,[858] with crimson flakes on a rose ground. I have
+    seen the Beauty of Billiard with a quarter and with half the flower
+    almost white. The Austrian bramble (_R. lutea_) not rarely[859]
+    produces branches with pure yellow flowers; and Prof. Henslow has seen
+    exactly half the flower of a pure yellow, and I have seen narrow yellow
+    streaks on a single petal, of which the rest was of the usual copper
+    colour.
+
+    The following cases are highly remarkable. Mr. Rivers, as I am informed
+    by him, possessed a new French rose with delicate smooth shoots, pale
+    glaucous-green leaves, and semi-double pale flesh-coloured flowers
+    striped with dark red; and on branches thus characterised there
+    suddenly appeared, in more than one instance, the famous old rose
+    called the Baronne Prevost, with its stout thorny shoots, and immense,
+    uniformly and richly coloured, double flowers; so that in this case the
+    shoots, leaves, and flowers, all at once changed their character by
+    bud-variation. According to M. Verlot[860] a variety called _Rosa
+    cannabifolia_, which has peculiarly shaped leaflets, and differs from
+    every member of the family in the leaves being opposite instead of
+    alternate, suddenly appeared on a plant of _R. alba_ in the gardens of
+    the Luxembourg. Lastly, "a running shoot" was observed by Mr. H.
+    Curtis[861] on the old Aimee Vibert Noisette, and he budded it on
+    Celine; thus a climbing Aimee Vibert was first produced and afterwards
+    propagated.
+
+    _Dianthus._--It is quite common with the Sweet William (_D. barbatus_)
+    to see differently coloured flowers on the same root; and I have
+    observed on the same truss four differently coloured and shaded
+    flowers. Carnations and pinks (_D. caryophyllus_, &c.) occasionally
+    vary by layers; and some kinds are so little certain in character that
+    they are called by floriculturists "catch-flowers."[862] Mr. Dickson
+    has ably discussed the "running" of particoloured or striped
+    carnations, and says it cannot be accounted for by the compost in which
+    they are grown: "layers from the same clean flower would come part of
+    them clean and part foul, even when subjected to precisely the same
+    treatment; and frequently one flower alone appears influenced by the
+    taint, the remainder coming perfectly clean."[863] This running of the
+    parti-coloured flowers apparently is a case of reversion by buds to the
+    original uniform tint of the species.
+
+    I will briefly mention some other cases of bud-variation to show how
+    many plants belonging to many orders have varied in their flowers;
+    numerous cases might be added. I have seen on a snap-dragon
+    (_Antirrhinum majus_) white, pink, and striped flowers on the same
+    plant, and branches with striped flowers on a red-coloured variety. On
+    a double stock (_Matthiola incana_) I have seen a branch bearing single
+    flowers; and {382} on a dingy-purple, double variety of the wall-flower
+    (_Cheiranthus cheiri_) a branch which had reverted to the ordinary
+    copper colour. On other branches of the same plant, some flowers were
+    exactly divided across the middle, one half being purple and the other
+    coppery; but some of the smaller petals towards the centre of these
+    same flowers were purple longitudinally streaked with coppery colour,
+    or coppery streaked with purple. A Cyclamen[864] has been observed to
+    bear white and pink flowers of two forms, the one resembling the
+    Persicum strain, and the other the Coum strain. _Oenothera biennis_ has
+    been seen[865] bearing flowers of three different colours. The hybrid
+    _Gladiolus colvillii_ occasionally bears uniformly coloured flowers,
+    and one case is recorded[866] of all the flowers on a plant thus
+    changing colour. A Fuchsia has been seen[867] bearing two kinds of
+    flowers. _Mirabilis jalapa_ is eminently sportive, sometimes bearing on
+    the same root pure red, yellow, and white flowers, and others striped
+    with various combinations of these three colours.[868] The plants of
+    the Mirabilis which bear such extraordinarily variable flowers, in
+    most, probably in all cases, owe their origin, as shown by Prof. Lecoq,
+    to crosses between differently-coloured varieties.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    _Leaves and Shoots._--Changes, through bud-variation, in fruits and
+    flowers have hitherto been treated of, but incidentally some remarkable
+    modifications in the leaves and shoots of the rose and Cistus, and in a
+    lesser degree in the foliage of the Pelargonium and Chrysanthemum, have
+    been noticed. I will now add a few more cases of variation in
+    leaf-buds. Verlot[869] states that on _Aralia trifoliata_, which
+    properly has leaves with three leaflets, branches bearing simple leaves
+    of various forms frequently appear; these can be propagated by buds or
+    grafting, and have given rise, as he states, to several nominal
+    species.
+
+    With respect to trees, the history of but few of the many varieties
+    with curious or ornamental foliage is known; but several probably have
+    originated by bud-variation. Here is one case:--An old ash-tree
+    (_Fraxinus excelsior_) in the grounds of Necton, as Mr. Mason states,
+    "for many years has had one bough of a totally different character to
+    the rest of the tree, or of any other ash-tree which I have seen; being
+    short-jointed and densely covered with foliage." It was ascertained
+    that this variety could be propagated by grafts.[870] The varieties of
+    some trees with cut leaves, as the oak-leaved laburnum, the
+    parsley-leaved vine, and especially the fern-leaved beech, are apt to
+    revert by buds to the common form.[871] The fern-like leaves of the
+    beech sometimes revert only partially, and the branches display here
+    and there sprouts bearing common leaves, fern-like, and variously
+    shaped leaves. Such cases differ but little from the so-called {383}
+    heterophyllous varieties, in which the tree habitually bears leaves of
+    various forms; but it is probable that most heterophyllous trees have
+    originated as seedlings. There is a sub-variety of the weeping willow
+    with leaves rolled up into a spiral coil; and Mr. Masters states that a
+    tree of this kind kept true in his garden for twenty-five years, and
+    then threw out a single upright shoot bearing flat leaves.[872]
+
+    I have often noticed single twigs and branches on beech and other trees
+    with their leaves fully expanded before those on the other branches had
+    opened; and as there was nothing in their exposure or character to
+    account for this difference, I presume that they had appeared as
+    bud-variations, like the early and late fruit-maturing varieties of the
+    peach and nectarine.
+
+    Cryptogamic plants are liable to bud-variation, for fronds on the same
+    fern are often seen to display remarkable deviations of structure.
+    Spores, which are of the nature of buds, taken from such abnormal
+    fronds, reproduce, with remarkable fidelity, the same variety, after
+    passing through the sexual stage.[873]
+
+    With respect to colour, leaves often become by bud-variation zoned,
+    blotched, or spotted with white, yellow, and red; and this occasionally
+    occurs even with plants in a state of nature. Variegation, however,
+    appears still more frequently in plants produced from seed; even the
+    cotyledons or seed-leaves being thus affected.[874] There have been
+    endless disputes whether variegation should be considered as a disease.
+    In a future chapter we shall see that it is much influenced, both in
+    the case of seedlings and of mature plants, by the nature of the soil.
+    Plants which have become variegated as seedlings, generally transmit
+    their character by seed to a large proportion of their progeny; and Mr.
+    Salter has given me a list of eight genera in which this occurred.[875]
+    Sir F. Pollock has given me more precise information: he sowed seed
+    from a variegated plant of _Ballota nigra_ which was found growing
+    wild, and thirty per cent. of the seedlings were variegated; seed from
+    these latter being sown, sixty per cent. came up variegated. When
+    branches become variegated by bud-variation, and the variety is
+    attempted to be propagated by seed, the seedlings are rarely
+    variegated; Mr. Salter found this to be the case with plants belonging
+    to eleven genera, in which the greater number of the seedlings proved
+    to be green-leaved; yet a few were slightly variegated, or were quite
+    white, but none were worth keeping. Variegated plants, whether
+    originally produced from seeds or buds, can generally be propagated by
+    budding, grafting, &c.; but all are apt to revert by bud-variation to
+    their ordinary foliage. This tendency, however, differs much in the
+    varieties of even the same species; for instance, the golden-striped
+    variety of _Euonymus Japonicus_ "is very liable to run back to the
+    green-leaved, while the silver-striped {384} variety hardly ever
+    changes."[876] I have seen a variety of the holly, with its leaves
+    having a central yellow patch, which had everywhere partially reverted
+    to the ordinary foliage, so that on the same small branch there were
+    many twigs of both kinds. In the pelargonium, and in some other plants,
+    variegation is generally accompanied by some degree of dwarfing, as is
+    well exemplified in the "Dandy" pelargonium. When such dwarf varieties
+    sport back by buds or suckers to the ordinary foliage, the dwarfed
+    stature sometimes still remains.[877] It is remarkable that plants
+    propagated from branches which have reverted from variegated to plain
+    leaves[878] do not always (or never, as one observer asserts) perfectly
+    resemble the original plain-leaved plant from which the variegated
+    branch arose: it seems that a plant, in passing by bud-variation from
+    plain leaves to variegated, and back again from variegated to plain, is
+    generally in some degree affected so as to assume a slightly different
+    aspect.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    _Bud-variation by Suckers, Tubers, and Bulbs._--All the cases hitherto
+    given of bud-variation in fruits, flowers, leaves, and shoots, have
+    been confined to buds on the stems or branches, with the exception of a
+    few cases incidentally noticed of varying suckers in the rose,
+    pelargonium, and chrysanthemum. I will now give a few instances of
+    variation in subterranean buds, that is, by suckers, tubers, and bulbs;
+    not that there is any essential difference between buds above and
+    beneath the ground. Mr. Salter informs me that two variegated varieties
+    of Phlox originated as suckers; but I should not have thought these
+    worth mentioning, had not Mr. Salter found, after repeated trials, that
+    he could not propagate them by "root-joints," whereas, the variegated
+    _Tussilago farfara_ can thus be safely propagated;[879] but this latter
+    plant may have originated as a variegated seedling, which would account
+    for its greater fixedness of character. The Barberry (_Berberis
+    vulgaris_) offers an analogous case; there is a well-known variety with
+    seedless fruit, which can be propagated by cuttings or layers; but
+    suckers always revert to the common form, which produces fruit
+    containing seeds.[880] My father repeatedly tried this experiment, and
+    always with the same result.
+
+    Turning now to tubers: in the common Potato (_Solanum tuberosum_) a
+    single bud or eye sometimes varies and produces a new variety; or,
+    occasionally, and this is a much more remarkable circumstance, all the
+    eyes in a tuber vary in the same manner and at the same time, so that
+    the whole tuber assumes a new character. For instance, a single eye in
+    a tuber of the {385} old _Forty-fold potato_, which is a purple
+    variety, was observed[881] to become white; this eye was cut out and
+    planted separately, and the kind has since been largely propagated.
+    _Kemp's Potato_ is properly white, but a plant in Lancashire produced
+    two tubers which were red, and two which were white; the red kind was
+    propagated in the usual manner by eyes, and kept true to its new
+    colour, and, being found a more productive variety, soon became widely
+    known under the name of _Taylor's Forty-fold_.[882] The _Old
+    Forty-fold_ potato, as already stated, is a purple variety; but a plant
+    long cultivated on the same ground produced, not as in the case above
+    given a single white eye, but a whole white tuber, which has since been
+    propagated and keeps true.[883] Several cases have been recorded of
+    large portions of whole rows of potatoes slightly changing their
+    character.[884]
+
+    Dahlias propagated by tubers under the hot climate of St. Domingo vary
+    much; Sir R. Schomburgk gives the case of the "Butterfly variety,"
+    which the second year produced on the same plant "double and single
+    flowers; here white petals edged with maroon; there of a uniform deep
+    maroon."[885] Mr. Bree also mentions a plant "which bore two different
+    kinds of self-coloured flowers, as well as a third kind which partook
+    of both colours beautifully intermixed."[886] Another case is described
+    of a dahlia with purple flowers which bore a white flower streaked with
+    purple.[887]
+
+    Considering how long and extensively many Bulbous plants have been
+    cultivated, and how numerous are the varieties produced from seed,
+    these plants have not varied so much by offsets,--that is, by the
+    production of new bulbs,--as might have been expected. With the
+    Hyacinth a case has been recorded of a blue variety which for three
+    successive years gave offsets which produced white flowers with a red
+    centre.[888] Another hyacinth has been described[889] as bearing on the
+    same truss a perfectly pink and a perfectly blue flower.
+
+    Mr. John Scott informs me that in 1862 _Imatophyllum miniatum_, in the
+    Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh, threw up a sucker which differed from the
+    normal form, in the leaves being two-ranked instead of four-ranked. The
+    leaves were also smaller, with the upper surface raised instead of
+    being channelled.
+
+    In the propagation of _Tulips_, seedlings are raised, called _selfs_ or
+    _breeders_, which "consist of one plain colour on a white or yellow
+    bottom. These, being cultivated on a dry and rather poor soil, become
+    broken or variegated and produce new varieties. The time that elapses
+    before they break varies from one to twenty years or more, and
+    sometimes this change never takes place."[890] The various broken or
+    variegated colours which give value to all tulips are due to
+    bud-variation; for although the {386} Bybloemens and some other kinds
+    have been raised from several distinct breeders, yet all the Baguets
+    are said to have come from a single breeder or seedling. This
+    bud-variation, in accordance with the views of MM. Vilmorin and
+    Verlot,[891] is probably an attempt to revert to that uniform colour
+    which is natural to the species. A tulip, however, which has already
+    become broken, when treated with too strong manure, is liable to flush
+    or lose by a second act of reversion its variegated colours. Some
+    kinds, as Imperatrix Florum, are much more liable than others to
+    flushing; and Mr. Dickson maintains[892] that this can no more be
+    accounted for than the variation of any other plant. He believes that
+    English growers, from care in choosing seed from broken flowers instead
+    of from plain flowers, have to a certain extent diminished the tendency
+    in flowers already broken to flushing or secondary reversion.
+
+    During two consecutive years all the early flowers in a bed of
+    _Tigridia conchiflora_[893] resembled those of the old _T. pavonia_;
+    but the later flowers assumed their proper colour of fine yellow
+    spotted with crimson. An apparently authentic account has been
+    published[894] of two forms of Hemerocallis, which have been
+    universally considered as distinct species, changing into each other;
+    for the roots of the large-flowered tawny _H. fulva_, being divided and
+    planted in a different soil and place, produced the small-flowered
+    yellow _H. flava_, as well as some intermediate forms. It is doubtful
+    whether such cases as these latter, as well as the "flushing" of broken
+    tulips and the "running" of particoloured carnations,--that is, their
+    more or less complete return to a uniform tint,--ought to be classed
+    under bud-variation, or ought to be retained for the chapter in which I
+    treat of the direct action of the conditions of life on organic beings.
+    These cases, however, have this much in common with bud-variation, that
+    the change is effected through buds and not through seminal
+    reproduction. But, on the other hand, there is this difference--that in
+    ordinary cases of bud-variation, one bud alone changes, whilst in the
+    foregoing cases all the buds on the same plant were modified together;
+    yet we have an intermediate case, for with the potato all the eyes in
+    one tuber alone simultaneously changed their character.
+
+    I will conclude with a few allied cases, which may be ranked either
+    under bud-variation, or under the direct action of the conditions of
+    life. When the common Hepatica is transplanted from its native woods,
+    the flowers change colour, even during the first year.[895] It is
+    notorious that the improved varieties of the Heartsease (_Viola
+    tricolor_) when transplanted often produce flowers widely different in
+    size, form, and colour: for instance, I transplanted a large
+    uniformly-coloured dark purple variety, whilst in full flower, and it
+    then produced much smaller, more elongated flowers, with the lower
+    petals yellow; these were succeeded by flowers marked with large purple
+    spots, and ultimately, towards the end of the same summer, by the
+    original large dark purple flowers. The slight changes which some {387}
+    fruit-trees undergo from being grafted and regrafted on various
+    stocks,[896] were considered by Andrew Knight[897] as closely allied to
+    "sporting branches," or bud-variations. Again, we have the case of
+    young fruit-trees changing their character as they grow old; seedling
+    pears, for instance, lose with age their spines and improve in the
+    flavour of their fruit. Weeping birch-trees, when grafted on the common
+    variety, do not acquire a perfect pendulous habit until they grow old:
+    on the other hand, I shall hereafter give the case of some weeping
+    ashes which slowly and gradually assumed an upright habit of growth.
+    All such changes, dependent on age, may be compared with the changes,
+    alluded to in the last chapter, which many trees naturally undergo; as
+    in the case of the Deodar and Cedar of Lebanon, which are unlike in
+    youth and closely resemble each other in old age; and as with certain
+    oaks, and with some varieties of the lime and hawthorn.[898]
+
+Before giving a summary on Bud-variation I will discuss some singular and
+anomalous cases, which are more or less closely related to this same
+subject. I will begin with the famous case of Adam's laburnum or _Cytisus
+Adami_, a form or hybrid intermediate between two very distinct species,
+namely, _C. laburnum_ and _purpureus_, the common and purple laburnum; but
+as this tree has often been described, I will be as brief as I can.
+
+    Throughout Europe, in different soils and under different climates,
+    branches on this tree have repeatedly and suddenly reverted to both
+    parent-species in their flowers and leaves. To behold mingled on the
+    same tree tufts of dingy-red, bright yellow, and purple flowers, borne
+    on branches having widely different leaves and manner of growth, is a
+    surprising sight. The same raceme sometimes bears two kinds of flowers;
+    and I have seen a single flower exactly divided into halves, one side
+    being bright yellow and the other purple; so that one half of the
+    standard-petal was yellow and of larger size, and the other half purple
+    and smaller. In another flower the whole corolla was bright yellow, but
+    exactly half the calyx was purple. In another, one of the dingy-red
+    wing-petals had a bright yellow narrow stripe on it; and lastly, in
+    another flower, one of the stamens, which had become slightly
+    foliaceous, was half yellow and half purple; so that the tendency to
+    segregation of character or reversion affects even single parts {388}
+    and organs.[899] The most remarkable fact about this tree is that in
+    its intermediate state, even when growing near both parent-species, it
+    is quite sterile; but when the flowers become pure yellow or pure
+    purple they yield seed. I believe that the pods from the yellow flowers
+    yield a full complement of seed; they certainly yield a large number.
+    Two seedlings raised by Mr. Herbert from such seed[900] exhibited a
+    purple tinge on the stalks of their flowers; but several seedlings
+    raised by myself resembled in every character the common laburnum, with
+    the exception that some of them had remarkably long racemes: these
+    seedlings were perfectly fertile. That such purity of character and
+    fertility should be suddenly reacquired from so hybridized and sterile
+    a form is an astonishing phenomenon. The branches with purple flowers
+    appear at first sight exactly to resemble those of _C. purpureus_; but
+    on careful comparison I found that they differed from the pure species
+    in the shoots being thicker, the leaves a little broader, and the
+    flowers slightly shorter, with the corolla and calyx less brightly
+    purple: the basal part of the standard-petal also plainly showed a
+    trace of the yellow stain. So that the flowers, at least in this
+    instance, had not perfectly recovered their true character; and in
+    accordance with this, they were not perfectly fertile, for many of the
+    pods contained no seed, some produced one, and very few contained as
+    many as two seeds; whilst numerous pods on a tree of the pure _C.
+    purpureus_ in my garden contained three, four, and five fine seeds. The
+    pollen, moreover, was very imperfect, a multitude of grains being small
+    and shrivelled; and this is a singular fact; for, as we shall
+    immediately see, the pollen-grains in the dingy-red and sterile flowers
+    on the parent-tree, were, in external appearance, in a much better
+    state, and included very few shrivelled grain. Although the pollen of
+    the reverted purple flowers was in so poor a condition, the ovules were
+    well-formed, and, when mature, germinated freely with me. Mr. Herbert
+    also raised plants from seeds of the reverted purple flowers, and they
+    differed _very little_ from the usual state of _C. purpureus_; but this
+    expression shows that they had not perfectly recovered their proper
+    character.
+
+    Prof. Caspary has examined the ovules of the dingy-red and sterile
+    flowers in several plants of _C. adami_ on the Continent,[901] and
+    finds them generally monstrous. In three plants examined by me in
+    England, the ovules were likewise monstrous, the nucleus varying much
+    in shape, and projecting irregularly beyond the proper coats. The
+    pollen-grains, on the other hand, judging from their external
+    appearance, were remarkably good, and readily protruded their tubes. By
+    repeatedly counting, under the microscope, the proportional number of
+    bad grains, Prof. Caspary ascertained that only 2.5 per cent. were bad,
+    which is a less proportion than in the pollen of three pure species of
+    Cytisus in their cultivated state, viz. _C. purpureus_, _laburnum_, and
+    _alpinus_. Although the pollen of _C. adami_ is thus in appearance
+    good, it does not follow, according {389} to M. Naudin's
+    observations[902] on Mirabilis, that it would be functionally
+    effective. The fact of the ovules of _C. adami_ being monstrous, and
+    the pollen apparently sound, is all the more remarkable, because it is
+    opposed to what usually occurs not only with most hybrids,[903] but
+    with two hybrids in the same genus, namely in _C. purpureo-elongatus_,
+    and _C. alpino-laburnum_. In both these hybrids, the ovules, as
+    observed by Prof. Caspary and myself, were well-formed, whilst many of
+    the pollen-grains were ill-formed; in the latter hybrid 20.3 per cent.,
+    and in the former no less than 84.8 per cent. of the grains were
+    ascertained by Prof. Caspary to be bad. This unusual condition of the
+    male and female reproductive elements in _C. adami_ has been used by
+    Prof. Caspary as an argument against this plant being considered as an
+    ordinary hybrid produced from seed; but we should remember that with
+    hybrids the ovules have not been examined nearly so frequently as the
+    pollen, and they may be much oftener imperfect than is generally
+    supposed. Dr. E. Bornet, of Antibes, informs me (through Mr. J.
+    Traherne Moggridge) that with hybrid Cisti the ovarium is frequently
+    deformed, the ovules being in some cases quite absent, and in other
+    cases incapable of fertilisation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Several theories have been propounded to account for the origin of _C.
+    adami_, and for the transformations which it undergoes. These
+    transformations have been attributed by some authors to simple
+    bud-variation; but considering the wide difference between _C.
+    laburnum_ and _purpureus_, both of which are natural species, and
+    considering the sterility of the intermediate form, this view may be
+    summarily rejected. We shall presently see that, with hybrid plants,
+    two different embryos may be developed within the same seed and cohere;
+    and it has been supposed that _C. adami_ might have thus originated. It
+    is known that when a plant with variegated leaves is budded on a plain
+    stock, the latter is sometimes affected, and it is believed by some
+    that the laburnum has been thus affected. Thus Mr. Purser states[904]
+    that a common laburnum-tree in his garden, into which three _grafts_ of
+    the _Cytisus purpureus_ had been inserted, gradually assumed the
+    character of _C. adami_; but more evidence and copious details would be
+    requisite to make so extraordinary a statement credible.
+
+    Many authors maintain that _C. adami_ is a hybrid produced in the
+    common way by seed, and that it has reverted by buds to its two
+    parent-forms. Negative results are of little value; but Reisseck,
+    Caspary, and I myself, tried in vain to cross _C. laburnum_ and
+    _purpureus_; when I fertilised the former with pollen of the latter, I
+    had the nearest approach to success, for pods were formed, but in
+    sixteen days after the withering of the flowers they fell off.
+    Nevertheless, the belief that _C. adami_ is a spontaneously produced
+    hybrid between these two species is strongly supported by the fact that
+    hybrids between these species and two others have spontaneously {390}
+    arisen. In a bed of seedlings from _C. elongatus_, which grew near to
+    _C. purpureus,_ and was probably fertilised by it, through the agency
+    of insects (for these, as I know by experiment, play an important part
+    in the fertilisation of the laburnum), the sterile hybrid _C.
+    purpureo-elongatus_ appeared.[905] Thus, also, Waterer's laburnum, the
+    _C. alpino-laburnum_,[906] spontaneously appeared, as I am informed by
+    Mr. Waterer, in a bed of seedlings.
+
+    On the other hand, we have a clear and distinct account given by M.
+    Adam, who raised the plant, to Poiteau,[907] showing that _C. adami_ is
+    not an ordinary hybrid. M. Adam inserted in the usual manner a shield
+    of the bark of _C. purpureus_ into a stock of _C. laburnum_; and the
+    bud lay dormant, as often happens, for a year; the shield then produced
+    many buds and shoots, one of which grew more upright and vigorous with
+    larger leaves than the shoots of _C. purpureus_, and was consequently
+    propagated. Now it deserves especial notice that these plants were sold
+    by M. Adam, as a variety of _C. purpureus_, before they had flowered;
+    and the account was published by Poiteau after the plants had flowered,
+    but before they had exhibited their remarkable tendency to revert into
+    the two parent-species. So that there was no conceivable motive for
+    falsification, and it is difficult to see how there could have been any
+    error. If we admit as true M. Adam's account, we must admit the
+    extraordinary fact that two distinct species can unite by their
+    cellular tissue, and subsequently produce a plant bearing leaves and
+    sterile flowers intermediate in character between the scion and stock,
+    and producing buds liable to reversion; in short, resembling in every
+    important respect a hybrid formed in the ordinary way by seminal
+    reproduction. Such plants, if really thus formed, might be called
+    graft-hybrids.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    I will now give all the facts which I have been able to collect
+    illustrative of the above theories, not for the sake of merely throwing
+    light on the origin of _C. adami_, but to show in how many
+    extraordinary and complex methods one kind of plant may affect another,
+    generally in connection with bud-variation. The supposition that either
+    _C. laburnum_ or _purpureus_ produced by ordinary bud-variation the
+    intermediate and the other form, may, as already remarked, be
+    absolutely excluded, from the want of any evidence, from the great
+    amount of change thus implied, {391} and from the sterility of the
+    intermediate form. Nevertheless such cases as nectarines suddenly
+    appearing on peach-trees, occasionally with the fruit half-and-half in
+    nature,--moss-roses appearing on other roses, with the flowers divided
+    into halves, or striped with different colours,--and other such cases,
+    are closely analogous in the result produced, though not in origin,
+    with the case of _C. adami_.
+
+    A distinguished botanist, Mr. G. H. Thwaites,[908] has recorded a
+    remarkable case of a seed from _Fuchsia coccinea_ fertilised by _F.
+    fulgens_, which contained two embryos, and was "a true vegetable twin."
+    The two plants produced from the two embryos were "extremely different
+    in appearance and character," though both resembled other hybrids of
+    the same parentage produced at the same time. These twin plants "were
+    closely coherent, below the two pairs of cotyledon-leaves, into a
+    single cylindrical stem, so that they had subsequently the appearance
+    of being branches on one trunk." Had the two united stems grown up to
+    their full height, instead of dying, a curiously mixed hybrid would
+    have been produced; but even if some of the buds had subsequently
+    reverted to both parent-forms, the case, although more complex, would
+    not have been strictly analogous with that of _C. adami_. On the other
+    hand, a mongrel melon described by Sageret[909] perhaps did thus
+    originate; for the two main branches, which arose from two
+    cotyledon-buds, produced very different fruit,--on the one branch like
+    that of the paternal variety, and on the other branch to a certain
+    extent like that of the maternal variety, the melon of China.
+
+    The famous _bizzarria Orange_ offers a strictly parallel case to that
+    of _Cytisus adami_. The gardener who in 1644 in Florence raised this
+    tree, declared that it was a seedling which had been grafted; and after
+    the graft had perished, the stock sprouted and produced the bizzarria.
+    Gallesio, who carefully examined several living specimens and compared
+    them with the description given by the original describer P. Nato,[910]
+    states that the tree produces at the same time leaves, flowers, and
+    fruit, identical with the bitter orange and with the citron of
+    Florence, and likewise compound fruit with the two kinds either blended
+    together, both externally and internally, or segregated in various
+    ways. This tree can be propagated by cuttings, and retains its
+    diversified character. The so-called trifacial orange of Alexandria and
+    Smyrna[911] resembles in its general nature the bizzarria, but differs
+    from it in the _sweet_ orange and citron being blended together in the
+    same fruit, and separately produced on the same tree: nothing is known
+    of its origin. In regard to the bizzarria, many authors believe that it
+    is a graft-hybrid; Gallesio on the other hand thinks that it is an
+    ordinary hybrid, with the habit of partially reverting {392} by buds to
+    the two parent-forms; and we have seen in the last chapter that the
+    species in this genus often cross spontaneously.
+
+    Here is another analogous, but doubtful case. A writer in the
+    'Gardener's Chronicle'[912] states that an _AEsculus rubicunda_ in his
+    garden yearly produced on one of its branches "spikes of pale yellow
+    flowers, smaller in size and somewhat similar in colour to those of _AE.
+    flava_." If as the editor believes _AEsculus rubicunda_ is a hybrid
+    descended on one side from _AE. flava_, we have a case of partial
+    reversion to one of the parent-forms. If, as some botanists maintain,
+    _AE. rubicunda_ is not a hybrid, but a natural species, the case is one
+    of simple bud-variation.
+
+    The following facts show that hybrids produced from seed in the
+    ordinary way, certainly sometimes revert by buds to their parent-forms.
+    Hybrids between _Tropaeolum minus_ and _majus_[913] at first produced
+    flowers intermediate in size, colour, and structure between their two
+    parents; but later in the season some of these plants produced flowers
+    in all respects like those of the mother-form, mingled with flowers
+    still retaining the usual intermediate condition. A hybrid Cereus
+    between _C. speciosissimus_ and _phyllanthus_,[914] plants which are
+    widely different in appearance, produced for the first three years
+    angular, five-sided stems, and then some flat stems like those of _C.
+    phyllanthus_. Koelreuter also gives cases of hybrid Lobelias and
+    Verbascums, which at first produced flowers of one colour, and later in
+    the season flowers of a different colour.[915] Naudin[916] raised forty
+    hybrids from _Datura laevis_ fertilised by _D. stramonium_; and three of
+    these hybrids produced many capsules, of which a half, or quarter, or
+    lesser segment was smooth and of small size like the capsule of the
+    pure _D. laevis_, the remaining part being spinose and of larger size
+    like the capsule of the pure _D. stramonium_: from one of these
+    composite capsules, plants were raised which perfectly resembled both
+    parent-forms.
+
+    Turning now to varieties. A _seedling_ apple, conjectured to be of
+    crossed parentage, has been described in France,[917] which bears
+    fruit, with one half larger than the other, of a red colour, acid
+    taste, and peculiar odour; the other side being greenish-yellow and
+    very sweet: it is said scarcely ever to include perfectly developed
+    seed. I suppose that this is not the same tree with that which
+    Gaudichaud[918] exhibited before the French Institute, bearing on the
+    same branch two distinct kinds of apples, one a _reinette rouge_, and
+    the other like a _reinette canada jaunatre_: this double-bearing
+    variety can be propagated by grafts, and continues to produce both
+    kinds; its origin is unknown. The Rev. J. D. La Touche sent me a
+    coloured drawing of an apple which he brought from Canada, of which
+    half, surrounding and including the whole of the calyx and the
+    insertion of the {393} footstalk, is green, the other half being brown
+    and of the nature of the _pomme gris_ apple, with the line of
+    separation between the two halves exactly defined. The tree was a
+    grafted one, and Mr. La Touche thinks that the branch which bore this
+    curious apple sprung from the point of junction of the graft and stock:
+    had this fact been ascertained, the case would probably have come into
+    the small class of graft-hybrids presently to be given. But the branch
+    may have sprung from the stock, which no doubt was a seedling.
+
+    Prof. H. Lecoq, who has made a great number of crosses between the
+    differently coloured varieties of _Mirabilis jalapa_,[919] finds that
+    in the seedlings the colours rarely combine, but form distinct stripes;
+    or half the flower is of one colour and half of a different colour.
+    Some varieties regularly bear flowers striped with yellow, white, and
+    red; but plants of such varieties occasionally produce on the same root
+    branches with uniformly coloured flowers of all three tints, and other
+    branches with half-and-half coloured flowers and others with marbled
+    flowers. Gallesio[920] crossed reciprocally white and red carnations,
+    and the seedlings were striped; but some of the striped plants also
+    bore entirely white and entirely red flowers. Some of these plants
+    produced one year red flowers alone, and in the following year striped
+    flowers; or conversely, some plants, after having borne for two or
+    three years striped flowers, would revert and bear exclusively red
+    flowers. It may be worth mentioning that I fertilised the _Purple
+    Sweet-pea_ (_Lathyrus odoratus_) with pollen from the light-coloured
+    _Painted Lady_: seedlings raised from one and the same pod were not
+    intermediate in character, but perfectly resembled both parents. Later
+    in the summer, the plants which had at first borne flowers identical
+    with those of the _Painted Lady_, produced flowers streaked and
+    blotched with purple; showing in these darker marks a tendency to
+    reversion to the mother-variety. Andrew Knight[921] fertilised two
+    white grapes with pollen of the Aleppo grape, which is darkly
+    variegated both in its leaves and fruit. The result was that the young
+    seedlings were not at first variegated, but all became variegated
+    during the succeeding summer; besides this, many produced on the same
+    plant bunches of grapes which were all black, or all white, or
+    lead-coloured striped with white, or white dotted with minute black
+    stripes; and grapes of all these shades could frequently be found on
+    the same footstalk.
+
+In most of these cases of crossed varieties, and in some of the cases of
+crossed species, the colours proper to both parents appeared in the
+seedlings, as soon as they first flowered, in the form of stripes or larger
+segments, or as whole flowers or fruit of two kinds borne on the same
+plant; and in this case the appearance of the two colours cannot strictly
+be said to be due to reversion, but to some incapacity of fusion, leading
+to their {394} segregation. When, however, the later flowers or fruit,
+produced during the same season or during a succeeding year or generation,
+become striped or half-in-half, &c., the segregation of the two colours is
+strictly a case of reversion by bud-variation. In a future chapter I shall
+show that, with animals of crossed parentage, the same individual has been
+known to change its character during growth, and to revert to one of its
+parents which it did not at first resemble. From the various facts now
+given there can be no doubt that the same individual plant, whether a
+hybrid or a mongrel, sometimes returns in its leaves, flowers, and fruit,
+either wholly or by segments, to both parent-forms, in the same manner as
+the _Cytisus adami_, and the _Bizzarria Orange_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We will now consider the few facts which have been recorded in support of
+the belief that a variety when grafted or budded on another variety
+sometimes affects the whole stock, or at the point of junction gives rise
+to a bud, or graft-hybrid, which partakes of the characters of both stock
+and scion.
+
+    It is notorious that when the variegated Jessamine is budded on the
+    common kind, the stock sometimes produces buds bearing variegated
+    leaves: Mr. Rivers, as he informs me, has seen instances of this. The
+    same thing occurs with the Oleander.[922] Mr. Rivers, on the authority
+    of a trustworthy friend, states that some buds of a golden-variegated
+    ash, which were inserted into common ashes, all died except one; but
+    the ash-stocks were affected,[923] and produced, both above and below
+    the points of insertion of the plates of bark bearing the dead buds,
+    shoots which bore variegated leaves. Mr. J. Anderson Henry has
+    communicated to me a nearly similar case: Mr. Brown, of Perth, observed
+    many years ago, in a Highland glen, an ash-tree with yellow leaves; and
+    buds taken from this tree were inserted into common ashes, which in
+    consequence were affected, and produced the _Blotched Breadalbane Ash_.
+    This variety has been propagated, and has preserved its character
+    during the last fifty years. Weeping ashes, also, were budded on the
+    affected stocks, and became similarly variegated. Many authors consider
+    variegation as the result of disease; and on this view, which however
+    is doubtful, for some variegated plants are perfectly healthy and
+    vigorous, the foregoing cases may be looked at as the direct result of
+    the inoculation of a disease. Variegation is much influenced, as we
+    shall hereafter see, by the nature of the soil in which the {395}
+    plants are grown; and it does not seem improbable that whatever change
+    in the sap or tissues certain soils induce, whether or not called a
+    disease, might spread from the inserted piece of bark to the stock. But
+    a change of this kind cannot be considered to be of the nature of a
+    graft-hybrid.
+
+    There is a variety of the hazel with dark-purple leaves, like those of
+    the copper-beech: no one has attributed this colour to disease, and it
+    apparently is only an exaggeration of a tint which may often be seen on
+    the leaves of the common hazel. When this variety is grafted on the
+    common hazel,[924] it sometimes colours, as has been asserted, the
+    leaves below the graft; but I should add that Mr. Rivers, who has
+    possessed hundreds of such grafted trees, has never seen an instance.
+
+    Gaertner[925] quotes two separate accounts of branches of dark and
+    white-fruited vines which had been united in various ways, such as
+    being split longitudinally, and then joined, &c.; and these branches
+    produced distinct bunches of grapes of the two colours, and other
+    bunches with grapes either striped or of an intermediate and new tint.
+    Even the leaves in one case were variegated. These facts are the more
+    remarkable because Andrew Knight never succeeded in raising variegated
+    grapes by fertilising white kinds by pollen of dark kinds; though, as
+    we have seen, he obtained seedlings with variegated fruit and leaves,
+    by fertilising a white variety by the variegated dark Aleppo grape.
+    Gaertner attributes the above-quoted cases merely to bud-variation; but
+    it is a strange coincidence that the branches which had been grafted in
+    a peculiar manner should alone have thus varied; and H. Adorne de
+    Tscharner positively asserts that he produced the described result more
+    than once, and could do so at will, by splitting and uniting the
+    branches in the manner described by him.
+
+    I should not have quoted the following case had not the author of 'Des
+    Jacinthes'[926] impressed me with the belief not only of his extensive
+    knowledge, but of his truthfulness: he says that bulbs of blue and red
+    hyacinths may be cut in two, and that they will grow together and throw
+    up a united stem (and this I have myself seen), with flowers of the two
+    colours on the opposite sides. But the remarkable point is, that
+    flowers are sometimes produced with the two colours blended together,
+    which makes the case closely analogous with that of the blended colours
+    of the grapes on the united vine-branches.
+
+    Mr. E. Trail stated in 1867, before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh
+    (and has since given me fuller information), that several years ago he
+    cut about sixty blue and white potatoes into halves through the eyes or
+    buds, and then carefully joined them, destroying at the same time the
+    other eyes. Some of these united tubers produced white, and others blue
+    tubers; and it is probable that in these cases the one half alone of
+    the bud grew. Some, however, produced tubers partly white and partly
+    blue; and the tubers from about four or five were regularly mottled
+    with the two colours. in these latter cases we may conclude that a stem
+    had been formed by {396} the union of the bisected buds; and as tubers
+    are produced by the enlargement of subterranean branches arising from
+    the main stem, their mottled colour apparently affords clear evidence
+    of the intimate commingling of the two varieties. I have repeated these
+    experiments on the potato and on the hyacinth on a large scale, but
+    with no success.
+
+    The most reliable instance known to me of the formation of a
+    graft-hybrid is one, recorded by Mr. Poynter,[927] who assures me, in a
+    letter of the entire accuracy of the statement, _Rosa Devoniensis_ had
+    been budded some years previously on a white Banksian rose; and from
+    the much enlarged point of junction, whence the Devoniensis and
+    Banksian still continued to grow, a third branch issued, which was
+    neither pure Banksian nor pure Devoniensis, but partook of the
+    character of both; the flowers resembled, but were superior in
+    character to those of the variety called _Lamarque_ (one of the
+    Noisettes), while the shoots were similar in their manner of growth to
+    those of the Banksian rose, with the exception that the longer and more
+    robust shoots were furnished with prickles. This rose was exhibited
+    before the Floral Committee of the Horticultural Society of London. Dr.
+    Lindley examined it, and concluded that it had certainly been produced
+    by the mingling of _R. Banksiae_ with some rose like _R. Devoniensis_,
+    "for while it was very greatly increased in vigour and in the size of
+    all the parts, the leaves were half-way between a Banksian and
+    Tea-scented rose." It appears that rose-growers were aware that the
+    Banksian rose sometimes affects other roses. Had it not been for this
+    latter statement, it might have been suspected that this new variety
+    was simply due to bud-variation, and that it had occurred by a mere
+    accident at the point of junction between the two old kinds.
+
+To sum up the foregoing facts: the statement that _Cytisus adami_
+originated as a graft-hybrid is so precise that it can hardly be rejected,
+and, as we have just seen, some analogous facts render the statement to a
+certain extent probable. The peculiar, monstrous condition of the ovules,
+and the apparently sound condition of the pollen, favour the belief that it
+is not an ordinary or seminal hybrid. On the other hand, the fact that the
+same two species, viz. _C. laburnum_ and _purpureus_, have spontaneously
+produced hybrids by seed, is a strong argument in support of the belief
+that C. _adami_ originated in a similar manner. With respect to the
+extraordinary tendency which this tree exhibits to complete or partial
+reversion, we have seen that undoubted seminal hybrids and mongrels are
+similarly liable. On the whole, I am inclined to put trust in M. Adam's
+statement; and if it should ever be proved true, the same view would
+probably have {397} to be extended to the Bizzarria and Trifacial oranges
+and to the apples above described; but more evidence is requisite before
+the possibility of the production of graft-hybrids can be fully admitted.
+Although it is at present impossible to arrive at any certain conclusion
+with respect to the origin of these remarkable trees, the various facts
+above given appear to me to deserve attention under several points of view,
+more especially as showing that the power of reversion is inherent in Buds.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_On the direct or immediate action of the Male Element on the Mother
+Form._--Another remarkable class of facts must be here considered, because
+they have been supposed to account for some cases of bud-variation: I refer
+to the direct action of the male element, not in the ordinary way on the
+ovules, but on certain parts of the female plant, or in the case of animals
+on the subsequent progeny of the female by a second male. I may premise
+that with plants the ovarium and the coats of the ovules are obviously
+parts of the female, and it could not have been anticipated that they would
+be affected by the pollen of a foreign variety or species, although the
+development of the embryo, within the embryonic sack, within the ovule,
+within the ovarium, of course depends on the male element.
+
+    Even as long ago as 1729 it was observed[928] that white and blue
+    varieties of the Pea, when planted near each other, mutually crossed,
+    no doubt through the agency of bees, and in the autumn blue and white
+    peas were found within the same pods. Wiegmann made an exactly similar
+    observation in the present century. The same result has followed
+    several times when a variety with peas of one colour has been
+    artificially crossed by a differently-coloured variety.[929] These
+    statements led Gaertner, who was highly sceptical on the subject,
+    carefully to try a long series of experiments: he selected the most
+    constant varieties, and the result conclusively showed that the colour
+    of the skin of the pea is modified when pollen of a differently
+    coloured variety is used. This conclusion has since been confirmed by
+    experiments made by the Rev. J. M. Berkeley.[930]
+
+    Mr. Laxton of Stamford, whilst making experiments on peas for the
+    express purpose of ascertaining the influence of foreign pollen on the
+    mother-plant, has recently[931] observed an important additional fact.
+    He fertilised the Tall Sugar pea, which bears very thin green pods,
+    becoming {398} brownish-white when dry, with pollen of the
+    Purple-podded pea, which, as its name expresses, has dark-purple pods
+    with very thick skin, becoming pale reddish-purple when dry. Mr. Laxton
+    has cultivated the tall sugar-pea during twenty years, and has never
+    seen or heard of it producing a purple pod; nevertheless, a flower
+    fertilised by pollen from the purple-pod yielded a pod clouded with
+    purplish-red, which Mr. Laxton kindly gave to me. A space of about two
+    inches in length towards the extremity of the pod, and a smaller space
+    near the stalk, were thus coloured. On comparing the colour with that
+    of the purple-pod, both pods having been first dried and then soaked in
+    water, it was found to be identically the same; and in both the colour
+    was confined to the cells lying immediately beneath the outer skin of
+    the pod. The valves of the crossed pod were also decidedly thicker and
+    stronger than those of the pods of the mother-plant, but this may have
+    been an accidental circumstance, for I know not how far their thickness
+    in the Tall Sugar-pea is a variable character.
+
+    The peas of the Tall Sugar-pea, when dry, are pale greenish-brown,
+    thickly covered with dots of dark purple so minute as to be visible
+    only through a lens, and Mr. Laxton has never seen or heard of this
+    variety producing a purple pea; but in the crossed pod one of the peas
+    was of a uniform beautiful violet-purple tint, and a second was
+    irregularly clouded with pale purple. The colour lies in the outer of
+    the two coats which surround the pea. As the peas of the purple-podded
+    variety when dry are of a pale greenish-buff, it would at first appear
+    that this remarkable change of colour in the peas in the crossed pod
+    could not have been caused by the direct action of the pollen of the
+    purple-pod: but when we bear in mind that this latter variety has
+    purple flowers, purple marks on its stipules, and purple pods; and that
+    the Tall sugar-pea likewise has purple flowers and stipules, and
+    microscopically minute purple dots on the peas, we can hardly doubt
+    that the tendency to the production of purple in both parents has in
+    combination modified the colour of the peas in the crossed pod. After
+    having examined these specimens, I crossed the same two varieties, and
+    the peas in one pod, but not the pods themselves, were clouded and
+    tinted with purplish-red in a much more conspicuous manner than the
+    peas in the uncrossed pods produced at the same time by the same
+    plants. I may notice as a caution that Mr. Laxton sent me various other
+    crossed peas slightly, or even greatly, modified in colour; but the
+    change in these cases was due, as had been suspected by Mr. Laxton, to
+    the altered colour of the cotyledons, seen through the transparent
+    coats of the peas; and as the cotyledons are parts of the embryo, these
+    cases are not in any way remarkable.
+
+    Turning now to the genus Matthiola. The pollen of one kind of stock
+    sometimes affects the colour of the seeds of another kind, used as the
+    mother-plant. I give the following case the more readily, as Gaertner
+    doubted similar statements with respect to the stock previously made by
+    other observers. A well-known horticulturist, Major Trevor Clarke,
+    informs me[932] that the seeds of the large red-flowered _biennial_
+    stock {399} (_Matthiola annua_; _Cocardeau_ of the French) are light
+    brown, and those of the purple branching Queen stock (_M. incana_) are
+    violet-black; and he found that, when flowers of the red stock were
+    fertilised by pollen from the purple stock, they yielded about fifty
+    per cent. of _black_ seeds. He sent me four pods from a red-flowered
+    plant, two of which had been fertilised by their own pollen, and they
+    included pale brown seed; and two which had been crossed by pollen from
+    the purple kind, and they included seeds all deeply tinged with black.
+    These latter seeds yielded purple-flowered plants like their father;
+    whilst the pale brown seeds yielded normal red-flowered plants; and
+    Major Clarke, by sowing similar seeds, has observed on a greater scale
+    the same result. The evidence in this case of the direct action of the
+    pollen of one species on the colour of the seeds of another species
+    appears to me conclusive.
+
+In the foregoing cases, with the exception of that of the purple-podded
+pea, the coats of the seeds alone have been affected in colour. We shall
+now see that the ovarium itself, whether forming a large fleshy fruit or a
+mere thin envelope, may be modified by foreign pollen, in colour, flavour,
+texture, size, and shape.
+
+    The most remarkable instance, because carefully recorded by highly
+    competent authorities, is one of which I have seen an account in a
+    letter written, in 1867, by M. Naudin to Dr. Hooker. M. Naudin states
+    that he has seen fruit growing on _Chamaerops humilis_, which had been
+    fertilised by M. Denis with pollen from the Phoenix or date-palm. The
+    fruit or drupe thus produced was twice as large as, and more elongated
+    than, that proper to the Chamaerops; so that it was intermediate in
+    these respects, as well as in texture, between the fruit of the two
+    parents. These hybridised seeds germinated, and produced young plants
+    likewise intermediate in character. This case is the more remarkable as
+    the Chamaerops and Phoenix belong not only to distinct genera, but in
+    the estimation of some botanists to distinct sections of the family.
+
+    Gallesio[933] fertilised the flowers of an orange with pollen from the
+    lemon; and one fruit thus produced bore a longitudinal stripe of peel
+    having the colour, flavour, and other characters of the lemon. Mr.
+    Anderson[934] fertilised a green-fleshed melon with pollen from a
+    scarlet-fleshed kind; in two of the fruits "a sensible change was
+    perceptible; and four other fruits were somewhat altered both
+    internally and externally." The seeds of the two first-mentioned fruits
+    produced plants partaking of the good properties of both parents. In
+    the United States, where Cucurbitaceae are largely cultivated, it is the
+    popular belief[935] that the fruit is thus directly affected by foreign
+    pollen; and I have received a similar statement with respect to {400}
+    the cucumber in England. It is known that grapes have been thus
+    affected in colour, size, and shape: in France a pale-coloured grape
+    had its juice tinted by the pollen of the dark-coloured Teinturier; in
+    Germany a variety bore berries which were affected by the pollen of two
+    adjoining kinds; some of the berries being only partially affected or
+    mottled.[936] As long ago as 1751[937] it was observed that, when
+    differently coloured varieties of maize grow near each other, they
+    mutually affect each other's seeds, and this is now a popular belief in
+    the United States. Dr. Savi[938] tried the experiment with care: he
+    sowed yellow and black-seeded maize together, and on the same ear some
+    of the seeds were yellow, some black, and some mottled,[939] the
+    differently coloured seeds being arranged in rows or irregularly. Mr.
+    Sabine states[940] that he has seen the form of the nearly globular
+    seed-capsule of _Amaryllis vittata_ altered by the application of the
+    pollen of another species, of which the capsule has gibbous angles. Mr.
+    J. Anderson Henry[941] crossed _Rhododendron Dalhousiae_ with the pollen
+    of _R. Nuttallii_, which is one of the largest-flowered and noblest
+    species of the genus. The largest pod produced by the former species,
+    when fertilised with its own pollen, measured 1-2/8 inch in length and
+    11/2 in girth; whilst three of the pods which had been fertilised by
+    pollen of _R. Nuttallii_ measured 1-5/8 inch in length and no less than
+    2 inches in girth. Here we see the effect of foreign pollen apparently
+    confined to increasing the size of the ovarium; but we must be cautious
+    in assuming, as the following case shows, that in this instance size
+    has been directly transferred from the male parent to the capsule of
+    the female plant. Mr. Henry fertilised _Arabis blepharophylla_ with
+    pollen of _A. Soyeri_, and the pods thus produced, of which he was so
+    kind as to send me detailed measurements and sketches, were much larger
+    in all their dimensions than those naturally produced by either the
+    male or female parent-species. In a future chapter we shall see {401}
+    that the organs of vegetation in hybrid plants, independently of the
+    character of either parent, are sometimes developed to a monstrous
+    size; and the increased size of the pods in the foregoing cases may be
+    an analogous fact.
+
+    No case of the direct action of the pollen of one variety on another is
+    better authenticated or more remarkable than that of the common apple.
+    The fruit here consists of the lower part of the calyx and of the upper
+    part of the flower-peduncle[942] in a metamorphosed condition, so that
+    the effect of the foreign pollen has extended even beyond the limits of
+    the ovarium. Cases of apples thus affected were recorded by Bradley in
+    the early part of the last century; and other cases are given in old
+    volumes of the Philosophical Transactions;[943] in one of these a
+    Russeting apple and an adjoining kind mutually affected each other's
+    fruit; and in another case a smooth apple affected a rough-coated kind.
+    Another instance has been given[944] of two very different apple-trees
+    growing close to each other, which bore fruit resembling each other,
+    but only on the adjoining branches. It is, however, almost superfluous
+    to adduce these or other cases, after that of the St. Valery apple,
+    which, from the abortion of the stamens, does not produce pollen, but,
+    being annually fertilised by the girls of the neighbourhood with pollen
+    of many kinds, bears fruit, "differing from each other in size,
+    flavour, and colour, but resembling in character the hermaphrodite
+    kinds by which they have been fertilised."[945]
+
+I have now shown, on the authority of several excellent observers, in the
+case of plants belonging to widely different orders, that the pollen of one
+species or variety, when applied to a distinct form, occasionally causes
+the coats of the seeds and the ovarium or fruit, including even in one
+instance the calyx and upper part of the peduncle of the mother-plant, to
+become modified. Sometimes the whole of the ovarium or all the seeds are
+thus affected; sometimes only a certain number of the seeds, as in the case
+of the pea, or only a part of the ovarium, as with the striped orange,
+mottled grapes and maize, are thus affected. It must not be supposed that
+any direct or immediate effect invariably follows the use of foreign
+pollen: this is far from being the case; nor is it known on what conditions
+the result depends. Mr. Knight[946] expressly states that he has never seen
+{402} the fruit thus affected, though he has crossed thousands of apple and
+other fruit-trees. There is not the least reason to believe that a branch
+which has borne seed or fruit directly modified by foreign pollen is itself
+affected, so as subsequently to produce modified buds: such an occurrence,
+from the temporary connection of the flower with the stem, would be hardly
+possible. Hence but very few, if any, of the cases of sudden modifications
+in the fruit of trees, given in the early part of this chapter, can be
+accounted for by the action of foreign pollen; for such modified fruits
+have commonly been afterwards propagated by budding or grafting. It is also
+obvious that changes of colour in the flower which necessarily supervene
+long before it is ready for fertilisation, and changes in the shape or
+colour of the leaves, can have no relation to the action of foreign pollen:
+all such cases must be attributed to simple bud-variation.
+
+The proofs of the action of foreign pollen on the mother-plant have been
+given in considerable detail, because this action, as we shall see in a
+future chapter, is of the highest theoretical importance, and because it is
+in itself a remarkable and apparently anomalous circumstance. That it is
+remarkable under a physiological point of view is clear, for the male
+element not only affects, in accordance with its proper function, the germ,
+but the surrounding tissues of the mother-plant. That the action is
+anomalous in appearance is true, but hardly so in reality, for apparently
+it plays the same part in the ordinary fertilisation of many flowers.
+Gaertner has shown,[947] by gradually increasing the number of pollen-grains
+until he succeeded in fertilising a Malva, that many grains are expended in
+the development, or, as he expresses it, in the satiation, of the pistil
+and ovarium. Again, when one plant is fertilised by a widely distinct
+species, it often happens that the ovarium is fully and quickly developed
+without any seeds being formed, or the coats of the seeds are developed
+without an embryo being formed within. Dr. Hildebrand also has lately shown
+in a valuable paper[948] that, with several Orchideae, the action of the
+plant's own {403} pollen is necessary for the development of the ovarium,
+and that this development takes place not only long before the pollen-tubes
+have reached the ovules, but even before the placentae and ovules have been
+formed; so that with these orchids the pollen apparently acts directly on
+the ovarium. On the other hand, we must not overrate the efficacy of pollen
+in this respect; for in the case of hybridised plants it might be argued
+that an embryo had been formed and had affected the surrounding tissues of
+the mother-plant before it perished at a very early age. Again, it is well
+known that with many plants the ovarium may be fully developed, though
+pollen be wholly excluded. And lastly, Mr. Smith, the late Curator at Kew
+(as I hear through Dr. Hooker), observed the singular fact with an orchid,
+the _Bonatea speciosa_, the development of the ovarium could be effected by
+mechanical irritation of the stigma. Nevertheless, from the number of the
+pollen-grains expended "in the satiation of the ovarium and pistil,"--from
+the generality of the formation of the ovarium and seed-coats in sterile
+hybridised plants,--and from Dr. Hildebrand's observations on orchids, we
+may admit that in most cases the swelling of the ovarium, and the formation
+of the seed-coats, are at least aided, if not wholly caused, by the direct
+action of the pollen, independently of the intervention of the fertilised
+germ. Therefore, in the previously-given cases we have only to add to our
+belief in the power of the plant's own pollen on the development of the
+ovarium and seed-coats, its further power, when applied to a distinct
+species or variety, of influencing the shape, size, colour, texture, &c.,
+of these same parts.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Turning now to the animal kingdom. If we could imagine the same flower to
+yield seeds during successive years, then it would not be very surprising
+that a flower of which the ovarium had been modified by foreign pollen
+should next year produce, when self-fertilised, offspring modified by the
+previous male influence. Closely analogous cases have actually occurred
+with animals. In the case often quoted from Lord Morton,[949] a nearly
+purely-bred, Arabian, chesnut mare bore a hybrid to a quagga; she was
+subsequently sent to Sir Gore Ouseley, and produced {404} two colts by a
+black Arabian horse. These colts were partially dun-coloured, and were
+striped on the legs more plainly than the real hybrid, or even than the
+quagga. One of the two colts had its neck and some other parts of its body
+plainly marked with stripes. Stripes on the body, not to mention those on
+the legs, and the dun-colour, are extremely rare,--I speak after having
+long attended to the subject,--with horses of all kinds in Europe, and are
+unknown in the case of Arabians. But what makes the case still more
+striking is that the hair of the mane in these colts resembled that of the
+quagga, being short, stiff, and upright. Hence there can be no doubt that
+the quagga affected the character of the offspring subsequently begot by
+the black Arabian horse. With respect to the varieties of our domesticated
+animals, many similar and well-authenticated facts have been
+published,[950] and others have been communicated to me, plainly showing
+the influence of the first male on the progeny subsequently borne by the
+mother to other males. It will suffice to give a single instance, recorded
+in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' in a paper following that by Lord
+Morton: Mr. Giles put a sow of Lord Western's black and white Essex breed
+to a wild boar of a deep chesnut colour; and the "pigs produced partook in
+appearance of both boar and sow, but in some the chesnut colour of the boar
+strongly prevailed." After the boar had long been dead, the sow was put to
+a boar of her own black and white breed,--a kind which is well known to
+breed very true and never to show any chesnut colour,--yet from this union
+the sow produced some young pigs which were plainly marked with the same
+chesnut tint as in the first litter. Similar cases have so frequently
+occurred, that careful breeders avoid putting a choice female to an
+inferior male on account of the injury to her subsequent progeny which may
+be expected to follow.
+
+{405}
+
+Some physiologists have attempted to account for these remarkable results
+from a first impregnation by the close attachment and freely
+intercommunicating blood-vessels between the modified embryo and the
+mother. But it is a most improbable hypothesis that the mere blood of one
+individual should affect the reproductive organs of another individual in
+such a manner as to modify the subsequent offspring. The analogy from the
+direct action of foreign pollen on the ovarium and seed-coats of the
+mother-plant strongly supports the belief that the male element acts
+directly on the reproductive organs of the female, wonderful as is this
+action, and not through the intervention of the crossed embryo. With birds
+there is no such close connection between the embryo and mother as in the
+case of mammals: yet a careful observer, Dr. Chapuis, states[951] that with
+pigeons the influence of a first male sometimes makes itself perceived in
+the succeeding broods; but this statement, before it can be fully trusted,
+requires confirmation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Conclusion and Summary of the Chapter._--The facts given in the latter
+half of this chapter are well worthy of consideration, as they show us in
+how many extraordinary modes one organic form may lead to the modification
+of another, and often without the intervention of seminal reproduction.
+There is ample evidence, as we have just seen, that the male element may
+either directly affect the structure of the female, or in the case of
+animals lead to the modification of her offspring. There is a considerable
+but insufficient body of evidence showing that the tissues of two plants
+may unite and form a bud having a blended character; or again, that buds
+inserted into a stock may affect all the buds subsequently produced by this
+stock. Two embryos, differing from each other and contained in the same
+seed, may cohere and form a single plant. Offspring from a cross between
+two species or varieties may in the first or in a succeeding generation
+revert in various degrees by bud-variation to their parent-forms; and this
+reversion or segregation of character may affect the whole flower, fruit,
+or leaf-bud, or only the half or smaller segment, or a single organ. In
+some cases this segregation of character apparently depends on some {406}
+incapacity of union rather than on reversion, for the flowers or fruit
+which are first produced display by segments the characters of both
+parents. In the _Cytisus adami_ and the Bizzarria orange, whatever their
+origin may have been, the two parent species occur blended together under
+the form of a sterile hybrid, or reappear with their characters perfect and
+their reproductive organs effective; and these trees, retaining the same
+sportive character, can be propagated by buds. These various facts ought to
+be well considered by any one who wishes to embrace under a single point of
+view the various modes of reproduction by gemmation, division, and sexual
+union, the reparation of lost parts, variation, inheritance, reversion, and
+other such phenomena. In a chapter towards the close of the following
+volume I shall attempt to connect these facts together by a provisional
+hypothesis.
+
+In the early half of this chapter I have given a long list of plants in
+which through bud-variation, that is, independently of reproduction by
+seed, the fruit has suddenly become modified in size, colour, flavour,
+hairiness, shape, and time of maturity; flowers have similarly changed in
+shape, colour, and doubleness, and greatly in the character of the calyx;
+young branches or shoots have changed in colour, in bearing spines, and in
+habit of growth, as in climbing and weeping; leaves have changed in colour,
+variegation, shape, period of unfolding, and in their arrangement on the
+axis. Buds of all kinds, whether produced on ordinary branches or on
+subterranean stems, whether simple or, as in tubers and bulbs, much
+modified and supplied with a stock of nutriment, are all liable to sudden
+variations of the same general nature.
+
+In the list, many of the cases are certainly due to reversion to characters
+not acquired from a cross, but which were formerly present, and have been
+lost for a longer or shorter period of time;--as when a bud on a variegated
+plant produces plain leaves, or when variously-coloured flowers on the
+Chrysanthemum revert to the aboriginal yellow tint. Many other cases
+included in the list are probably due to the plants being of crossed
+parentage, and to the buds reverting to one of the two parent-forms. In
+illustration of the origin of _Cytisus adami_, several cases were given of
+partial or complete reversion, both {407} with hybrid and mongrel plants;
+hence we may suspect that the strong tendency in the Chrysanthemum, for
+instance, to produce by bud-variation differently-coloured flowers, results
+from the varieties formerly having been intentionally or accidentally
+crossed; and that their descendants at the present day still occasionally
+revert by buds to the colours of the more persistent parent-varieties. This
+is almost certainly the case with Rollisson's Unique Pelargonium; and so it
+may be to a large extent with the bud-varieties of the Dahlia and with the
+"broken colours" of Tulips.
+
+Many cases of bud-variation, however, cannot be attributed to reversion,
+but to spontaneous variability, such as so commonly occurs with cultivated
+plants when raised from seed. As a single variety of the Chrysanthemum has
+produced by buds six other varieties, and as one variety of the gooseberry
+has borne at the same time four distinct varieties of fruit, it is scarcely
+possible to believe that all these variations are reversions to former
+parents. We can hardly believe, as remarked in a previous chapter, that all
+the many peaches which have yielded nectarine-buds are of crossed
+parentage. Lastly, in such cases as that of the moss-rose with its peculiar
+calyx, and of the rose which bears opposite leaves, in that of the
+Imatophyllum, &c., there is no known natural species or seedling variety,
+from which the characters in question could have been derived by crossing.
+We must attribute all such cases to actual variability in the buds. The
+varieties which have thus arisen cannot be distinguished by any external
+character from seedlings; this is notoriously the case with the varieties
+of the Rose, Azalea, and many other plants. It deserves notice that all the
+plants which have yielded bud-variations have likewise varied greatly by
+seed.
+
+These plants belong to so many orders that we may infer that almost every
+plant would be liable to bud-variation if placed under the proper exciting
+conditions. These conditions, as far as we can judge, mainly depend on
+long-continued and high cultivation; for almost all the plants in the
+foregoing lists are perennials, and have been largely propagated in many
+soils and under different climates, by cuttings, offsets, bulbs, tubers,
+and especially by budding or grafting. The instances of annuals varying by
+buds, or producing on the same plant {408} differently coloured flowers,
+are comparatively rare: Hopkirk[952] has seen this with _Convolvulus
+tricolor_; and it is not rare with the Balsam and annual Delphinium.
+According to Sir R. Schomburgk, plants from the warmer temperate regions,
+when cultivated under the hot climate of St. Domingo, are eminently liable
+to bud-variation; but change of climate is by no means a necessary
+contingent, as we see with the gooseberry, currant, and some others. Plants
+living under their natural conditions are very rarely subject to
+bud-variation: variegated and coloured leaves have, however, been
+occasionally observed; and I have given an instance of the variation of
+buds on an ash-tree; but it is doubtful whether any tree planted in
+ornamental grounds can be considered as living under strictly natural
+conditions. Gaertner has seen white and dark-red flowers produced from the
+same root of the wild _Achillea millefolium_; and Prof. Caspary has seen
+_Viola lutea_, in a completely wild condition, bearing flowers of different
+colours and sizes.[953]
+
+As wild plants are so rarely liable to bud-variation, whilst highly
+cultivated plants long propagated by artificial means have yielded by this
+form of reproduction many varieties, we are led through a series such as
+the following,--namely, all the eyes in the same tuber of the potato
+varying in the same manner,--all the fruit on a purple plum-tree suddenly
+becoming yellow,--all the fruit on a double-flowered almond suddenly
+becoming peach-like,--all the buds on grafted trees being in some very
+slight degree affected by the stock on which they have been worked,--all
+the flowers on a transplanted heartsease changing for a time in colour,
+size, and shape,--we are led through such facts to look at every case of
+bud-variation as the direct result of the particular conditions of life to
+which the plant has been exposed. But if we turn to the other end of the
+series, namely, to such cases as that of a peach-tree which, after having
+been cultivated by tens of thousands during many years in many countries,
+and after having annually produced thousands of buds, all of which have
+apparently been exposed to precisely the same conditions, yet at last
+suddenly produces a single bud with its whole character greatly
+transformed, we are driven to an opposite {409} conclusion. In such cases
+as the latter it would appear that the transformation stands in no _direct_
+relation to the conditions of life.
+
+We have seen that varieties produced from seeds and from buds resemble each
+other so closely in general appearance, that they cannot possibly be
+distinguished. Just as certain species and groups of species, when
+propagated by seed, are more variable than other species or genera, so it
+is in the case of certain bud-varieties. Thus the Queen of England
+Chrysanthemum has produced by this latter process no less than six, and
+Rollisson's Unique Pelargonium four distinct varieties; moss-roses have
+also produced several other moss-roses. The Rosaceae have varied by buds
+more than any other group of plants; but this may be in large part due to
+so many members having been long cultivated; but within this one group, the
+peach has often varied by buds, whilst the apple and pear, both grafted
+trees extensively cultivated, have afforded, as far as I can ascertain,
+extremely few instances of bud-variation.
+
+The law of analogous variation holds good with varieties produced by buds,
+as with those produced from seed: more than one kind of rose has sported
+into a moss-rose; more than one kind of camellia has assumed an hexagonal
+form; and at least seven or eight varieties of the peach have produced
+nectarines.
+
+The laws of inheritance seem to be nearly the same with seminal and
+bud-varieties. We know how commonly reversion comes into play with both,
+and it may affect the whole, or only segments, of a leaf, flower, or fruit.
+When the tendency to reversion affects many buds on the same tree, it
+becomes covered with different kinds of leaves, flowers, or fruit; but
+there is reason to believe that such fluctuating varieties have generally
+arisen from seed. It is well known that, out of a number of seedling
+varieties, some transmit their character much more truly by seed than
+others; so with bud-varieties some retain their character by successive
+buds more truly than others; of which instances have been given with two
+kinds of variegated Euonymus and with certain kinds of tulips.
+Notwithstanding the sudden production of bud-varieties, the characters thus
+acquired are sometimes capable of transmission by seminal reproduction: Mr.
+Rivers has found that moss-roses generally {410} reproduce themselves by
+seed; and the mossy character has been transferred by crossing, from one
+species of rose to another. The Boston nectarine, which appeared as a
+bud-variation, produced by seed a closely allied nectarine. We have however
+seen, on the authority of Mr. Salter, that seed taken from a branch with
+leaves variegated through bud-variation, transmits this character very
+feebly; whilst many plants, which became variegated as seedlings, transmit
+variegation to a large proportion of their progeny.
+
+Although I have been able to collect a good many cases of bud-variation, as
+shown in the previous lists, and might probably, by searching foreign
+horticultural works, have collected more cases, yet their total number is
+as nothing in comparison with that of seminal varieties. With seedlings
+raised from the more variable cultivated plants, the variations are almost
+infinitely numerous, but their differences are generally slight: only at
+long intervals of time a strongly marked modification appears. On the other
+hand, it is a singular and inexplicable fact that, when plants vary by
+buds, the variations, though they occur with comparative rarity, are often,
+or even generally, strongly pronounced. It struck me that this might
+perhaps be a delusion, and that slight changes often occurred in buds, but
+from being of no value were overlooked or not recorded. Accordingly I
+applied to two great authorities on this subject, namely, to Mr. Rivers
+with respect to fruit-trees, and to Mr. Salter with respect to flowers. Mr.
+Rivers is doubtful, but does not remember having noticed very slight
+variations in fruit-buds. Mr. Salter informs me that with flowers such do
+occur, but, if propagated, they generally lose their new character in the
+following year; yet he concurs with me that bud-variations usually at once
+assume a decided and permanent character. We can hardly doubt that this is
+the rule, when we reflect on such cases as that of the peach, which has
+been so carefully observed and of which such trifling seminal varieties
+have been propagated, yet this tree has repeatedly produced by
+bud-variation nectarines, and only twice (as far as I can learn) any other
+variety, namely, the Early and Late Grosse Mignonne peaches; and these
+differ from the parent-tree in hardly any character except the period of
+maturity. {411}
+
+To my surprise I hear from Mr. Salter that he brings the great principle of
+selection to bear on variegated plants propagated by buds, and has thus
+greatly improved and fixed several varieties. He informs me that at first a
+branch often produces variegated leaves on one side alone, and that the
+leaves are marked only with an irregular edging or with a few lines of
+white and yellow. To improve and fix such varieties, he finds it necessary
+to encourage the buds at the bases of the most distinctly marked leaves,
+and to propagate from them alone. By following with perseverance this plan
+during three or four successive seasons, a distinct and fixed variety can
+generally be secured.
+
+Finally, the facts given in this chapter prove in how close and remarkable
+a manner the germ of a fertilised seed and the small cellular mass forming
+a bud resemble each other in function,--in their powers of inheritance with
+occasional reversion,--and in their capacity for variation of the same
+general nature, in obedience to the same laws. This resemblance, or rather
+identity, is rendered far more striking if the facts can be trusted which
+apparently render it probable that the cellular tissue of one species or
+variety, when budded or grafted on another, may give rise to a bud having
+an intermediate character. In this chapter we clearly see that variability
+is not necessarily contingent on sexual generation, though much more
+frequently its concomitant than on bud-reproduction. We see that
+bud-variability is not solely dependent on reversion or atavism to
+long-lost characters, or to those formerly acquired from a cross, but that
+it is often spontaneous. But when we ask ourselves what is the cause of any
+particular bud-variation, we are lost in doubt, being driven in some cases
+to look to the direct action of the external conditions of life as
+sufficient, and in other cases to feel a profound conviction that these
+have played a quite subordinate part, of not more importance than the
+nature of the spark which ignites a mass of combustible matter.
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+LONDON:
+PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
+AND CHARING CROSS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTES
+
+[1] To any one who has attentively read my 'Origin of Species' this
+Introduction will be superfluous. As I stated that work that I should soon
+publish the facts on which the conclusions given in it were founded, I here
+beg permission to remark that the great delay in publishing this first work
+has been caused by continued ill-health.
+
+[2] M. Pouchet has recently ('Plurality of Races,' Eng. Translat., 1864, p.
+83, &c.) insisted that variation under domestication throws no light on the
+natural modification of species. I cannot perceive the force of his
+arguments, or, to speak more accurately, of his assertions to this effect.
+
+[3] Leon Dufour in 'Annales des Scienc. Nat.' (3rd series, Zoolog.), tom.
+v. p. 6.
+
+[4] In treating the several subjects included in the present and succeeding
+works I have continually been led to ask for information from many
+zoologists, botanists, geologists, breeders of animals, and
+horticulturists, and I have invariably received from them the most generous
+assistance. Without such aid I could have effected little. I have
+repeatedly applied for information and specimens to foreigners, and to
+British merchants and officers of the Government residing in distant lands,
+and, with the rarest exceptions, I have received prompt, open-handed, and
+valuable assistance. I cannot express too strongly my obligations to the
+many persons who have assisted me, and who, I am convinced, would be
+equally willing to assist others in any scientific investigation.
+
+[5] Owen, 'British Fossil Mammals,' p. 123 to 133. Pictet's 'Traite de
+Pal.,' 1853, tom. i. p. 202. De Blainville, in his 'Osteographie, Canidae,'
+p. 142, has largely discussed the whole subject, and concludes that the
+extinct parent of all domesticated dogs came nearest to the wolf in
+organization, and to the jackal in habits.
+
+[6] Pallas, I believe, originated this doctrine in 'Act. Acad. St.
+Petersburgh,' 1780, Part ii. Ehrenberg has advocated it, as may be seen in
+De Blainville's 'Osteographie,' p. 79. It has been carried to an extreme
+extent by Col. Hamilton Smith in the 'Naturalist Library,' vol. ix. and x.
+Mr. W. C. Martin adopts it in his excellent 'History of the Dog,' 1845; as
+does Dr. Morton, as well as Nott and Gliddon, in the United States. Prof.
+Low, in his 'Domesticated Animals,' 1845, p. 666, comes to this same
+conclusion. No one has argued on this side with more clearness and force
+than the late James Wilson, of Edinburgh, in various papers read before the
+Highland Agricultural and Wernerian Societies. Isidore Geoffroy Saint
+Hilaire ('Hist. Nat. Gen.,' 1860, tom. iii. p. 107), though he believes
+that most dogs have descended from the jackal, yet inclines to the belief
+that some are descended from the wolf. Prof. Gervais ('Hist. Nat. Mamm.,'
+1855, tom. ii. p. 69), referring to the view that all the domestic races
+are the modified descendants of a single species, after a long discussion,
+says, "Cette opinion est, suivant nous du moins, la moins probable."
+
+[7] Berjeau, 'The Varieties of the Dog; in old Sculptures and Pictures,'
+1863. 'Der Hund,' von Dr. F. L. Walther, s. 48, Giessen, 1817: this author
+seems carefully to have studied all classical works on the subject. _See_
+also 'Volz, Beitraege zur Kultur-geschichte,' Leipzig, 1852, s. 115. 'Youatt
+on the Dog,' 1845, p. 6. A very full history is given by De Blainville in
+his 'Osteographie, Canidae.'
+
+[8] I have seen drawings of this dog from the tomb of the son of Esar
+Haddon, and clay models in the British Museum. Nott and Gliddon, in their
+'Types of Mankind,' 1854, p. 393, give a copy of these drawings. This dog
+has been called a Thibetan mastiff, but Mr. H. A. Oldfield, who is familiar
+with the so-called Thibet mastiff, and has examined the drawings in the
+British Museum, informs me that he considers them different.
+
+[9] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' July 12th, 1831.
+
+[10] 'Sporting in Algeria,' p. 51.
+
+[11] Berjeau gives fac-similes of the Egyptian drawings. Mr. C. L. Martin,
+in his 'History of the Dog,' 1845, copies several figures from the Egyptian
+monuments, and speaks with much confidence with respect to their identity
+with still living dogs. Messrs. Nott and Gliddon ('Types of Mankind,' 1854,
+p. 388) give still more numerous figures. Mr. Gliddon asserts that a
+curl-tailed greyhound, like that represented on the most ancient monuments,
+is common in Borneo; but the Rajah, Sir J. Brooke, informs me that no such
+dog exists there.
+
+[12] These, and the following facts on the Danish remains, are taken from
+M. Morlot's most interesting memoir in 'Soc. Vaudoise des Sc. Nat.,' tom.
+vi., 1860, pp. 281, 299, 320.
+
+[13] 'Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten,' 1861, s. 117, 162.
+
+[14] De Blainville, 'Osteographie, Canidae.'
+
+[15] Sir R. Schomburgk has given me information on this head. _See_ also
+'Journal of R. Geograph. Soc.,' vol. xiii., 1843, p. 65.
+
+[16] 'Domestication of Animals:' Ethnological Soc., Dec. 22nd, 1863.
+
+[17] 'Journal of Researches,' &c., 1845, p. 393. With respect to _Canis
+antarcticus_, _see_ p. 193. For the case of the antelope, _see_ 'Journal
+Royal Geograph. Soc.,' vol. xxiii. p. 94.
+
+[18] The authorities for the foregoing statements are as
+follow:--Richardson, in 'Fauna Boreali-Americana,' 1829, pp. 64, 75; Dr.
+Kane, 'Arctic Explorations,' 1856, vol. i. pp. 398, 455; Dr. Hayes, 'Arctic
+Boat Journey,' 1860, p. 167. Franklin's 'Narrative,' vol. i. p. 269, gives
+the case of three whelps of a black wolf being carried away by the Indians.
+Parry, Richardson, and others, give accounts of wolves and dogs naturally
+crossing in the eastern parts of North America. Seeman, in his 'Voyage of
+H.M.S. Herald,' 1853, vol. ii. p. 26, says the wolf is often caught by the
+Esqimaux for the purpose of crossing with their dogs, and thus adding to
+their size and strength. M. Lamare-Picquot, in 'Bull. de la Soc.
+d'Acclimat.,' tom. vii., 1860, p. 148, gives a good account of the
+half-bred Esquimaux dogs.
+
+[19] 'Fauna Boreali-Americana,' 1829, pp. 73, 78, 80. Nott and Gliddon,
+'Types of Mankind,' p. 383. The naturalist and traveller Bartram is quoted
+by Hamilton Smith, in 'Nat. Hist. Lib.,' vol. x. p. 156. A Mexican domestic
+dog seems also to resemble a wild dog of the same country; but this may be
+the prairie-wolf. Another capable judge, Mr. J. K. Lord ('The Naturalist in
+Vancouver Island,' 1866, vol. ii. p. 218), says that the Indian dog of the
+Spokans, near the Rocky Mountains, "is beyond all question nothing more
+than a tamed Cayote or prairie-wolf," or _Canis latrans_.
+
+[20] I quote this from Mr. R. Hill's excellent account of the Alco or
+domestic dog of Mexico, in Gosse's 'Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica,' 1851,
+p. 329.
+
+[21] 'Naturgeschichte der Saeugethiere von Paraguay,' 1830, s. 151.
+
+[22] Quoted in Humboldt's 'Aspects of Nature' (Eng. transl.), vol. i. p.
+108.
+
+[23] Paget's 'Travels in Hungary and Transylvania,' vol. i. p. 501.
+Jeitteles, 'Fauna Hungariae Superioris,' 1862, s. 13. _See_ Pliny, 'Hist. of
+the World' (Eng. transl.), 8th book, ch. xl., about the Gauls crossing
+their dogs. _See_ also 'Hist. Animal.' lib. viii. c. 28. For good evidence
+about wolves and dogs naturally crossing near the Pyrenees, _see_ M.
+Mauduyt, 'Du Loup et de ses Races,' Poitiers, 1851; also Pallas, in 'Acta
+Acad. St. Petersburgh,' 1780, part ii. p. 94.
+
+[24] I give this on excellent authority, namely, Mr. Blyth (under the
+signature of Zoophilus), in the 'Indian Sporting Review,' Oct. 1856, p.
+134. Mr. Blyth states that he was struck with the resemblance between a
+brush-tailed race of pariah-dogs, north-west of Cawnpore, and the Indian
+wolf. He gives corroborative evidence with respect to the dogs of the
+valley of the Nerbudda.
+
+[25] For numerous and interesting details on the resemblance of dogs and
+jackals, _see_ Isid. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' 1860, tom.
+iii. p. 101. _See_ also 'Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes,' par Prof. Gervais,
+1855, tom. ii. p. 60.
+
+[26] Gueldenstaedt, 'Nov. Comment. Acad. Petrop.,' tom. xx., pro anno 1775,
+p. 449.
+
+[27] Quoted by De Blainville in his 'Osteographie, Canidae,' pp. 79, 98.
+
+[28] _See_ Pallas, in 'Act. Acad. St. Petersburgh,' 1780, part ii. p. 91.
+For Algeria, _see_ Isid. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii.
+p. 177. In both countries it is the male jackal which pairs with female
+domestic dogs.
+
+[29] John Barbut's 'Description of the Coast of Guinea in 1746.'
+
+[30] 'Travels in South Africa,' vol. ii. p. 272.
+
+[31] Selwyn, Geology of Victoria; 'Journal of Geolog. Soc.,' vol. xiv.,
+1858, p. 536, and vol. xvi., 1860, p. 148; and Prof M^cCoy, in 'Annals and
+Mag. of Nat. Hist.' (3rd series), vol. ix., 1862, p. 147. The Dingo differs
+from the dogs of the central Polynesian islands. Dieffenbach remarks
+('Travels,' vol. ii. p. 45) that the native New Zealand dog also differs
+from the Dingo.
+
+[32] 'Proceedings Zoolog. Soc.,' 1833, p. 112. _See_, also, on the taming
+of the common wolf, L. Lloyd, 'Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. i. p. 460,
+1854. With respect to the jackal, _see_ Prof. Gervais, 'Hist. Nat. Mamm.,'
+tom. ii. p. 61. With respect to the aguara of Paraguay, _see_ Rengger's
+work.
+
+[33] Roulin, in 'Mem. present. par divers Savans,' tom. vi. p. 341.
+
+[34] Martin, 'History of the Dog,' p. 14.
+
+[35] Quoted by L. Lloyd in 'Field Sports of North of Europe,' vol. i. p.
+387.
+
+[36] Quatrefages, 'Soc. d'Acclimat.,' May 11th, 1863, p. 7.
+
+[37] 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' vol. xv., 1845, p. 140.
+
+[38] Azara, 'Voyages dans l'Amer. Merid.,' tom. i. p. 381; his account is
+fully confirmed by Rengger. Quatrefages gives an account of a bitch brought
+from Jerusalem to France which burrowed a hole and littered in it. _See_
+'Discours, Exposition des Races Canines,' 1865, p. 3.
+
+[39] With respect to wolves burrowing holes, _see_ Richardson, Fauna
+Boreali-Americana,' p. 64; and Bechstein, 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' b. i.
+s. 617.
+
+[40] _See_ Poeppig, 'Reise in Chile,' b. i. s. 290; Mr. G. Clarke, as
+above; and Rengger, s. 155.
+
+[41] Dogs, 'Nat. Library,' vol. x. p. 121: an endemic South American dog
+seems also to have become feral in this island. _See_ Gosse's 'Jamaica,' p.
+340.
+
+[42] Low, 'Domesticated Animals,' p. 650.
+
+[43] 'The Naturalist Library,' Dogs, vol. x. pp. 4, 19.
+
+[44] Quoted by Prof. Gervais, 'Hist. Nat. Mamm.,' tom. ii. p. 66.
+
+[45] J. Hunter shows that the long period of seventy-three days given by
+Buffon is easily explained by the bitch having received the dog many times
+during a period of sixteen days ('Phil. Transact.,' 1787, p. 253). Hunter
+found that the gestation of a mongrel from wolf and dog ('Phil. Transact.,'
+1759, p. 160) apparently was sixty-three days, for she received the dog
+more than once. The period of a mongrel dog and jackal was fifty-nine days.
+Fred. Cuvier found the period of gestation of the wolf to be ('Dict. Class.
+d'Hist. Nat.,' tom. iv. p. 8) two months and a few days, which agrees with
+the dog. Isid. G. St. Hilaire, who has discussed the whole subject, and
+from whom I quote Bellingeri, states ('Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 112)
+that in the Jardin des Plantes the period of the jackal has been found to
+be from sixty to sixty-three days, exactly as with the dog.
+
+[46] _See_ Isid. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 112,
+on the odour of jackals. Col. Ham. Smith, in 'Nat. Hist. Lib.,' vol. x. p.
+289.
+
+[47] Quoted by Quatrefages in 'Bull. Soc. d'Acclimat.,' May 11th, 1863.
+
+[48] 'Journal de la Physiologie,' tom. ii. p. 385.
+
+[49] _See_ Mr. R. Hill's excellent account of this breed in Gosse's
+'Jamaica,' p. 338; Rengger's 'Saeugethiere von Paraguay,' s. 153. With
+respect to Spitz dogs, _see_ Bechstein's 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' 1801,
+b. i. s. 638. With respect to Dr. Hodgkin's statement made before Brit.
+Assoc., _see_ 'The Zoologist,' vol. iv., for 1845-46, p. 1097.
+
+[50] 'Acta Acad. St. Petersburgh,' 1780, part ii. pp. 84, 100.
+
+[51] M. Broca has shown ('Journal de Physiologie,' tom. ii. p. 353) that
+Buffon's experiments have been often misrepresented. Broca has collected
+(pp. 390-395) many facts on the fertility of crossed dogs, wolves, and
+jackals.
+
+[52] 'De la Longevite Humaine,' par M. Flourens, 1855, p. 143. Mr. Blyth
+says ('Indian Sporting Review,' vol. ii. p. 137) that he has seen in India
+several hybrids from the pariah-dog and jackal; and between one of these
+hybrids and a terrier. The experiments of Hunter on the jackal are well
+known. See also Isid. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii, p.
+217, who speaks of the hybrid offspring of the jackal as perfectly fertile
+for three generations.
+
+[53] On authority of F. Cuvier, quoted in Bronn's 'Geschichte der Natur,'
+B. ii. s. 164.
+
+[54] W. C. L. Martin, 'History of the Dog,' 1845, p. 203. Mr. Philip P.
+King, after ample opportunities of observation, informs me that the Dingo
+and European dogs often cross in Australia.
+
+[55] Rueppel, 'Neue Wirbelthiere von Abyssinien,' 1835-40; 'Mammif.,' s. 39,
+pl. xiv. There is a specimen of this fine animal in the British Museum.
+
+[56] Even Pallas admits this: _see_ 'Act. Acad. St. Petersburgh,' 1780, p.
+93.
+
+[57] Quoted by I. Geoffroy, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 453.
+
+[58] F. Cuvier, in 'Annales du Museum,' tom. xviii. p. 337; Godron, 'De
+l'Espece,' tom. i. p. 342; and Col. Ham. Smith, in 'Naturalist's Library,'
+vol. ix. p. 101.
+
+[59] Isid. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, 'Hist. des Anomalies,' 1832, tom. i. p.
+660. Gervais, 'Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes,' tom. ii., 1855, p. 66. De
+Blainville ('Osteographie, Canidae,' p. 137) has also seen an extra molar on
+both sides.
+
+[60] 'Osteographie, Canidae,' p. 137.
+
+[61] Wuerzburger, 'Medecin, Zeitschrift,' 1860, B. i. s. 265.
+
+[62] Mr. Yarell, in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' Oct. 8th, 1833. Mr. Waterhouse
+showed me a skull of one of these dogs, which had only a single molar on
+each side and some imperfect incisors.
+
+[63] Quoted in 'The Veterinary,' London, vol. viii. p. 415.
+
+[64] 'Hist Nat. General,' tom. iii. p. 448.
+
+[65] W. Scrope, 'Art of Deer-Stalking,' p. 354.
+
+[66] Quoted by Col. Ham. Smith in 'Naturalist's Library,' vol. x. p. 79.
+
+[67] De Blainville, 'Osteographie, Canidae,' p. 134. F. Cuvier, 'Annales du
+Museum,' tom. xviii. p. 342. In regard to mastiffs, see Col. Ham. Smith,
+'Nat Lib.,' vol. x. p. 218. For the Thibet mastiff, see Mr. Hodgson in
+'Journal of As. Soc. of Bengal,' vol. i., 1832, p. 342.
+
+[68] 'The Dog,' 1845, p. 186. With respect to diseases, Youatt asserts (p.
+167) that the Italian greyhound is "strongly subject" to polypi in the
+matrix or vagina. The spaniel and pug (p. 182) are most liable to
+bronchocele. The liability to distemper (p. 232) is extremely different in
+different breeds. On the distemper, _see_ also Col. Hutchinson on 'Dog
+Breaking,' 1850, p. 279.
+
+[69] _See_ Youatt on the Dog, p. 15; 'The Veterinary,' London, vol. xi. p.
+235.
+
+[70] 'Journal of As. Soc. of Bengal,' vol. iii. p. 19.
+
+[71] 'Travels,' vol. ii. p. 15.
+
+[72] Hodgson, in 'Journal of As. Soc. of Bengal,' vol. i. p. 342.
+
+[73] 'Field Sports of the North of Europe,' vol. ii. p. 165.
+
+[74] 'Hist. Nat. des Mammif., 1855, tom. ii. pp. 66, 67.
+
+[75] 'History of Quadrupeds,' 1793, vol. i. p. 238.
+
+[76] 'Oriental Field Sports,' quoted by Youatt, 'The Dog,' p. 15.
+
+[77] Quoted by Mr. Galton, 'Domestication of Animals,' p. 13.
+
+[78] 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 450.
+
+[79] Mr. Greenhow on the Canadian Dog, in Loudon's 'Mag. of Nat. Hist.,'
+vol. vi., 1833, p. 511.
+
+[80] _See_ Mr. C. O. Groom-Napier on the webbing of the hind feet of
+Otter-hounds, in 'Land and Water,' Oct. 13th, 1866, p. 270.
+
+[81] 'Fauna Boreali-Americana,' 1829, p. 62.
+
+[82] 'The Horse in all his Varieties,' &c., 1829, pp. 230, 234.
+
+[83] 'The Dog,' 1845, pp. 31, 35; with respect to King Charles's spaniel,
+p. 45; for the setter, p. 90.
+
+[84] In the 'Encyclop. of Rural Sports,' p. 557.
+
+[85] 'The Farrier,' 1828, vol. i. p. 337.
+
+[86] _See_ Col. Hamilton Smith on the antiquity of the Pointer, in
+'Naturalist's Library,' vol. x. p. 195.
+
+[87] The Newfoundland dog is believed to have originated from a cross
+between the Esquimaux dog and a large French hound. _See_ Dr. Hodgkin,
+'Brit. Assoc.,' 1844; Bechstein's 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' Band i. s.
+574; 'Naturalist's Library,' vol. x. p. 132; also Mr. Jukes' 'Excursion in
+and about Newfoundland.'
+
+[88] De Blainville, 'Osteographie, Felis,' p. 65, on the character of _F.
+caligulata_; pp. 85, 89, 90, 175, on the other mummied species. He quotes
+Ehrenberg on _F. maniculata_ being mummied.
+
+[89] Asiatic Soc. of Calcutta; Curator's Report, Aug. 1856. The passage
+from Sir W. Jardine is quoted from this Report. Mr. Blyth, who has
+especially attended to the wild and domestic cats of India, has given in
+this Report a very interesting discussion on their origin.
+
+[90] 'Fauna Hungariae Sup.,' 1862, s. 12.
+
+[91] Isid. Geoffrey Saint Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 177.
+
+[92] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1863, p. 184.
+
+[93] 'Saeugethiere von Paraguay,' 1830, s. 212.
+
+[94] 'Mem. presentes par divers Savans: Acad. Roy. des Sciences,' tom. vi.
+p. 346. Gomara first noticed this fact in 1554.
+
+[95] 'Narrative of Voyages,' vol. ii. p. 180.
+
+[96] J. Crawfurd, 'Descript. Dict. of the Indian Islands,' p. 255. The
+Madagascar cat is said to have a twisted tail: _see_ Desmarest, in
+'Encyclop. Nat. Mamm.,' 1820, p. 233, for some of the other breeds.
+
+[97] Admiral Lutke's Voyage, vol. iii. p. 308.
+
+[98] 'Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, Mammalia,' p. 20. Dieffenbach,
+'Travels in New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 185. Ch. St. John, 'Wild Sports of
+the Highlands,' 1846, p. 49.
+
+[99] Quoted by Isid. Geoffroy, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 427.
+
+[100] Ruetimeyer, 'Fauna der Pfalbauten,' 1861, s. 122.
+
+[101] _See_ Youatt on the Horse: J. Lawrence on the Horse, 1829: W. C. L.
+Martin, 'History of the Horse,' 1845: Col. Ham. Smith, in 'Naturalist's
+Library, Horses,' 1841, vol. xii.: Prof. Veith, 'Die Naturgesch.
+Haussaeugethiere,' 1856.
+
+[102] Crawfurd, 'Descript. Dict. of Indian Islands,' 1856, p. 153. "There
+are many different breeds, every island having at least one peculiar to
+it." Thus in Sumatra there are at least two breeds; in Achin and Batubara
+one; in Java several breeds; one in Bali, Lomboc, Sumbawa (one of the best
+breeds), Tambora, Bima, Gunung-api, Celebes, Sumba, and Philippines. Other
+breeds are specified by Zollinger in the 'Journal of the Indian
+Archipelago,' vol. v. p. 343, &c.
+
+[103] 'The Horse,' &c., by John Lawrence, 1829, p. 14.
+
+[104] 'The Veterinary,' London, vol. v. p. 543.
+
+[105] Proc. Veterinary Assoc., in 'The Veterinary,' vol. xiii. p. 42.
+
+[106] 'Bulletin de la Soc. Geolog.,' tom. xxii., 1866, p. 22.
+
+[107] Mr. Percival, of the Enniskillen Dragoons, in 'The Veterinary,' vol.
+i. p. 224: _see_ Azara, 'Des Quadrupedes du Paraguay,' tom. ii. p. 313. The
+French translator of Azara refers to other cases mentioned by Huzard as
+occurring in Spain.
+
+[108] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom i. p. 378.
+
+[109] 'Ueber die Eigenschaften,' &c., 1828, s. 10.
+
+[110] 'Domesticated Animals of the British Islands,' pp. 527, 532. In all
+the veterinary treatises and papers which I have read, the writers insist
+in the strongest terms on the inheritance by the horse of all good and bad
+tendencies and qualities. Perhaps the principle of inheritance is not
+really stronger in the horse than in any other animal; but, from its value,
+the tendency has been more carefully observed.
+
+[111] Andrew Knight crossed breeds so different in size as a dray-horse and
+Norwegian pony: see A. Walker on 'Intermarriage,' 1838, p. 205.
+
+[112] 'Naturalist's Library,' Horses, vol. xii. p. 208.
+
+[113] Gervais, 'Hist Nat. Mamm.,' tom. ii. p. 143. Owen, 'British Fossil
+Mammals,' p. 383.
+
+[114] 'Kenntniss der fossilen Pferde,' 1863, s. 131.
+
+[115] Mr. W. C. L. Martin ('The Horse,' 1845, p. 34), in arguing against
+the belief that the wild Eastern horses are merely feral, has remarked on
+the improbability of man in ancient times having extirpated a species in a
+region where it can now exist in numbers.
+
+[116] 'Transact. Maryland Academy,' vol. i. part i. p. 28.
+
+[117] Mr. Mackinnon on 'The Falkland Islands,' p. 25. The average height of
+the Falkland horses is said to be 14 hands 2 inches. _See_ also my 'Journal
+of Researches.'
+
+[118] Pallas, 'Act. Acad. St. Petersburgh,' 1777, part ii. p. 265. With
+respect to the tarpans scraping away the snow, _see_ Col. Hamilton Smith in
+'Nat. Lib.,' vol. xii. p. 165.
+
+[119] Franklin's 'Narrative,' vol. i. p. 87; note by Sir J. Richardson.
+
+[120] Mr. J. H. Moor, 'Notices of the Indian Archipelago:' Singapore, 1837,
+p. 189. A pony from Java was sent ('Athenaeum,' 1842, p. 718) to the Queen
+only 28 inches in height. For the Loo Choo Islands, _see_ Beechey's
+'Voyage,' 4th edit., vol. i. p. 499.
+
+[121] J. Crawford, 'History of the Horse;' 'Journal of Royal United Service
+Institution,' vol. iv.
+
+[122] 'Essays on Natural History,' 2nd series, p. 161.
+
+[123] 'Quadrupedes du Paraguay,' tom. ii. p. 333.
+
+[124] Prof. Low, 'Domesticated Animals,' p. 546. With respect to the writer
+in India, _see_ 'India Sporting Review,' vol. ii. p. 181. As Lawrence has
+remarked ('The Horse,' p. 9), "perhaps no instance has ever occurred of a
+three-part bred horse (_i.e._ a horse, one of whose grand-parents was of
+impure blood) saving his distance in running two miles with thoroughbred
+racers." Some few instances are on record of seven-eighths racers having
+been successful.
+
+[125] Prof. Gervais (in his 'Hist. Nat. Mamm.,' tom. ii. p. 144) has
+collected many facts on this head. For instance, Solomon (Kings, b. i. ch.
+x. v. 28) bought horses in Egypt at a high price.
+
+[126] 'The Field,' July 13th, 1861, p. 42.
+
+[127] E. Vernon Harcourt, 'Sporting in Algeria,' p. 26.
+
+[128] I state this from my own observations made during several years on
+the colours of horses. I have seen cream-coloured, light-dun and mouse-dun
+horses dappled, which I mention because it has been stated (Martin,
+'History of the Horse,' p. 134) that duns are never dappled. Martin (p.
+205) refers to dappled asses. In 'The Farrier' (London, 1828, pp. 453, 455)
+there are some good remarks on the dappling of horses; and likewise in Col.
+Hamilton Smith on 'The Horse.'
+
+[129] Some details are given in 'The Farrier,' 1828, pp. 452, 455. One of
+the least ponies I ever saw, of the colour of a mouse, had a conspicuous
+spinal stripe. A small Indian chesnut pony had the same stripe, as had a
+remarkably heavy chesnut cart-horse. Race-horses often have the spinal
+stripe.
+
+[130] I have received information, through the kindness of the
+Consul-General, Mr. J. R. Crowe, from Prof. Boeck, Rasck, and Esmarck, on
+the colours of the Norwegian ponies. _See_, also, 'The Field,' 1861, p.
+431.
+
+[131] Col. Ham. Smith, 'Nat. Lib.,' vol. xii. p. 275.
+
+[132] Mr. G. Clark, in 'Annal and Mag. of Nat. History,' 2nd series, vol.
+ii., 1848, p. 363. Mr. Wallace informs me that he saw in Java a dun and
+clay-coloured horse with spinal and leg stripes.
+
+[133] _See_, also, on this point, 'The Field,' July 27th, 1861, p. 91.
+
+[134] 'The Field,' 1861, pp. 431, 493, 545.
+
+[135] 'Ueber die Eigenschaften,' &c, 1828, s. 13, 14.
+
+[136] 'Naturalist's Library,' vol. xii. (1841), pp. 109, 156 to 163, 280,
+281. Cream-colour, passing into Isabella (_i.e._ the colour of the dirty
+linen of Queen Isabella), seems to have been common in ancient times. _See_
+also Pallas's account of the wild horses of the East, who speaks of dun and
+brown as the prevalent colours.
+
+[137] Azara, 'Quadrupedes du Paraguay,' tom. ii. p. 307; for the colour of
+mules, _see_ p. 350. In North America, Catlin (vol. ii. p. 57) describes
+the wild horses, believed to have descended from the Spanish horses of
+Mexico, as of all colours, black, grey, roan, and roan pied with sorrel. F.
+Michaux ('Travels in North America,' Eng. translat., p. 235) describes two
+wild horses from Mexico as roan. In the Falkland Islands, where the horse
+has been feral only between 60 and 70 years, I was told that roans and
+iron-greys were the prevalent colours. These several facts show that horses
+do not generally revert to any uniform colour.
+
+[138] Dr. Sclater, in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1862, p. 164.
+
+[139] W. C. Martin, 'History of the Horse,' 1845, p. 207.
+
+[140] Col. Sykes' Cat. of Mammalia, 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' July 12th, 1831.
+Williamson, 'Oriental Field Sports,' vol. ii., quoted by Martin, p. 206.
+
+[141] Blyth, in 'Charlesworth's Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' vol. iv., 1840, p. 83.
+I have also been assured by a breeder that this is the case.
+
+[142] One case is given by Martin, 'The Horse,' p. 205.
+
+[143] 'Journal As. Soc. of Bengal,' vol. xxviii. 1860, p. 231. Martin on
+the Horse, p. 205.
+
+[144] Hermann von Nathusius, 'Die Racen des Schweines,' Berlin, 1860; and
+'Vorstudien fur Geschichte,' &c., 'Schweineschaedel,' Berlin, 1864.
+Ruetimeyer, 'Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten,' Basel, 1861.
+
+[145] Nathusius, 'Die Racen des Schweines,' Berlin, 1860. An excellent
+appendix is given with references to published and trustworthy drawings of
+the breeds of each country.
+
+[146] For Europe, _see_ Bechstein, 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' 1801, b. i.,
+s. 505. Several accounts have been published on the fertility of the
+offspring from wild and tame swine. _See_ Burdach's 'Physiology,' and
+Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. i. p. 370. For Africa, 'Bull. de la Soc.
+d'Acclimat.,' tom. iv. p. 389. For India, _see_ Nathusius,
+'Schweineschaedel,' s. 148.
+
+[147] Sir W. Elliot, Catalogue of Mammalia, 'Madras Journal of Lit. and
+Science,' vol. x. p. 219.
+
+[148] 'Pfahlbauten,' s. 163 et passim.
+
+[149] _See_ Ruetimeyer's Neue Beitrage, ... Torfschweine, Verh. Naturfor.
+Gesell. in Basel, iv. i., 1865, s. 139.
+
+[150] Stan. Julien, quoted by De Blainville, 'Osteographie,' p. 163.
+
+[151] Richardson, 'Pigs, their Origin,' &c., p. 26.
+
+[152] 'Die Racen des Schweines,' s. 47, 64.
+
+[153] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1861, p. 263.
+
+[154] Sclater, in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' Feb. 26th, 1861.
+
+[155] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1862, p. 13.
+
+[156] 'Journal of Voyages and Travels from 1821 to 1829,' vol. i. p. 300.
+
+[157] Rev. G. Low, 'Fauna Orcadensis,' p. 10. _See_ also Dr. Hibbert's
+account of the pig of the Shetland Islands.
+
+[158] 'Die Racen des Schweines,' s. 70.
+
+[159] These woodcuts are copied from engravings given in Mr. S. Sidney's
+excellent edition of 'The Pig,' by Youatt, 1860. _See_ pp. 1, 16, 19.
+
+[160] 'Schweineschaedel,' s. 74, 135.
+
+[161] Nathusius, 'Die Racen des Schweines,' s. 71.
+
+[162] 'Die Racen des Schweines,' s. 47. 'Schweineschaedel,' s. 104. Compare,
+also, the figures of the old Irish and the improved Irish breeds in
+Richardson on 'The Pig,' 1847.
+
+[163] Quoted by Isid. Geoffroy, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 441.
+
+[164] S. Sidney, 'The Pig,' p. 61.
+
+[165] 'Schweineschaedel,' s. 2, 20.
+
+[166] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1837, p. 23. I have not given the caudal
+vertebrae, as Mr. Eyton says some might possibly have been lost. I have
+added together the dorsal and lumbar vertebrae, owing to Prof. Owen's
+remarks ('Journal Linn. Soc.,' vol. ii. p. 28) on the difference between
+dorsal and lumbar vertebrae depending only on the development of the ribs.
+Nevertheless the difference in the number of the ribs in pigs deserves
+notice.
+
+[167] 'Edinburgh New Philosoph. Journal,' April 1863. _See_ also De
+Blainville's 'Osteographie,' p. 128, for various authorities on this
+subject.
+
+[168] Eudes-Deslongchamps, 'Memoires de la Soc. Linn. de Normandie,' vol.
+vii., 1842, p. 41. Richardson, 'Pigs, their Origin, &c.,' 1847, p. 30.
+Nathusius, 'Die Racen des Schweines,' 1860, s. 54.
+
+[169] D. Johnson's 'Sketches of Indian Field Sports,' p. 272. Mr. Crawfurd
+informs me that the same fact holds good with the wild pigs of the Malay
+peninsula.
+
+[170] For Turkish pigs, _see_ Desmarest, 'Mammalogie,' 1820, p. 391. For
+those of Westphalia, _see_ Richardson's 'Pigs, their Origin,' &c., 1847, p.
+41.
+
+[171] With respect to the several foregoing and following statements on
+feral pigs, _see_ Roulin, in 'Mem. presentes par divers Savans a l'Acad.,'
+&c., Paris, tom. vi., 1835, p. 326. It should be observed that his account
+does not apply to truly feral pigs; but to pigs long introduced into the
+country and living in a half-wild state. For the truly feral pigs of
+Jamaica, _see_ Gosse's 'Sojourn in Jamaica,' 1851, p. 386; and Col.
+Hamilton Smith, in 'Nat. Library,' vol. ix. p. 93. With respect to Africa,
+_see_ Livingstone's 'Expedition to the Zambesi,' 1865, p. 153. The most
+precise statement with respect to the tusks of the West Indian feral boars
+is by P. Labat (quoted by Roulin); but this author attributes the state of
+these pigs to descent from a domestic stock which he saw in Spain. Admiral
+Sulivan, R.N., had ample opportunities of observing the wild pigs on Eagle
+Islet in the Falklands; and he informs me that they resembled wild boars
+with bristly ridged backs and large tusks. The pigs which have run wild in
+the province of Buenos Ayres (Rengger, 'Saeugethiere,' s. 331) have not
+reverted to the wild type. De Blainville ('Osteographie,' p. 132) refers to
+two skulls of domestic pigs sent from Patagonia by Al. d'Orbigny, and he
+states that they have the occipital elevation of the wild European boar,
+but that the head altogether is "plus courte et plus ramassee." He refers,
+also, to the skin of a feral pig from North America, and says, "il
+ressemble tout a fait a un petit sanglier, mais il est presque tout noir,
+et peut-etre un peu plus ramasse dans ses formes."
+
+[172] Gosse's 'Jamaica,' p. 386, with a quotation from Williamson's
+'Oriental Field Sports.' Also Col. Hamilton Smith, in 'Naturalist's
+Library,' vol. ix. p. 94.
+
+[173] S. Sidney's edition of 'Youatt on the Pig,' 1860, pp. 7, 26, 27, 29,
+30.
+
+[174] 'Schweineschaedel,' s. 140.
+
+[175] 'Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten,' 1861, s. 109, 149, 222. _See_ also
+Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, in 'Mem. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat.,' tom. x. p. 172; and
+his son Isidore, in 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 69. Vasey, in his
+'Delineations of the Ox Tribe,' 1851, p. 127, says the zebu has four, and
+the common ox five, sacral vertebrae. Mr. Hodgson found the ribs either
+thirteen or fourteen in number; _see_ a note in 'Indian Field,' 1858, p.
+62.
+
+[176] 'The Indian Field,' 1858, p. 74, where Mr. Blyth gives his
+authorities with respect to the feral humped cattle. Pickering, also, in
+his 'Races of Man,' 1850, p. 274, notices the peculiar character of the
+grunt-like voice of the humped cattle.
+
+[177] Mr. H. E. Marquand, in 'The Times,' June 23rd, 1856.
+
+[178] Vasey, 'Delineations of the Ox-Tribe,' p. 124. Brace's 'Hungary,'
+1851, p. 94. The Hungarian cattle descend, according to Ruetimeyer ('Zahmen.
+Europ. Rindes,' 1866, s. 13), from _Bos primigenius_.
+
+[179] Moll and Gayot, 'La Connaissance Gen. du Boeuf,' Paris, 1860. Fig 82
+is that of the Podolian breed.
+
+[180] A translation appeared in three parts in the 'Annals and Mag. of Nat.
+Hist.,' 2nd series, vol. iv., 1849.
+
+[181] _See_, also, Ruetimeyer's 'Beitrage pal. Gesch. der Wiederkauer,'
+Basel, 1865, s. 54.
+
+[182] Pictet's 'Paleontologie,' tom. i. p. 365 (2nd edit.). With respect to
+B. trochoceros, _see_ Ruetimeyer's 'Zahmen Europ. Rindes,' 1866, s. 26.
+
+[183] Owen, 'British Fossil Mammals,' 1846, p. 510.
+
+[184] 'British Pleistocene Mammalia,' by W. B. Dawkins and W. A. Sandford,
+1866. p. xv.
+
+[185] W. R. Wilde, 'An Essay on the Animal Remains, &c., Royal Irish
+Academy,' 1860, p. 29. Also 'Proc. of R. Irish Academy,' 1858, p. 48.
+
+[186] 'Lecture: Royal Institution of G. Britain,' May 2nd, 1856, p. 4.
+'British Fossil Mammals,' p. 513.
+
+[187] Nilsson, in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 1849, vol. iv. p. 354.
+
+[188] _See_ W. R. Wilde, ut supra; and Mr. Blyth, in 'Proc. Irish Academy,'
+March 5th, 1864.
+
+[189] Laing's 'Tour in Norway,' p. 110.
+
+[190] Isid. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 96.
+
+[191] Idem, tom. iii. pp. 82, 91.
+
+[192] 'Quadrupedes du Paraguay,' tom. ii. p. 360.
+
+[193] Walther, 'Das Rindvieh,' 1817, s. 30.
+
+[194] I am much indebted to the present Earl of Tankerville for information
+about his wild cattle; and for the skull which was sent to Prof. Ruetimeyer.
+The fullest account of the Chillingham cattle is given by Mr. Hindmarsh,
+together with a letter by the late Lord Tankerville, in 'Annals and Mag. of
+Nat. Hist.,' vol. ii., 1839, p. 274. _See_ Bewick, 'Quadrupeds,' 2nd edit.,
+1791, p. 35, note. With respect to those of Duke of Queensberry, _see_
+Pennant's 'Tour in Scotland,' p. 109. For those of Chartley, _see_ Low's
+'Domesticated Animals of Britain,' 1845, p. 238. For those of Gisburne,
+_see_ Bewick's 'Quadrupeds, and Encyclop. of Rural Sports,' p. 101.
+
+[195] Boethius was born in 1470; 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' vol. ii.,
+1839, p. 281; and vol. iv. 1849, p. 424.
+
+[196] Youatt on Cattle, 1834, p. 48: _See_ also p. 242, on short-horn
+cattle. Bell, in his 'British Quadrupeds,' p. 423, states that, after long
+attending to the subject, he has found that white cattle invariably have
+coloured ears.
+
+[197] Azara, 'Des Quadrupedes du Paraguay,' tom. ii. p. 361. Azara quotes
+Buffon for the feral cattle of Africa. For Texas, _see_ 'Times,' Feb. 18th,
+1846.
+
+[198] Anson's Voyage. _See_ Kerr and Porter's 'Collection,' vol. xii. p.
+103.
+
+[199] _See_ also Mr. Mackinnon's pamphlet on the Falkland Islands, p. 24.
+
+[200] 'The Age of the Ox, Sheep, Pig,' &c., by Prof. James Simonds,
+published by order of the Royal Agricult. Soc.
+
+[201] 'Ann. Agricult. France,' April 1897. as quoted in 'The Veterinary,'
+vol. xii. p. 725. I quote Tessier's observations from Youatt on Cattle, p.
+527.
+
+[202] 'The Veterinary,' vol. viii. p. 681, and vol. x. p. 268. Low's
+'Domest. Animals of Great Britain,' p. 297.
+
+[203] Mr. Ogleby, in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1836, p. 138, and 1840, p. 4.
+
+[204] Leguat's Voyage, quoted by Vasey in his 'Delineations of the
+Ox-tribe,' p. 132.
+
+[205] 'Travels in South Africa,' pp. 317, 336.
+
+[206] 'Mem. de l'Institut present. par divers Savans,' tom. vi., 1835, p.
+333. For Brazil, _see_ 'Comptes Rendus,' June 15th, 1846. _See_ Azara,
+'Quadrupedes du Paraguay,' tom. ii. pp. 359, 361.
+
+[207] 'Schweineschaedel,' 1864, s. 104. Nathusius states that the form of
+skull characteristic of the niata cattle occasionally appears in European
+cattle; but he is mistaken, as we shall hereafter see, in supposing that
+these cattle do not form a distinct race. Prof. Wyman, of Cambridge, United
+States, informs me that the common cod-fish presents a similar monstrosity,
+called by the fishermen the "bulldog cod." Prof. Wyman also concluded,
+after making numerous inquiries in La Plata, that the niata cattle transmit
+their peculiarities or form a race.
+
+[208] Ueber Art des Zahmen Europ. Rindes, 1866, s. 28.
+
+[209] 'Descriptive Cat. of Ost. Collect. of College of Surgeons,' 1853, p.
+624. Vasey, in his 'Delineations of the Ox-tribe,' has given a figure of
+this skull; and I sent a photograph of it to Prof. Ruetimeyer.
+
+[210] Loudon's 'Magazine of Nat. Hist.,' vol. i., 1829, p. 113. Separate
+figures are given of the animal, its hoofs, eye, and dewlap.
+
+[211] Low, 'Domesticated Animals of the British Isles,' p. 264.
+
+[212] 'Mem. de l'Institut present. par divers Savans,' tom. vi., 1835, p.
+332.
+
+[213] Idem, pp. 304, 368, &c.
+
+[214] Youatt on Cattle, p. 193. A full account of this bull is taken from
+Marshall.
+
+[215] Youatt on Cattle, p. 116. Lord Spencer has written on this same
+subject.
+
+[216] Blyth on the genus Ovis, in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. History,' vol.
+vii., 1841, p. 261: with respect to the parentage of the breeds, see Mr.
+Blyth's excellent articles in 'Land and Water,' 1867, pp. 134, 156.
+Gervais, 'Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes,' 1855, tom. ii. p. 191.
+
+[217] Dr. L. Fitzinger, 'Ueber die Racen des Zahmen Schafes,' 1860, s. 86.
+
+[218] J. Anderson, 'Recreations in Agriculture and Natural History,' vol.
+ii. p. 164.
+
+[219] 'Pfahlbauten,' s. 127, 193.
+
+[220] Youatt on Sheep, p. 120.
+
+[221] 'Journal of the Asiatic Soc. of Bengal,' vol. xvi. pp. 1007, 1016.
+
+[222] Youatt on Sheep, pp. 142-169.
+
+[223] 'Journal Asiat. Soc. of Bengal,' vol. xvi., 1847, p. 1015.
+
+[224] 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 435.
+
+[225] Youatt on Sheep, p. 138.
+
+[226] 'Journal Asiat. Soc. of Bengal,' vol. xvi., 1847, pp. 1015, 1016.
+
+[227] 'Racen des Zahmen Schafes,' s. 77.
+
+[228] 'Rural Economy of Norfolk,' vol. ii. p. 136.
+
+[229] Youatt on Sheep, p. 312. On same subject, _see_ excellent remarks in
+'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1858, p. 868. For experiments in crossing Cheviot
+sheep with Leicesters, _see_ Youatt, p. 325.
+
+[230] Youatt on Sheep, note, p. 491.
+
+[231] 'The Veterinary,' vol. x. p. 217.
+
+[232] A translation of his paper is given in 'Bull. Soc. Imp. d'Acclimat.,'
+tom. ix., 1862, p. 723.
+
+[233] Erman's 'Travels in Siberia' (Eng. trans.), vol. i. p. 228. For
+Pallas on the fat-tailed sheep, I quote from Anderson's account of the
+'Sheep of Russia,' 1794, p. 34. With respect to the Crimean sheep, _see_
+Pallas' 'Travels' (Eng. trans.), vol. ii. p. 454. For the Karakool sheep,
+_see_ Burnes' 'Travels in Bokhara,' vol. iii. p. 151.
+
+[234] _See_ Report of the Directors of the Sierra Leone Company, as quoted
+in White's 'Gradation of Man,' p. 95. With respect to the change which
+sheep undergo in the West Indies, _see_ also Dr. Davy, in 'Edin. New. Phil.
+Journal,' Jan. 1852. For the statement made by Roulin, _see_ 'Mem. de
+l'Institut present. par divers Savans,' tom. vi., 1835, p. 347.
+
+[235] Youatt on Sheep, p. 69, where Lord Somerville is quoted. _See_ p.
+117, on the presence of wool under the hair. With respect to the fleeces of
+Australian sheep, p. 185. On selection counteracting any tendency to
+change, _see_ pp. 70, 117, 120, 168.
+
+[236] Audubon and Bachman, 'The Quadrupeds of North America,' 1846, vol. v.
+p. 365.
+
+[237] 'Journal of R. Agricult. Soc. of England,' vol. xx., part ii. W. C.
+Spooner on Cross-Breeding.
+
+[238] 'Philosoph. Transactions,' London, 1813, p. 88.
+
+[239] Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Generale,' tom. iii. p. 87.
+Mr. Blyth ('Land and Water,' 1867, p. 37) has arrived at a similar
+conclusion, but he thinks that certain Eastern races may perhaps be in part
+descended from the Asiatic markhor.
+
+[240] Ruetimeyer, 'Pfahlbauten,' s. 127.
+
+[241] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. i. p. 402.
+
+[242] 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. History,' vol. ii. (2nd series), 1848, p.
+363.
+
+[243] 'De l'Espece,' tom. i. p. 406. Mr. Clark also refers to differences
+in the shape of the mammae. Godron states that in the Nubian race the
+scrotum is divided into two lobes; and Mr. Clark gives a ludicrous proof of
+this fact, for he saw in the Mauritius a male goat of the Muscat breed
+purchased at a high price for a female in full milk. These differences in
+the scrotum are probably not due to descent from distinct species; for Mr.
+Clark states that this part varies much in form.
+
+[244] Mr. Clark, 'Annals and Mag. of  Nat. Hist.,' vol. ii. (2nd series),
+1848, p. 361.
+
+[245] Desmarest, 'Encyclop. Method. Mammalogie,' p. 480.
+
+[246] 'Journal of Asiatic Soc. of Bengal,' vol. xvi., 1847, pp. 1020, 1025.
+
+[247] M. P. Gervais, 'Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes, tom. i., 1854, p. 288.
+
+[248] U. Aldrovandi, 'De Quadrupedibus digitatis,' 1637, p. 383. For
+Confucius and G. Markham, _see_ a writer who has studied the subject, in
+'Cottage Gardener,' Jan. 22nd, 1861, p. 250.
+
+[249] Owen, 'British Fossil Mammals,' p. 212.
+
+[250] Bechstein, 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' 1801, b. i. p. 1133. I have
+received similar accounts with respect to England and Scotland.
+
+[251] 'Pigeons and Rabbits,' by E. S. Delamer, 1854, p. 133. Sir J.
+Sebright ('Observations on Instinct,' 1836, p. 10) speaks most strongly on
+the difficulty. But this difficulty is not invariable, as I have received
+two accounts of perfect success in taming and breeding from the wild
+rabbit. _See_ also Dr. P. Broca, in 'Journal de la Physiologie' tom. ii. p.
+368.
+
+_Transcriber's Note: this note and the previous one were interchanged;
+corrected by Errata page._
+
+[252] Gervais, 'Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes,' tom. i. p. 292.
+
+[253] _See_ Dr. P. Broca's interesting memoir on this subject in
+Brown-Sequard's 'Journ. de Phys.' vol. ii. p. 367.
+
+[254] They are briefly described in the 'Journal of Horticulture,' May 7th,
+1861, p. 108.
+
+[255] 'Journal of Horticulture,' 1861, p. 380.
+
+[256] 'Journal of Horticulture,' May 28th, 1861, p. 169.
+
+[257] 'Journal of Horticulture,' 1861, p. 327. With respect to the ears,
+_see_ Delamer on 'Pigeons and Rabbits,' 1854, p. 141; also 'Poultry
+Chronicle,' vol. ii. p. 499, and ditto for 1854, p. 586.
+
+[258] Delamer, 'Pigeons and Rabbits,' p. 136. _See_ also 'Journal of
+Horticulture,' 1861, p. 375.
+
+[259] 'An Account of the different Kinds of Sheep in the Russian
+Dominions,' 1794, p. 39.
+
+[260] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' June 23rd, 1857, p. 159.
+
+[261] 'Cottage Gardener,' 1857, p. 141.
+
+[262] 'Journal of Horticulture,' April 9th, 1861, p. 35.
+
+[263] Mr. Bartlett, in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1861. p. 40.
+
+[264] 'Phenomenon in Himalayan Rabbits,' in 'Journal of Horticulture,'
+1865, Jan. 27th, p. 102.
+
+[265] G. R. Waterhouse, 'Natural History of Mammalia: Rodents,' 1846, pp.
+52, 60, 105.
+
+[266] Delamer on 'Pigeons and Rabbits,' p. 114.
+
+[267] Gosse's 'Sojourn in Jamaica,' 1851, p. 441, as described by an
+excellent observer, Mr. R. Hill. This is the only known case in which
+rabbits have become feral in a hot country. They can be kept, however, at
+Loanda (_see_ Livingstone's 'Travels,' p. 407). In parts of India, as I am
+informed by Mr. Blyth, they breed well.
+
+[268] Darwin's 'Journal of Researches,' p. 193; and 'Zoology of the Voyage
+of the Beagle: Mammalia,' p. 92.
+
+[269] Kerr's 'Collection of Voyages,' vol. ii. p. 177; p. 205 for Cada
+Mosto. According to a work published in Lisbon in 1717, entitled 'Historia
+Insulana,' written by a Jesuit, the rabbits were turned out in 1420. Some
+authors believe that the island was discovered in 1413.
+
+[270] Something of the same kind has occurred on the island of Lipari,
+where, according to Spallanzani ('Voyage dans les deux Siciles,' quoted by
+Godron sur l'Espece, p. 364), a countryman turned out some rabbits which
+multiplied prodigiously, but, says Spallanzani, "les lapins de l'ile de
+Lipari sont plus petits que ceux qu'on eleve en domesticite."
+
+[271] Waterhouse, 'Nat. Hist. Mammalia,' vol. ii. p. 36.
+
+[272] These rabbits have run wild for a considerable time in Sandon Park,
+and in other places in Staffordshire and Shropshire. They originated, as I
+have been informed by the gamekeeper, from variously-coloured domestic
+rabbits which had been turned out. They vary in colour; but many are
+symmetrically coloured, being white with a streak along the spine, and with
+the ears and certain marks about the head of a blackish-grey tint. They
+have rather longer bodies than common rabbits.
+
+[273] _See_ Prof. Owen's remarks on this subject in his paper on the
+'Zoological Significance of the Brain, &c., of Man, &c.,' read before Brit.
+Association, 1862; with respect to Birds, _see_ 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' Jan.
+11th, 1848, p. 8.
+
+[274] This standard is apparently considerably too low, for Dr. Crisp
+('Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1861, p. 80) gives 210 grains as the actual weight
+of the brain of a hare which weighed 7lbs., and 125 grains as the weight of
+the brain of a rabbit which weighed 3 lbs. 5 oz., that is, the same weight
+as the rabbit No. 1 in my list. Now the contents of the skull of rabbit No.
+1 in shot is in my table 972 grains; and according to Dr. Crisp's ratio of
+125 to 210, the skull of the hare ought to have contained 1632 grains of
+shot, instead of only (in the largest hare in my table) 1455 grains.
+
+[275] The Hon. C. Murray has sent me some very valuable specimens from
+Persia; and H.M. Consul, Mr. Keith Abbott, has given me information on the
+pigeons of the same country. I am deeply indebted to Sir Walter Elliot for
+an immense collection of skins from Madras, with much information regarding
+them. Mr. Blyth has freely communicated to me his stores of knowledge on
+this and all other related subjects. The Rajah Sir James Brooke sent me
+specimens from Borneo, as has H.M. Consul, Mr. Swinhoe, from Amoy in China,
+and Dr. Daniell from the west coast of Africa.
+
+[276] Mr. B. P. Brent, well known for his various contributions to poultry
+literature, has aided me in every way during several years; so has Mr.
+Tegetmeier, with unwearied kindness. This latter gentleman, who is well
+known for his works on poultry, and who has largely bred pigeons, has
+looked over this and the following chapters. Mr. Bult formerly showed me
+his unrivalled collection of Pouters, and gave me specimens. I had access
+to Mr. Wicking's collection, which contained a greater assortment of many
+kinds than could anywhere else be seen; and he has always aided me with
+specimens and information given in the freest manner. Mr. Haynes and Mr.
+Corker have given me specimens of their magnificent Carriers. To Mr.
+Harrison Weir I am likewise indebted. Nor must I by any means pass over the
+assistance received from Mr. J. M. Eaton, Mr. Baker, Mr. Evans, and Mr. J.
+Baily, jun., of Mount-street--to the latter gentleman I have been indebted
+for some valuable specimens. To all these gentlemen I beg permission to
+return my sincere and cordial thanks.
+
+[277] 'Les Pigeons de Voliere et de Colombier,' Paris, 1824. During
+forty-five years the sole occupation of M. Corbie was the care of the
+pigeons belonging to the Duchess of Berry.
+
+[278] 'Coup d'Oeil sur l'Ordre des Pigeons,' par Prince C. L. Bonaparte,
+Paris, 1855. This author makes 288 species, ranked under 85 genera.
+
+[279] As I so often refer to the size of the _C. livia_, or rock-pigeon, it
+may be convenient to give the mean between the measurements of two wild
+birds, kindly sent me by Dr. Edmondstone from the Shetland Islands:--
+
+                                                                Inches.
+  Length from feathered base of beak to end of tail               14.25
+   "      "      "          "       to oil-gland                  9.5
+   "    from tip of beak to end of tail                          15.02
+   "    of tail-feathers                                          4.62
+   "    from tip to tip of wing                                  26.75
+   "    of folded wing                                            9.25
+
+  Beak.--Length from tip of beak to feathered base                  .77
+  "     Thickness, measured vertically at further end of nostrils  .23
+  "     Breadth, measured at same place                            .16
+
+  Feet.--Length from end of middle toe (without claw) to distal
+            end of tibia                                           2.77
+  "     Length from end of middle toe to end of hind toe
+            (without claws)                                        2.02
+
+  Weight 141/4 ounces.
+
+[280] This drawing was made from a dead bird. The six following figures
+were drawn with great care by Mr. Luke Wells from living birds selected by
+Mr. Tegetmeier. It may be confidently asserted that the characters of the
+six breeds which have been figured are not in the least exaggerated.
+
+[281] 'Das Ganze der Taubenzucht:' Weimar, 1837, pl. 11 and 12.
+
+[282] Boitard and Corbie, 'Les Pigeons,' &c., p. 177, pl. 6.
+
+[283] 'Die Taubenzucht,' Ulm, 1824, s. 42.
+
+[284] This treatise was written by Sayzid Mohammed Musari, who died in
+1770: I owe to the great kindness of Sir W. Elliot a translation of this
+curious treatise.
+
+[285] 'Poultry Chronicle,' vol. ii. p. 573.
+
+[286] 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. History,' vol. xix., 1847, p. 105.
+
+[287] This gland occurs in most birds; but Nitzsch (in his
+'Pterylographie,' 1840, p. 55) states that it is absent in two species of
+Columba, in several species of Psittacus, in some species of Otis, and in
+most or all birds of the Ostrich family. It can hardly be an accidental
+coincidence that the two species of Columba, which are destitute of an
+oil-gland, have an unusual number of tail-feathers, namely 16, and in this
+respect resemble Fantails.
+
+[288] _See_ the two excellent editions published by Mr. J. M. Eaton in 1852
+and 1858, entitled 'A Treatise on Fancy Pigeons.'
+
+[289] English translation, by F. Gladwin, 4th edition, vol. i. The habit of
+the Lotan is also described in the Persian treatise before alluded to,
+published about 100 years ago: at this date the Lotans were generally white
+and crested as at present. Mr. Blyth describes these birds in 'Annals and
+Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' vol. xiv., 1847, p. 104: he says that they "may be
+seen at any of the Calcutta bird-dealers."
+
+[290] 'Journal of Horticulture,' Oct. 22, 1861, p. 76.
+
+[291] _See_ the account of the House-tumblers kept at Glasgow, in the
+'Cottage Gardener,' 1858, p. 285. Also Mr. Brent's paper, 'Journal of
+Horticulture,' 1861, p. 76.
+
+[292] J. M. Eaton's 'Treatise on Pigeons,' 1852, p. 9.
+
+[293] J. M. Eaton's Treatise, edit. 1858, p. 76.
+
+[294] Neumeister,'Taubenzucht,' Tab. 4, fig. i.
+
+[295] Riedel, 'Die Taubenzucht,' 1824, s. 26. Bechstein, 'Naturgeschichte
+Deutschlands,' Band iv. s. 36, 1795.
+
+[296] Willoughby's 'Ornithology,' edited by Ray.
+
+[297] J. M. Eaton's edition (1858) of Moore, p. 98.
+
+[298] Pigeon Patu Plongeur. 'Les Pigeons,' &c., p. 165.
+
+[299] 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' Band iv. s. 47.
+
+[300] Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, 'Journal of Horticulture,' Jan. 20th, 1863, p.
+58.
+
+[301] 'Coup-d'oeil sur l'Ordre des Pigeons,' par C. L. Bonaparte; Comptes
+Rendus, 1854-55. Mr. Blyth, in 'Annals of Nat. Hist.,' vol. xix., 1847, p.
+41, mentions, as a very singular fact, "that of the two species of
+Ectopistes, which are nearly allied to each other, one should have fourteen
+tail-feathers, while the other, the passenger pigeon of North America,
+should possess but the usual number--twelve."
+
+[302] Described and figured in the 'Poultry Chronicle,' vol. iii., 1855, p.
+82.
+
+[303] 'The Pigeon Book,' by Mr. B. P. Brent, 1859, p. 41.
+
+[304] 'Die Staarhaelsige Taube, Das Ganze, &c.,' s. 21, tab. i. fig. 4.
+
+[305] 'A Treatise on the Almond Tumbler,' by J. M. Eaton, 1852, p. 8, et
+passim.
+
+[306] A Treatise, &c, p. 10.
+
+[307] Boitard and Corbie, 'Les Pigeons,' &c. 1824, p. 173.
+
+[308] 'Le Pigeon Voyageur Belge,' 1865, p. 87.
+
+[309] Prof. A. Newton ('Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' 1865, p. 716) remarks that he
+knows no species which presents any remarkable sexual distinction; but it
+is stated ('Naturalist's Library, Birds,' vol. ix. p. 117) that the
+excrescence at the base of the beak in the _Carpophaga oceanica_ is sexual:
+this, if correct, is an interesting point of analogy with the male Carrier,
+which has the wattle at the base of its beak so much more developed than in
+the female. Mr. Wallace informs me that in the sub-family of the Treronidae
+the sexes often differ in vividness of colour.
+
+[310] I am not sure that I have designated the different kinds of vertebrae
+correctly: but I observe that different anatomists follow in this respect
+different rules, and, as I use the same terms in the comparison of all the
+skeletons, this, I hope, will not signify.
+
+[311] J. M. Eaton's Treatise, edit. 1858, p. 78.
+
+[312] In an analogous, but converse, manner, certain natural groups of the
+Columbidae, from being more terrestrial in their habits than other allied
+groups, have larger feet. _See_ Prince Bonaparte's 'Coup-d'oeil sur l'Ordre
+des Pigeons.'
+
+[313] It perhaps deserves notice that besides these five birds two of the
+eight were barbs, which, as I have shown, must be classed in the same group
+with the long-beaked carriers and runts. Barbs may properly be called
+short-beaked carriers. It would, therefore, appear as if, during the
+reduction of their beaks, their wings had retained a little of that excess
+of length which is characteristic of their nearest relations and
+progenitors.
+
+[314] Temminck, 'Hist. Nat. Gen. des Pigeons et des Gallinaces,' tom. i.,
+1813, p. 170.
+
+[315] This term was used by John Hunter for such differences in structure
+between the males and females, as are not directly connected with the act
+of reproduction, as the tail of the peacock, the horns of deer, &c.
+
+[316] Temminck, 'Hist. Nat. Gen. des Pigeons,' &c., tom. i. p. 191.
+
+[317] I have heard through Sir C. Lyell from Miss Buckley, that some
+half-bred carriers kept during many years near London regularly settled by
+day on some adjoining trees, and, after being disturbed in their loft by
+their young being taken, roosted on them at night.
+
+[318] 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 2nd ser., vol. xx., 1857, p. 509;
+and in a late volume of the Journal of the Asiatic Society.
+
+[319] In works written on the pigeon by fanciers I have sometimes observed
+the mistaken belief expressed that the species which naturalists call
+ground-pigeons (in contradistinction to arboreal pigeons) do not perch and
+build on trees. In these same works wild species resembling the chief
+domestic races are often said to exist in various parts of the world, but
+such species are quite unknown to naturalists.
+
+[320] Sir E. Schomburgk, in 'Journal R. Geograph. Soc.,' vol. xiii., 1844,
+p. 32.
+
+[321] Rev. E. S. Dixon, 'Ornamental Poultry,' 1848, pp. 63, 66.
+
+[322] Proc. Zoolog. Soc., 1859, p. 400.
+
+[323] Temminck, 'Hist. Nat. Gen. des Pigeons,' tom. i.; also 'Les Pigeons,'
+par Mad. Knip and Temminck. Bonaparte however, in his 'Coup-d'oeil,'
+believes that two closely allied species are confounded together under this
+name. The _C. leucocephala_ of the West Indies is stated by Temminck to be
+a rock-pigeon; but I am informed by Mr. Gosse that this is an error.
+
+[324] 'Handbuch der Naturgesch. Vogel Deutschlands.'
+
+[325] 'Tagebuch Reise nach Faero,' 1830, s. 62.
+
+[326] 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' vol. xix., 1847, p. 102. This
+excellent paper on pigeons is well worth consulting.
+
+[327] 'Natural History of Ireland,' Birds, vol. ii. (1850), p. 11. For
+Graba, _see_ previous reference.
+
+[328] 'Coup-d'oeil sur l'Ordre des Pigeons,' Comptes Rendus, 1854-55.
+
+[329] 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' Band iv., 1795, s. 14.
+
+[330] 'History of British Birds,' vol. i. pp. 275-284. Mr. Andrew Duncan
+tamed a rock-pigeon in the Shetland Islands. Mr. James Barclay, and Mr.
+Smith of Uyea Sound, both say that the wild rock-pigeon can be easily
+tamed; and the former gentleman asserts that the tamed birds breed four
+times a year. Dr. Lawrence Edmondstone informs me that a wild rock-pigeon
+came and settled in his dovecot in Balta Sound in the Shetland Islands, and
+bred with his pigeons; he has also given me other instances of the wild
+rock-pigeon having been taken young and breeding in captivity.
+
+[331] 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. History,' vol. xix., 1847, p. 103, and vol.
+for 1857, p. 512.
+
+[332] Domestic pigeons of the common kind are mentioned as being pretty
+numerous in John Barbut's 'Description of the Coast of Guinea' (p. 215),
+published in 1746; they are said, in accordance with the name which they
+bear, to have been imported.
+
+[333] With respect to feral pigeons--for Juan Fernandez, _see_ Bertero in
+'Annal. des Sc. Nat.,' tom. xxi. p. 351. For Norfolk Island, _see_ Rev. E.
+S. Dixon in the 'Dovecote,' 1851, p. 14, on the authority of Mr. Gould. For
+Ascension I rely on MS. information given me by Mr. Layard. For the banks
+of the Hudson, _see_ Blyth in 'Annals of Nat. Hist.,' vol. xx., 1857, p.
+511. For Scotland, _see_ Macgillivray, 'British Birds,' vol. i. p. 275;
+also Thompson's 'Nat. History of Ireland, Birds,' vol. ii. p. 11. For
+ducks, _see_ Rev. E. S. Dixon, 'Ornamental Poultry,' 1847, p. 122. For the
+feral hybrids of the common and musk-ducks, _see_ Audubon's 'American
+Ornithology,' and Selys-Longchamp's 'Hybrides dans la Famille des
+Anatides.' For the goose, Isidore Geoffrey St. Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,'
+tom. iii. p. 498. For guinea-fowls, _see_ Gosse's 'Naturalist's Sojourn in
+Jamaica,' p. 124; and his 'Birds of Jamaica' for fuller particulars. I saw
+the wild guinea-fowl in Ascension. For the peacock, _see_ 'A Week at Port
+Royal,' by a competent authority, Mr. R. Hill, p. 42. For the turkey I rely
+on oral information; I ascertained that they were not Curassows. With
+respect to fowls I will give the references in the next chapter.
+
+[334] I have drawn out a long table of the various crosses made by fanciers
+between the several domestic breeds, but I do not think it worth
+publishing. I have myself made for this special purpose many crosses, and
+all were perfectly fertile. I have united in one bird five of the most
+distinct races, and with patience I might undoubtedly have thus united all.
+The case of five distinct breeds being blended together with unimpaired
+fertility is important, because Gaertner has shown that it is a very
+general, though not, as he thought, universal rule, that complex crosses
+between several species are excessively sterile. I have met with only two
+or three cases of reported sterility in the offspring of certain races when
+crossed. Von Pistor ('Das Ganze der Feld-taubenzucht,' 1831, s. 15) asserts
+that the mongrels from barbs and fantails are sterile: I have proved this
+to be erroneous, not only by crossing these hybrids with several other
+hybrids of the same parentage, but by the more severe test of pairing
+brother and sister hybrids _inter se_, and they were _perfectly_ fertile.
+Temminck has stated ('Hist. Nat. Gen. des Pigeons,' tom. i. p. 197) that
+the turbit or owl will not cross readily with other breeds: but my turbits
+crossed, when left free, with almond tumblers and with trumpeters; the same
+thing has occurred (Rev. E. S. Dixon, 'The Dovecot,' p. 107) between
+turbits and dovecots and nuns. I have crossed turbits with barbs, as has M.
+Boitard (p. 34), who says the hybrids were very fertile. Hybrids from a
+turbit and fantail have been known to breed _inter se_ (Riedel,
+Taubenzucht, s. 25, and Bechstein, 'Naturgesch. Deutsch.' B. iv. s. 44).
+Turbits (Riedel, s. 26) have been crossed with pouters and with jacobins,
+and with a hybrid jacobin-trumpeter (Riedel, s. 27). The latter author has,
+however, made some vague statements (s. 22) on the sterility of turbits
+when crossed with certain other crossed breeds. But I have little doubt
+that the Rev. E. S. Dixon's explanation of such statements is correct, viz.
+that individual birds both with turbits and other breeds are occasionally
+sterile.
+
+[335] 'Das Ganze der Taubenzucht,' s. 18.
+
+[336] 'Les Pigeons,' &c., p. 35.
+
+[337] Domestic pigeons pair readily with the allied _C. oenas_ (Bechstein,
+'Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' B. iv. s. 3); and Mr. Brent has made the same
+cross several times in England, but the young were very apt to die at about
+ten days old; one hybrid which he reared (from _C. oenas_ and a male
+Antwerp carrier) paired with a dragon, but never laid eggs. Bechstein
+further states (s. 26) that the domestic pigeon will cross with _C.
+palumbus_, _Turtur risoria_, and _T. vulgaris_, but nothing is said of the
+fertility of the hybrids, and this would have been mentioned had the fact
+been ascertained. In the Zoological Gardens (MS. report to me from Mr.
+James Hunt) a male hybrid from _Turtur vulgaris_ and a domestic pigeon
+"paired with several different species of pigeons and doves, but none of
+the eggs were good." Hybrids from _C. oenas_ and _gymnophthalmos_ were
+sterile. In Loudon's 'Mag. of Nat. Hist.' vol. vii. 1834, p. 154, it is
+said that a male hybrid (from _Turtur vulgaris_ male, and the
+cream-coloured _T. risoria_ female) paired during two years with a female
+_T. risoria_, and the latter laid many eggs, but all were sterile. MM.
+Boitard and Corbie ('Les Pigeons,' p. 235) state that the hybrids from
+these two turtle-doves are invariably sterile both _inter se_ and with
+either pure parent. The experiment was tried by M. Corbie "avec une espece
+d'obstination;" and likewise by M. Manduyt, and by M. Vieillot. Temminck
+also found the hybrids from these two species quite barren. Therefore, when
+Bechstein ('Naturgesch. Vogel. Deutschlands,' B. 4, s. 101) asserts that
+the hybrids from these two turtle-doves propagate _inter se_ equally well
+with pure species, and when a writer in the 'Field' newspaper (in a letter
+dated Nov. 10th, 1858) makes a similar assertion, it would appear that
+there must be some mistake; though what the mistake is I know not, as
+Bechstein at least must have known the white _variety_ of _T. risoria_: it
+would be an unparalleled fact if the same two species sometimes produced
+_extremely_ fertile, and sometimes _extremely_ barren, offspring. In the
+MS. report from the Zoological Gardens it is said that hybrids from _Turtur
+vulgaris_ and _suratensis_, and from _T. vulgaris_ and _Ectopistes
+migratorius_, were sterile. Two of the latter male hybrids paired with
+their pure parents, viz. _Turtur vulgaris_ and the Ectopistes, and likewise
+with _T. risoria_ and with _Columba oenas_, and many eggs were produced,
+but all were barren. At Paris, hybrids have been raised (Isid. Geoffrey
+Saint Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Generale,' tom. iii. p. 180) from _Turtur
+auritus_ with _T. cambayensis_ and with _T. suratensis_; but nothing is
+said of their fertility. At the Zoological Gardens of London the _Goura
+coronata_ and _victoriae_ produced a hybrid, which paired with the pure _G.
+coronata_, and laid several eggs, but these proved barren. In 1860
+_Columba_ _gymnophthalmos_ and _maculosa_ produced hybrids in these same
+gardens.
+
+[338] There is one exception to the rule, namely in a sub-variety of the
+swallow of German origin, which is figured by Neumeister, and was shown to
+me by Mr. Wicking. This bird is blue, but has not the black wing-bars; for
+our object, however, in tracing the descent of the chief races, this
+exception signifies the less as the swallow approaches closely in structure
+to _C. livia_. In many sub-varieties, the black bars are replaced by bars
+of various colours. The figures given by Neumeister are sufficient to show
+that, if the wings alone are blue, the black wing-bars appear.
+
+[339] I have observed blue birds with all the above-mentioned marks in the
+following races, which seemed to be perfectly pure, and were shown at
+various exhibitions. Pouters, with the double black wing-bars, with white
+croup, dark bar to end of tail, and white edging to outer tail-feathers.
+Turbits, with all these same characters. Fantails, with the same; but the
+croup in some was bluish or pure blue: Mr. Wicking bred blue fantails from
+two black birds. Carriers (including the Bagadotten of Neumeister), with
+all the marks: two birds which I examined had white, and two had blue
+croups; the white edging to the outer tail-feathers was not present in all.
+Mr. Corker, a great breeder, assures me that, if black carriers are matched
+for many successive generations, the offspring become first ash-coloured,
+and then blue with black wing-bars. Runts of the elongated breed had the
+same marks, but the croup was pale blue; the outer tail-feathers had white
+edges. Neumeister figures the great Florence Runt of a blue colour with
+black bars. Jacobins are very rarely blue, but I have received authentic
+accounts of at least two instances of the blue variety with black bars
+having appeared in England: blue jacobins were bred by Mr. Brent from two
+black birds. I have seen common tumblers, both Indian and English, and
+short-faced tumblers, of a blue colour, with black wing-bars, with the
+black bar at the end of the tail, and with the outer tail-feathers edged
+with white; the croup in all was blue, or extremely pale blue, never
+absolutely white. Blue barbs and trumpeters seem to be excessively rare;
+but Neumeister, who may be implicitly trusted, figures blue varieties of
+both, with black wing-bars. Mr. Brent informs me that he has seen a blue
+barb; and Mr. H. Weir, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, once bred a
+silver (which means very pale blue) barb from two yellow birds.
+
+[340] Mr. Blyth informs me that all the domestic races in India have the
+croup blue; but this is not invariable, for I possess a very pale blue
+Simmali pigeon with the croup perfectly white, sent to me by Sir W. Elliot
+from Madras. A slaty-blue and chequered Nakshi pigeon has some white
+feathers on the croup alone. In some other Indian pigeons there were a few
+white feathers confined to the croup, and I have noticed the same fact in a
+carrier from Persia. The Java fantail (imported into Amoy, and thence sent
+me) has a perfectly white croup.
+
+[341] 'Les Pigeons,' &c., p. 37.
+
+[342] 'Treatise on Pigeons,' 1858, p. 145.
+
+[343] J. Moore's 'Columbarium,' 1735, in J. M. Eaton's edition, 1852, p.
+71.
+
+[344] I could give numerous examples; two will suffice. A mongrel, whose
+four grandparents were a white turbit, white trumpeter, white fantail, and
+blue pouter, was white all over, except a very few feathers about the head
+and on the wings, but the whole tail and tail-coverts were dark
+bluish-grey. Another mongrel, whose four grandparents were a red runt,
+white trumpeter, white fantail, and the same blue pouter, was pure white
+all over, except the tail and upper tail-coverts, which were pale fawn, and
+except the faintest trace of double wing-bars of the same pale fawn tint.
+
+[345] It deserves notice, as bearing on the general subject of variation,
+that not only _C. livia_ presents several wild forms, regarded by some
+naturalists as species and by others as sub-species or as mere varieties,
+but that the species of several allied genera are in the same predicament.
+This is the case, as Mr. Blyth has remarked to me, with Treron, Palumbus,
+and Turtur.
+
+[346] 'Denkmaler,' Abth. ii. Bl. 70.
+
+[347] The 'Dovecote,' by the Rev. E. S. Dixon, 1851, pp. 11-13. Adolphe
+Pictet (in his 'Les Origines Indo-Europeennes,' 1859, p. 399) states that
+there are in the ancient Sanscrit language between 25 and 30 names for the
+pigeon, and other 15 or 16 Persian names; none of these are common to the
+European languages. This fact indicates the antiquity of the domestication
+in the East of the pigeon.
+
+[348] English translation, 1601, book x. ch. xxxvii.
+
+[349] 'Ayeen Akbery,' translated by F. Gladvin, 4to. edit., vol. i. p. 270.
+
+[350] J. M. Eaton, 'Treatise on the Almond Tumbler,' 1851; Preface, p. vi.
+
+[351] As in the following discussion I often speak of the present time, I
+should state that this chapter was completed in the year 1858.
+
+[352] 'Ornithologie,' 1600, vol. ii. p. 360.
+
+[353] 'A Treatise on Domestic Pigeons,' dedicated to Mr. Mayor, 1765.
+Preface, p. xiv.
+
+[354] Mr. Blyth has given a translation of part of the 'Ayeen Akbery' in
+'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' vol. xix., 1847, p. 104.
+
+[355] 'L'Hist. de la Nature des Oiseaux,' p. 314.
+
+[356] 'Treatise on Pigeons,' 1852, p. 64.
+
+[357] J. M. Eaton's 'Treatise on the Breeding and Managing of the Almond
+Tumbler,' 1851. Compare p. v. of Preface, p. 9, and p. 32.
+
+[358] 'Treatise on Pigeons,' 1852, p. 41.
+
+[359] Eaton's 'Treatise on Pigeons,' 1858, p. 86.
+
+[360] _See_ Neumeister's figure of the Florence runt, tab. 13, in 'Das
+Ganze der Taubenzucht.'
+
+[361] I have drawn up this brief synopsis from various sources, but chiefly
+from information given me by Mr. Tegetmeier. This gentleman has kindly
+looked through the whole of this chapter; and from his well-known
+knowledge, the statements here given may be fully trusted. Mr. Tegetmeier
+has likewise assisted me in every possible way in obtaining for me
+information and specimens. I must not let this opportunity pass without
+expressing my cordial thanks to Mr. B. P. Brent, a well-known writer on
+poultry, for indefatigable assistance and the gift of many specimens.
+
+[362] The best account of Sultans is by Miss Watts in 'The Poultry Yard,'
+1856, p. 79. I owe to Mr. Brent's kindness the examination of some
+specimens of this breed.
+
+[363] A good description with figures is given of this sub-breed in the
+'Journal of Horticulture,' June 10th, 1862, p. 206.
+
+[364] A description, with figures, is given of this breed in 'Journal of
+Horticulture,' June 3rd, 1862, p. 186. Some writers describe the comb as
+two-horned.
+
+[365] Mr. Crawfurd, 'Descript. Dict. of the Indian Islands,' p. 113.
+Bantams are mentioned in an ancient native Japanese Encyclopaedia, as I am
+informed, by Mr. Birch of the British Museum.
+
+[366] 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry,' 1848.
+
+[367] 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry,' 1848.
+
+[368] Ferguson's 'Illustrated Series of Rare and Prize Poultry,' 1854, p.
+vi., Preface.
+
+[369] Rev. E. S. Dixon, in his 'Ornamental Poultry,' p. 203, gives an
+account of Columella's work.
+
+[370] Mr. Crawfurd 'On the Relation of the Domesticated Animals to
+Civilization,' separately printed, p. 6; first read before the Brit. Assoc.
+at Oxford, 1860.
+
+[371] 'Quadrupedes du Paraguay,' tom. ii. p. 324.
+
+[372] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc' 1832, p. 151.
+
+[373] I have examined the feathers of some hybrids raised in the Zoological
+Gardens between the male _G. Sonneratii_ and a red game-hen, and these
+feathers exhibited the true character of those of _G. Sonneratii_, except
+that the horny laminae were much smaller.
+
+[374] See also an excellent letter on the Poultry of India, by Mr. Blyth,
+in 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1851, p. 619.
+
+[375] Mr. S. J. Salter, in 'Natural History Review,' April, 1863, p. 276.
+
+[376] _See_ also Mr. Layard's paper in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. History,'
+2nd Series, vol. xiv. p. 62.
+
+[377] _See_ also Mr. Crawfurd's 'Descriptive Dict. of the Indian Islands,'
+1856, p. 113.
+
+[378] Described by Mr. G. R. Gray, 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1849, p. 62.
+
+[379] The passage from Marsden is given by Mr. Dixon in his 'Poultry Book,'
+p. 176. No ornithologist now ranks this bird as a distinct species.
+
+[380] 'Coup-d'oeil general sur l'Inde Archipelagique,' tom. iii. (1849), p.
+177; _see_ also Mr. Blyth in 'Indian Sporting Review,' vol. ii. p. 5, 1856.
+
+[381] Mr. Blyth, in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 2nd ser., vol. i.
+(1848), p. 455.
+
+[382] Crawfurd, 'Desc. Dict. of Indian Islands,' 1856, p. 112.
+
+[383] In Burmah, as I hear from Mr. Blyth, the wild and tame poultry
+constantly cross together, and irregular transitional forms may be seen.
+
+[384] Idem, p. 113.
+
+[385] Mr. Jerdon, in the 'Madras Journ. of Lit. and Science,' vol. xxii. p.
+2, speaking of _G. bankiva_, says, "unquestionably the origin of most of
+the varieties of our common fowls." For Mr. Blyth, _see_ his excellent
+article in 'Gardener's Chron.' 1851, p. 619; and in 'Annals and Mag. of
+Nat. Hist.,' vol. xx., 1847, p. 388.
+
+[386] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1851, p. 619.
+
+[387] I have consulted an eminent authority, Mr. Sclater, on this subject,
+and he thinks that I have not expressed myself too strongly. I am aware
+that one ancient author, Acosta, speaks of fowls as having inhabited S.
+America at the period of its discovery; and more recently, about 1795,
+Olivier de Serres speaks of wild fowls in the forests of Guiana; these were
+probably feral birds. Dr. Daniell tells me, he believes that fowls have
+become wild on the west coast of Equatorial Africa; they may, however, not
+be true fowls, but gallinaceous birds belonging to the genus Phasidus. The
+old voyager Barbut says that poultry are not natural to Guinea. Capt. W.
+Allen ('Narrative of Niger Expedition,' 1848, vol. ii. p. 42) describes
+wild fowls on Ilha dos Rollas, an island near St. Thomas's, on the west
+coast of Africa: the natives informed him that they had escaped from a
+vessel wrecked there many years ago; they were extremely wild, and had "a
+cry quite different to that of the domestic fowl," and their appearance was
+somewhat changed. Hence it is not a little doubtful, notwithstanding the
+statement of the natives, whether these birds really were fowls. That the
+fowl has become feral on several islands is certain. Mr. Fry, a very
+capable judge, informed Mr. Layard, in a letter, that the fowls which have
+run wild on Ascension "had nearly all got back to their primitive colours,
+red and black cocks, and smoky-grey hens." But unfortunately we do not know
+the colour of the poultry which were turned out. Fowls have become feral on
+the Nicobar Islands (Blyth in the 'Indian Field,' 1858, p. 62), and in the
+Ladrones (Anson's Voyage). Those found in the Pellew Islands (Crawfurd) are
+believed to be feral; and lastly, it is asserted that they have become
+feral in New Zealand, but whether this is correct I know not.
+
+[388] Mr. Hewitt, in 'The Poultry Book,' by W. B. Tegetmeier, 1866, p. 248.
+
+[389] 'Journal of Horticulture,' Jan. 14th, 1862, p. 325.
+
+[390] 'Die Huehner und Pfauenzucht.' Ulm, 1827, s. 17. For Mr. Hewitt's
+statement with respect to the white Silk fowl, _see_ the 'Poultry Book,' by
+W. B. Tegetmeier, 1866, p. 222. I am indebted to Mr. Orton for a letter on
+the same subject.
+
+[391] Dixon, 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry,' pp. 253, 324, 335. For game
+fowls, _see_ Ferguson on 'Prize Poultry,' p. 260.
+
+[392] 'Poultry Chronicle,' vol. ii. p. 71.
+
+[393] Dr. Pickering, in his 'Races of Man,' 1850, p. 374, says that the
+head and neck of a fowl is carried in a Tribute-procession to Thoutmousis
+III. (1445 B.C.); but Mr. Birch of the British Museum doubts whether the
+figure can be identified as the head of a fowl. Some caution is necessary
+with reference to the absence of figures of the fowl on the ancient
+Egyptian monuments, on account of the strong and widely prevalent prejudice
+against this bird. I am informed by the Rev. S. Erhardt that on the east
+coast of Africa, from 4 deg. to 6 deg. south of the equator, most of the pagan
+tribes at the present day hold the fowl in aversion. The natives of the
+Pellew Islands would not eat the fowl, nor will the Indians in some parts
+of S. America. For the ancient history of the fowl, see also Volz,
+'Beitrage zur Culturgeschichte,' 1852, s. 77; and Isid. Geoffroy St.
+Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 61. Mr. Crawfurd has given an
+admirable history of the fowl in his paper 'On the Relation of Domesticated
+Animals to Civilisation,' read before the Brit. Assoc. at Oxford in 1860,
+and since printed separately. I quote from him on the Greek poet Theognis,
+and on the Harpy Tomb described by Sir C. Fellowes. I quote from a letter
+of Mr. Blyth's with respect to the Institutes of Manu.
+
+[394] 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry,' 1847, p. 185; for passages
+translated from Columella, _see_ p. 312. For Golden Hamburghs, _see_
+Albin's 'Natural History of Birds,' 3 vols., with plates, 1731-38.
+
+[395] 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry,' p. 152.
+
+[396] Ferguson on 'Rare Prize Poultry,' p. 297. This writer, I am informed,
+cannot generally be trusted. He gives, however, figures and much
+information on eggs. _See_ pp. 34 and 235 on the eggs of the Game fowl.
+
+[397] _See_ 'Poultry Book,' by Mr. Tegetmeier, 1866, pp. 81 and 78.
+
+[398] 'The Cottage Gardener,' Oct. 1855, p. 13. On the thinness of the eggs
+of Game-fowls, _see_ Mowbray on Poultry, 7th edit., p. 13.
+
+[399] My information, which is very far from perfect, on chickens in the
+down, is derived chiefly from Mr. Dixon's 'Ornamental and Domestic
+Poultry.' Mr. B. P. Brent has also communicated to me many facts by letter,
+as has Mr. Tegetmeier. I will in each case mark my authority by the name
+within brackets. For the chickens of white Silk-fowls, _see_ Tegetmeier's
+'Poultry Book,' 1866, p. 221.
+
+[400] As I hear from Mr. Tegetmeier; _see_ also 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' 1856,
+p. 366. On the late development of the crest, _see_ 'Poultry Chronicle,'
+vol. ii. p. 132.
+
+[401] On these points, _see_ 'Poultry Chronicle,' vol. iii. p. 166; and
+Tegetmeier's 'Poultry Book,' 1866, pp. 105 and 121.
+
+[402] Dixon, 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry,' p. 273.
+
+[403] Ferguson on Rare and Prize Poultry, p. 261.
+
+[404] Mowbray on Poultry, 7th edit. 1834, p. 13.
+
+[405] _See_ the full description of the varieties of the Game-breed, in
+Tegetmeier's 'Poultry Book,' 1866, p. 131. For Cuckoo Dorkings, p. 97.
+
+[406] Mr. Hewitt in Tegetmeier's 'Poultry Book,' 1866, pp. 246 and 156. For
+hen-tailed game-cocks, _see_ p. 131.
+
+[407] 'The Field,' April 20th, 1861. The writer says he has seen
+half-a-dozen cocks thus sacrificed.
+
+[408] 'Proceedings of Zoolog. Soc.' March, 1861, p. 102. The engraving of
+the hen-tailed cock just alluded to was exhibited at the Society.
+
+[409] 'The Field,' April 20th, 1861.
+
+[410] I am much indebted to Mr. Brent for an account, with sketches, of all
+the variations of the comb known to him, and likewise with respect to the
+tail, as presently to be given.
+
+[411] The 'Poultry Book,' by Tegetmeier, 1866, p. 234.
+
+[412] 'Die Huehner und Pfauenzucht,' 1827, s. 11.
+
+[413] 'Poultry Chronicle,' vol. i. p. 595. Mr. Brent has informed me of the
+same fact. With respect to the position of the spurs in Dorkings, _see_
+'Cottage Gardener,' Sept. 18th, 1860, p. 380.
+
+[414] Dixon, 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry,' p. 320.
+
+[415] Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that Game hens have been found so
+combative, that it is now generally the practice to exhibit each hen in a
+separate pen.
+
+[416] 'Naturgeschichte Deutschlands,' Band iii. (1793), s. 339, 407.
+
+[417] On the Ornithology of Ceylon in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. History,'
+2nd series, vol. xiv. (1854), p. 63.
+
+[418] I quote Blumenbach on the authority of Mr. Tegetmeier, who gives in
+'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' Nov. 25th, 1856, a very interesting account of the
+skulls of Polish fowls. Mr. Tegetmeier, not knowing of Bechstein's account,
+disputed the accuracy of Blumenbach's statement. For Bechstein, _see_
+'Naturgeschichte Deutschlands,' Band iii. (1793), s. 399, note. I may add
+that at the first exhibition of poultry at the Zoological Gardens, in May,
+1845, I saw some fowls, called Friezland fowls, of which the hens were
+crested, and the cocks were furnished with a comb.
+
+[419] 'Cottage Gardener,' Jan. 3rd, 1860, p. 218.
+
+[420] Mr. Williams, in a paper read before the Dublin Nat. Hist. Soc.,
+quoted in 'Cottage Gardener,' 1856, p. 161.
+
+[421] 'De l'Espece,' 1859, p. 442. For the occurrence of black-boned fowls
+in South America, _see_ Roulin, in 'Mem. de l'Acad. des Sciences,' tom. vi.
+p. 351; and Azara, 'Quadrupedes du Paraguay,' tom. ii. p. 324. A frizzled
+fowl sent to me from Madras had black bones.
+
+[422] Mr. Hewitt, in Tegetmeier's 'Poultry Book,' 1866, p. 231.
+
+[423] Dr. Broca, in Brown-Sequard's 'Journal de Phys.,' tom. ii. p. 361.
+
+[424] Dixon's 'Ornamental Poultry,' p. 325.
+
+[425] 'Poultry Chronicle,' vol. i. p. 485. Tegetmeier's 'Poultry Book,'
+1866, p. 41. On Cochins grazing, idem, p. 46.
+
+[426] Ferguson on 'Prize Poultry,' p. 187.
+
+[427] Col. Sykes in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1832, p. 151. Dr. Hooker's
+'Himalayan Journals,' vol. i. p. 314.
+
+[428] _See_ Mr. Tegetmeier's account, with woodcuts, of the skull of Polish
+fowls, in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' Nov. 25th, 1856. For other references,
+_see_ Isid. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, 'Hist. Gen. des Anomalies,' tom. i. p.
+287. M. C. Dareste suspects ('Recherches sur les Condicions de la Vie,'
+&c., Lille, 1863, p. 36) that the protuberance is not formed by the frontal
+bones, but by the ossification of the dura mater.
+
+[429] 'Naturgeschichte Deutschlands,' Band iii. (1793), s. 400.
+
+[430] The 'Field,' May 11th, 1861. I have received communications to a
+similar effect from Messrs. Brent and Tegetmeier.
+
+[431] It appears that I have not correctly designated the several groups of
+vertebrae, for a great authority, Mr. W. K. Parker ('Transact. Zoolog.
+Soc.,' vol. v. p. 198), specifies 16 cervical, 4 dorsal, 15 lumbar, and 6
+caudal vertebrae in this genus. But I have used the same terms in all the
+following descriptions.
+
+[432] Macgillivray, 'British Birds,' vol. i. p. 25.
+
+[433] It may be well to explain how the calculation has been made for the
+third column. In _G. bankiva_ the leg-bones are to the wing-bones as 86 :
+54, or as (neglecting decimals) 100 : 62;--in Cochins as 311 : 162, or as
+100 : 52;--in Dorkings as 557 : 248, or as 100 : 44; and so on for the
+other breeds. We thus get the series of 62, 52, 44 for the relative-weights
+of the wing-bones in _G. bankiva_, Cochins, Dorkings, &c. And now taking
+100, instead of 62, for the weight of the wing-bones in _G. bankiva_, we
+get, by another rule of three, 83 as the weight of the wing-bones in
+Cochins; 70 in the Dorkings; and so on for the remainder of the third
+column in the table.
+
+[434] Mr. Blyth (in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 2nd series, vol. i.,
+1848, p. 456) gives 31/4 lb. as the weight of a full-grown male _G. bankiva_;
+but from what I have seen of the skins and skeletons of various breeds, I
+cannot believe that my two specimens of _G. bankiva_ could have weighed so
+much.
+
+[435] The third column is calculated on the same principle as explained in
+the previous foot-note, p. 271.
+
+[436] 'Poultry Chronicle' (1854), vol. ii. p.91, and vol. i. p. 330.
+
+[437] Dr. Turral, in 'Bull. Soc. d'Acclimat.,' tom. vii., 1860, p. 541.
+
+[438] Willughby's 'Ornithology,' by Ray, p. 381. This breed is also figured
+by Albin, in 1734, in his 'Nat. Hist. of Birds,' vol. ii. p. 86.
+
+[439] F. Cuvier, in 'Annales du Museum,' tom. ix. p. 128, says that
+moulting and incubation alone stop these ducks laying. Mr. B. P. Brent
+makes a similar remark in the 'Poultry Chronicle,' 1855, vol. iii. p. 512.
+
+[440] Rev. E. S. Dixon, 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry' (1848), p. 117.
+Mr. B. P. Brent, in 'Poultry Chronicle,' vol. iii., 1855, p. 512.
+
+[441] Crawfurd on the 'Relation of Domesticated Animals to Civilisation,'
+read before the Brit. Assoc. at Oxford, 1860.
+
+[442] Dureau de la Malle, in 'Annales des Sciences Nat.,' tom. xvii. p.
+164; and tom. xxi. p. 55. Rev. E. S. Dixon, 'Ornamental Poultry,' p. 118.
+Tame ducks were not known in Aristotle's time, as remarked by Volz, in his
+'Beitraege zur Kulturgeschichte,' 1852, s. 78.
+
+[443] I quote this account from 'Die Enten, Schwanen-zucht,' Ulm, 1828, s.
+143. _See_ Audubon's 'Ornithological Biography,' vol. iii. p. 168, on the
+taming of ducks on the Mississippi. For the same fact in England, _see_ Mr.
+Waterton, in Loudon's 'Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' vol. viii., 1835, p. 542; and
+Mr. St. John, 'Wild Sports and Nat. Hist. of the Highlands,' 1846, p. 129.
+
+[444] Mr. E. Hewitt, in 'Journal of Horticulture,' 1862, p. 773; and 1863,
+p. 39.
+
+[445] I have met with several statements on the fertility of the several
+breeds when crossed. Mr. Yarrell assured me that Call and common ducks are
+perfectly fertile together. I crossed Hook-billed and common ducks, and a
+Penguin and Labrador, and the crossed ducks were quite fertile, though they
+were not bred _inter se_, so that the experiment was not fully tried. Some
+half-bred Penguins and Labradors were again crossed with Penguins, and
+subsequently bred by me _inter se_, and they were extremely fertile.
+
+[446] 'Poultry Chronicle,' 1855, vol. iii. p. 512.
+
+[447] 'Journal of the Indian Archipelago,' vol. v. p. 334.
+
+[448] 'The Zoologist,' vols. vii., viii. (1849-1850), p. 2353.
+
+[449] 'Poultry Chronicle,' 1855, vol. iii. p. 512.
+
+[450] 'Poultry Chronicle,' vol. iii., 1855, p. 312. With respect to Rouens,
+_see_ ditto, vol. i., 1854, p. 167.
+
+[451] Col. Hawker's 'Instructions to young Sportsmen,' quoted by Mr. Dixon
+in his 'Ornamental Poultry,' p. 125.
+
+[452] 'Cottage Gardener,' April 9th, 1861.
+
+[453] These hybrids have been described by M. Selys-Longchamps in the
+'Bulletins (tom. xii. No. 10) Acad. Roy. de Bruxelles.'
+
+[454] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' 1861, p. 261.
+
+[455] 'Ceylon,' by Sir J. E. Tennent, 1859, vol. i. p. 485; also J.
+Crawfurd on the 'Relation of Domest. Animals to Civilisation,' read before
+Brit. Assoc., 1860. _See_ also 'Ornamental Poultry,' by Rev. E. S. Dixon,
+1848, p. 132. The goose figured on the Egyptian monuments seems to have
+been the Red goose of Egypt.
+
+[456] Macgillivray's 'British Birds,' vol. iv. p. 593.
+
+[457] Mr. A. Strickland ('Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 3rd Series, vol.
+iii. 1859, p. 122) reared some young wild geese, and found them in habits
+and in all characters identical with the domestic goose.
+
+[458] _See_ also Hunter's 'Essays,' edited by Owen, vol. ii. p. 322.
+
+[459] Yarrell's 'British Birds,' vol. iii. p. 142. He refers to the
+Laplanders domesticating the goose.
+
+[460] L. Lloyd, 'Scandinavian Adventures,' 1854, vol. ii. p. 413, says that
+the wild goose lays from five to eight eggs, which is a much fewer number
+than that laid by our domestic goose.
+
+[461] The Rev. L. Jenyns seems first to have made this observation in his
+'British Animals.' _See_ also Yarrell, and Dixon in his 'Ornamental
+Poultry' (p. 139), and 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1857, p. 45.
+
+[462] Mr. Bartlett exhibited the head and neck of a bird thus characterised
+at the Zoological Soc., Feb. 1860.
+
+[463] W. Thompson, 'Natural Hist. of Ireland,' 1851, vol. iii. p. 31. The
+Rev. E. S. Dixon gave me some information on the varying colour of the beak
+and legs.
+
+[464] Mr. A. Strickland, in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 3rd series,
+vol. iii., 1859, p. 122.
+
+[465] 'Poultry Chronicle,' vol. i., 1854, p. 498; vol. iii. p. 210.
+
+[466] 'The Cottage Gardener,' Sept. 4th, 1860, p. 348.
+
+[467] 'L'Hist. de la Nature des Oiseaux,' par P. Belon, 1555, p. 156. With
+respect to the livers of white geese being preferred by the Romans, _see_
+Isid. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 'Hist. Nat. Gen.,' tom. iii. p. 58.
+
+[468] Mr. Sclater on the black-shouldered peacock of Latham, 'Proc. Zoolog.
+Soc.,' April 24th, 1860.
+
+[469] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' April 14th, 1835.
+
+[470] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' April 8th, 1856, p. 61. Prof. Baird believes
+(as quoted in Tegetmeier's 'Poultry Book,' 1866, p. 269) that our turkeys
+are descended from a West Indian species now extinct. But besides the
+improbability of a bird having long ago become extinct in these large and
+luxuriant islands, it appears (as we shall presently see) that the turkey
+degenerates in India, and this fact indicates that it was not aboriginally
+an inhabitant of the lowlands of the tropics.
+
+[471] Audubon's 'Ornithological Biograph.,' vol. i., 1831, pp. 4-13; and
+'Naturalist's Library,' vol. xiv., Birds, p. 138.
+
+[472] F. Michaux, 'Travels in N. America,' 1802, Eng. translat., p. 217.
+
+[473] 'Ornamental Poultry,' by the Rev. E. S. Dixon, 1848, p. 34.
+
+[474] Rev. E. S. Dixon, id., p. 35.
+
+[475] Bechstein, 'Naturgesch. Deutschlands,' B. iii., 1793, s. 309.
+
+[476] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1852, p. 699.
+
+[477] E. Blyth, in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 1847, vol. xx. p. 391.
+
+[478] Roulin makes this remark in 'Mem. de divers Savans, l'Acad. des
+Sciences,' tom. vi., 1835, p. 349. Mr. Hill, of Spanish Town, in a letter
+to me, describes five varieties of the guinea-fowl in Jamaica. I have seen
+singular pale-coloured varieties imported from Barbadoes and Demerara.
+
+[479] For St. Domingo, _see_ M. A. Salle, in 'Proc. Soc. Zoolog.,' 1857, p.
+236. Mr. Hill remarks to me, in his letter, on the colour of the legs of
+the feral birds in Jamaica.
+
+[480] Mr. B. P. Brent, 'The Canary, British Finches,' &c., pp. 21, 30.
+
+[481] 'Cottage Gardener,' Dec. 11th, 1855, p. 184. An account is here given
+of all the varieties. For many measurements of the wild birds, _see_ Mr. E.
+Vernon Harcourt, id., Dec. 25th, 1855, p. 223.
+
+[482] Bechstein, 'Naturgesch. der Stubenvoegel,' 1840, s. 243; _see_ s. 252,
+on the inherited song of Canary-birds. With respect to their baldness,
+_see_ also W. Kidd's 'Treatise on Song-Birds.'
+
+[483] W. Kidd's 'Treatise on Song-Birds,' p. 18.
+
+[484] The 'Indian Field,' 1858, p. 255.
+
+[485] Yarrell's 'British Fishes,' vol. i, p. 319.
+
+[486] Mr. Blyth, in the 'Indian Field,' 1858, p. 255.
+
+[487] 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' May 25th. 1842.
+
+[488] Yarrell's 'British Fishes,' vol. i. p. 319.
+
+[489] 'Dict. Class. d'Hist. Nat.,' tom. v. p. 276.
+
+[490] 'Observations in Nat. Hist.,' 1846, p. 211. Dr. Gray has described,
+in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 1860, p. 151, a nearly similar variety,
+but destitute of a dorsal fin.
+
+[491] 'De l'Espece,' 1859, p. 459. With respect to the bees of Burgundy,
+_see_ M. Gerard, art. 'Espece,' in 'Dict. Univers. d'Hist. Nat.'
+
+[492] _See_ a discussion on this subject, in answer to a question of mine,
+in 'Journal of Horticulture,' 1862, pp. 225-242; also Mr. Bevan Fox, in
+ditto, 1862, p. 284.
+
+[493] This excellent observer may be implicitly trusted; _see_ 'Journal of
+Horticulture,' July 14th, 1863, p. 39.
+
+[494] 'Journal of Horticulture,' Sept. 9th, 1862, p. 463; _see_ also Herr
+Kleine on same subject (Nov. 11th, p. 643), who sums up, that, though there
+is some variability in colour, no constant or perceptible differences can
+be detected in the bees of Germany.
+
+[495] Mr. Woodbury has published several such accounts in 'Journal of
+Horticulture,' 1861 and 1862.
+
+[496] 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 3rd series, vol. xi. p. 339.
+
+[497] 'The Cottage Gardener,' May, 1860, p. 110; and ditto in 'Journal of
+Hort.' 1862, p. 242.
+
+[498] 'Transact. Entomolog. Soc.,' 3rd series, vol. iii. pp. 143-173, and
+pp. 295-331.
+
+[499] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' 1859, tom. i. p. 460. The antiquity of the
+silk-worm in China is given on the authority of Stanislas Julien.
+
+[500] _See_ the remarks of Prof. Westwood, General Hearsey, and others, at
+the meeting of the Entomolog. Soc. of London, July, 1861.
+
+[501] _See_, for instance, M. A. de Quatrefage's 'Etudes sur les Maladies
+actuelles du Ver a Soie,' 1859, p. 101.
+
+[502] My authorities for these statements will be given in the chapter on
+Selection.
+
+[503] 'Manuel de l'Educateur de Vers a Soie,' 1848.
+
+[504] Robinet, idem, pp. 12, 318. I may add that the eggs of N. American
+silk-worms taken to the Sandwich Islands were very irregularly developed;
+and the moths thus raised produced eggs which were even worse in this
+respect. Some were hatched in ten days, and others not until after the
+lapse of many months. No doubt a regular early character would ultimately
+have been acquired. _See_ review in Athenaeum,' 1844, p. 329, of J. Jarves'
+'Scenes in the Sandwich Islands.'
+
+[505] 'The Art of rearing Silk-worms,' translated from Count Dandolo, 1825,
+p. 23.
+
+[506] 'Transact. Ent. Soc.,' ut supra, pp. 153, 308.
+
+[507] Robinet, idem, p. 317.
+
+[508] Robinet, idem, pp. 306-317.
+
+[509] 'Transact. Ent. Soc.,' ut supra, p. 317.
+
+[510] Stephens' Illustrations, 'Haustellala,' vol. ii. p. 35. _See_ also
+Capt. Hutton, 'Transact. Ent. Soc.' idem, p. 152.
+
+[511] 'Etudes sur les Maladies du Ver a Soie,' 1859, pp. 304, 209.
+
+[512] Quatrefages, 'Etudes,' &c., p. 214.
+
+[513] 'Transact. Ent. Soc.,' ut supra, p. 151.
+
+[514] 'Manuel de l'Educateur,' &c., p. 26.
+
+[515] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' p. 462.
+
+[516] Quatrefages, 'Etudes,' &c., pp. 12, 209, 214.
+
+[517] Robinet, 'Manuel,' &c., p. 303.
+
+[518] Robinet, idem, p. 15.
+
+[519] 'Geographie Botanique Raisonnee,' 1855, pp. 810 to 991.
+
+[520] Review by Mr. Bentham in 'Hort. Journal,' vol. ix. 1855, p. 133,
+entitled 'Historical Notes on cultivated Plants,' by Dr. A.
+Targioni-Tozzetti. _See_ also 'Edinburgh Review,' 1866, p. 510.
+
+[521] 'Hist. Notes,' as above, by Targioni-Tozzeti.
+
+[522] 'Considerations sur les Cereales,' 1842, p. 37. 'Geographie Bot.,'
+1855, p. 930. "Plus on suppose l'agriculture ancienne et remontant a une
+epoque d'ignorance, plus il est probable que les cultivateurs avaient
+choisi des especes offrant a l'origine meme un avantage incontestable."
+
+[523] Dr. Hooker has given me this information. _See_, also, his 'Himalayan
+Journals,' 1851, vol. ii. p. 49.
+
+[524] 'Travels in Central Africa,' Eng. translat., vol. i. pp. 529 and 390;
+vol. ii. pp. 29, 265, 270. Livingstone's 'Travels,' p. 551.
+
+[525] As in both North and South America, Mr. Edgeworth ('Journal Proc.
+Linn. Soc.,' vol. vi. Bot., 1862, p. 181) states that in the deserts of the
+Punjab poor women sweep up, "by a whisk into straw baskets," the seeds of
+four genera of grasses, namely, of Agrostis, Panicum, Cenchrus, and
+Pennisetum, as well as the seeds of four other genera belonging to distinct
+families.
+
+[526] Prof. O. Heer, 'Die Pflanzen der Pfahlbauten, 1865, aus dem Neujahr.
+Naturforsc. Gesellschaft,' 1866; and Dr. H. Christ, in Ruetimeyer's 'Die
+Fauna der Pfuhlbauten,' 1861, s. 226.
+
+[527] 'Travels,' p. 535. Du Chaillu, 'Adventures in Equatorial Africa,'
+1861, p. 445.
+
+[528] In Tierra del Fuego the spot where wigwams had formerly stood could
+be distinguished at a great distance by the bright green tint of the native
+vegetation.
+
+[529] 'American Acad. of Arts and Science,' April 10th, 1860, p. 413.
+Downing, 'The Fruits of America,' 1845, p. 261.
+
+[530] 'Journals of Expeditions in Australia,' 1841, vol. ii. p. 292.
+
+[531] Darwin's 'Journal of Researches,' 1845, p. 215.
+
+[532] De Candolle has tabulated the facts in the most interesting manner in
+his 'Geographie Bot.,' p. 986.
+
+[533] 'Flora of Australia,' Introduction, p. cx.
+
+[534] For Canada, _see_ J. Cartier's Voyage in 1534; for Florida, _see_
+Narvaez and Ferdinand de Soto's Voyages. As I have consulted these and
+other old Voyages in more than one general collection of Voyages, I do not
+give precise references to the pages. _See_ also, for several references,
+Asa Gray, in the 'American Journal of Science,' vol. xxiv., Nov. 1857, p.
+441. For the traditions of the natives of New Zealand, _see_ Crawfurd's
+'Grammar and Dict. of the Malay Language,' 1852, p. cclx.
+
+[535] _See_, for example, M. Hewett C. Watson's remarks on our wild plums
+and cherries and crabs, 'Cybele Britannica,' vol. i. pp. 330, 334, &c. Van
+Mons (in his 'Arbres Fruitiers,' 1835, tom. i. p. 444) declares that he has
+found the types of all our cultivated varieties in wild seedlings, but then
+he looks on these seedlings as so many aboriginal stocks.
+
+[536] _See_ A. De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' 1855, p. 928 _et seq._
+Godron, 'De l'Espece,' 1859, tom. ii. p. 70; and Metzger, 'Die
+Getreidearten,' &c., 1841.
+
+[537] Mr. Bentham, in his review, entitled 'Hist. Notes on cultivated
+Plants,' by Dr. A. Targioni-Tozzetti, in 'Journal of Hort. Soc.,' vol. ix.
+(1855), p. 133.
+
+[538] 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 928. The whole subject is discussed with
+admirable fullness and knowledge.
+
+[539] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 72. A few years ago the excellent,
+though misinterpreted, observations of M. Fabre led many persons to believe
+that wheat was a modified descendant of AEgilops; but M. Godron (tom. i. p.
+165) has shown by careful experiments that the first step in the series,
+viz. _AEgilops triticoides_, is a hybrid between wheat and _AE. ovata_. The
+frequency with which these hybrids spontaneously arise, and the gradual
+manner in which the _AE. triticoides_ becomes converted into true wheat,
+alone leave any doubt on the subject.
+
+[540] Report to British Association for 1857, p. 207.
+
+[541] 'Considerations sur les Cereales,' 1842-43, p. 29.
+
+[542] 'Travels in the Himalayan Provinces,' &c., 1841, vol. i. p. 224.
+
+[543] Col. J. Le Couteur on the 'Varieties of Wheat,' pp. 23, 79.
+
+[544] Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, 'Consid. sur les Cereales,' p. 11.
+
+[545] _See_ an excellent review in Hooker's 'Journ. of Botany,' vol. viii.
+p. 82, note.
+
+[546] 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii, p. 73.
+
+[547] Idem, tom. ii. p. 75.
+
+[548] For Dalbret and Philippar, _see_ Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, 'Consid.
+sur les Cereales,' pp. 45, 70. Le Couteur on Wheat, p. 6.
+
+[549] 'Varieties of Wheat,' Introduction, p. vi. Marshall, in his 'Rural
+Economy of Yorkshire,' vol. ii. p. 9, remarks that "in every field of corn
+there is as much variety as in a herd of cattle."
+
+[550] 'Gardener's Chron. and Agricult. Gazette,' 1862, p. 963.
+
+[551] 'Getreidearten,' 1841, s. 66, 91, 92, 116, 117.
+
+[552] Quoted by Godron, 'De l'Espece,' vol. ii. p. 74. So it is, according
+to Metzger ('Getreidearten,' s. 18), with summer and winter barley.
+
+[553] Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, 'Cereales,' part ii. p. 224. Le Couteur, p.
+70. Many other accounts could be added.
+
+[554] 'Travels in North America,' 1753-1761, Eng. translat., vol. iii. p.
+165.
+
+[555] 'Cereales,' part ii. pp. 179-183.
+
+[556] 'On the Varieties of Wheat,' Introduct., p. vii. _See_ Marshall,
+'Rural Econ. of Yorkshire,' vol. ii. p. 9. With respect to similar cases of
+adaptation in the varieties of oats, _see_ some interesting papers in the
+'Gardener's Chron. and Agricult. Gazette,' 1850, pp. 204, 219.
+
+[557] 'On the Varieties of Wheat,' p. 59. Mr. Sheriff, and a higher
+authority cannot be given ('Gard. Chron. and Agricult. Gazette,' 1862, p.
+963), says, "I have never seen grain which has either been improved or
+degenerated by cultivation, so as to convey the change to the succeeding
+crop."
+
+[558] Alph. De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 930.
+
+[559] 'Pflanzen der Pfahlbauten,' 1866.
+
+[560] 'Les Cereales,' p. 94.
+
+[561] Quoted by Le Couteur, p. 16.
+
+[562] A. De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 932.
+
+[563] O. Heer, 'Die Pflanzen der Pfahlbauten,' 1866. The following passage
+is quoted from Dr. Christ, in 'Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten von Dr.
+Ruetimeyer,' 1861, s. 225.
+
+[564] Heer, as quoted by Carl Vogt, 'Lectures on Man,' Eng. translat., p.
+355.
+
+[565] _See_ Alph. De Candolle's long discussion in his 'Geograph. Bot.,' p.
+942. With respect to New England, _see_ Silliman's 'American Journal,' vol.
+xliv. p. 99.
+
+[566] 'Travels in Peru,' Eng. translat., p. 177.
+
+[567] 'Geolog. Observ. on S. America,' 1846, p. 49.
+
+[568] This maize is figured in Bonafous' magnificent work, 'Hist. Nat. du
+Mais,' 1836, Pl. v. bis, and in the 'Journal of Hort. Soc.,' vol. i., 1846,
+p. 115, where an account is given of the result of sowing the seed. A young
+Guarany Indian, on seeing this kind of maize, told Auguste St. Hilaire
+_(see_ De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 951) that it grew wild in the
+humid forests of his native land. Mr. Teschemacher, in 'Proc. Boston Soc.
+Nat. Hist.,' Oct. 19th, 1842, gives an account of sowing the seed.
+
+[569] Moquin-Tandon, 'Elements de Teratologie,' 1841, p. 126.
+
+[570] 'Die Getreidearten,' 1841, s. 208. I have modified a few of Metzger's
+statements in accordance with those made by Bonafous in his great work,
+'Hist. Nat. du Mais,' 1836.
+
+[571] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 80; Al. De Candolle, idem, p. 951.
+
+[572] 'Transact. Bot. Soc. of Edinburgh,' vol. viii. p. 60.
+
+[573] 'Voyages dans l'Amerique Meridionale,' torn. i. p. 147.
+
+[574] Bonafous' 'Hist. Nat. du Mais,' p. 31.
+
+[575] Idem, p. 31.
+
+[576] Metzger, 'Getreidearten,' s. 206.
+
+[577] 'Description of Maize,' by P. Kalm, 1752, in 'Swedish Acts,' vol. iv.
+I have consulted an old English MS. translation.
+
+[578] 'Getreidearten,' s. 208.
+
+[579] 'Cabbage Timber,' 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1856, p. 744, quoted from
+Hooker's 'Journal of Botany.' A walking-stick made from a cabbage-stalk is
+exhibited in the Museum at Kew.
+
+[580] 'Journal de la Soc. Imp. d'Horticulture,' 1855, p. 254, quoted from
+'Gartenflora,' Ap. 1855.
+
+[581] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 52; Metzger, 'Syst. Beschreibung
+der Kult. Kohlarten,' 1833, s. 6.
+
+[582] Regnier, 'De l'Economie Publique des Celtes,' 1818, p. 438.
+
+[583] _See_ the elder De Candolle, in 'Transact. of Hort. Soc.,' vol. v.;
+and Metzger 'Kohlarten,' &c.
+
+[584] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1859, p. 992.
+
+[585] Alph. De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' pp. 842 and 989.
+
+[586] 'Gardener's Chron.,' Feb. 1858, p. 128.
+
+[587] 'Kohlarten,' s. 22.
+
+[588] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii, p. 52; Metzger, 'Kohlarten,' s. 22.
+
+[589] 'Geograph, Bot.,' p. 840.
+
+[590] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 54; Metzger, 'Kohlarten,' s. 10.
+
+[591] 'Gardener's Chron. and Agricult. Gazette,' 1856, p. 729.
+
+[592] 'Gardener's Chron. and Agricult. Gazette,' 1855, p. 730.
+
+[593] Metzger, 'Kohlarten,' s. 51.
+
+[594] These experiments by Vilmorin have been quoted by many writers. An
+eminent botanist, Prof. Decaisne, has lately expressed doubts on the
+subject from his own negative results, but these cannot be valued equally
+with positive results. On the other hand, M. Carriere has lately stated
+('Gard. Chronicle,' 1865, p. 1154) that he took seed from a wild carrot,
+growing far from any cultivated land, and even in the first generation the
+roots of his seedlings differed in being spindle-shaped, longer, softer and
+less fibrous than those of the wild plant. From these seedlings he raised
+several distinct varieties.
+
+[595] Loudon's 'Encyclop. of Gardening,' p. 835.
+
+[596] Alph. De Candolle 'Geograph. Bot.,' 960. Mr. Bentham ('Hort.
+Journal,' vol. ix. (1855), p. 141) believes that garden and field peas
+belong to the same species, and in this respect he differs from Dr.
+Targioni.
+
+[597] 'Botanische Zeitung,' 1860, s. 204.
+
+[598] 'Die Pflanzen der Pfahlbauten,' 1866, s. 23.
+
+[599] A variety called the Rouncival attains this height, as is stated by
+Mr. Gordon in 'Transact. Hort. Soc.' (2nd series), vol. i., 1835, p. 374,
+from which paper I have taken some facts.
+
+[600] 'Phil. Transact.,' 1799, p. 196.
+
+[601] 'Gardener's Magazine,' vol. i., 1826, p. 153.
+
+[602] 'Encyclopaedia of Gardening,' p. 823.
+
+[603] _See_ Dr. Anderson to the same effect in the 'Bath Soc. Agricultural
+Papers,' vol. iv. p. 87.
+
+[604] I have published full details of experiments on this subject in the
+'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1857, Oct. 25th.
+
+[605] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1865, p. 387.
+
+[606] 'Bonplandia,' x., 1862, s. 348.
+
+[607] O. Heer, 'Die Pflanzen der Pfahlbauten,' 1866, s. 22.
+
+[608] Darwin, 'Journal of Researches,' 1845, p. 285.
+
+[609] Synopsis of the vegetable products of Scotland, quoted in Wilson's
+'British Farming,' p. 317.
+
+[610] Sir G. Mackenzie, in 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1845, p. 790.
+
+[611] 'Putsche und Vertuch, Versuch einer Monographie der Kartoffeln,'
+1819, s. 9, 15. _See_ also Dr. Anderson's 'Recreations in Agriculture,'
+vol. iv. p. 325.
+
+[612] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1862, p. 1052.
+
+[613] 'Bath Society Agricult. Papers,' vol. v. p. 127. And 'Recreations in
+Agriculture,' vol. v. p. 86.
+
+[614] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1863, p. 643.
+
+[615] Heer, 'Pflanzen der Pfahlbauten,' 1866, s. 28.
+
+[616] Alph. De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 872; Dr. A.
+Targioni-Tozzetti, in 'Jour. Hort. Soc.,' vol. ix. p. 133. For the fossil
+vine found by Dr. G. Planchon, _see_ 'Nat. Hist. Review,' 1865, April, p.
+224.
+
+[617] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 100.
+
+[618] _See_ an account of M. Vibert's experiments, by Alex. Jordan, in
+'Mem. de l'Acad. de Lyon,' tom. ii., 1852, p. 108.
+
+[619] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1864, p. 488.
+
+[620] 'Arbres Fruitiers,' 1836, tom. ii. 290.
+
+[621] Odart, 'Ampelographie Universelle,' 1849.
+
+[622] M. Bouchardat, in 'Comptes Rendus,' Dec. 1st, 1851, quoted in
+'Gardener's Chron.,' 1852, p. 435.
+
+[623] 'Etudes sur les Maladies actuelles du Ver a Soie,' 1859, p. 321.
+
+[624] 'Productive Resources of India,' p. 130.
+
+[625] 'Traite du Citrus,' 1811. 'Teoria della Riproduzione Vegetale,' 1816.
+I quote chiefly from this second work. In 1839 Gallesio published in folio
+'Gli Agrumi dei Giard. Bot. di Firenze,' in which he gives a curious
+diagram of the supposed relationship of all the forms.
+
+[626] Mr. Bentham, Review of Dr. A. Targioni-Tozzetti, 'Journal of Hort.
+Soc.,' vol. ix. p. 133.
+
+[627] 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 863.
+
+[628] 'Teoria della Riproduzione,' pp. 52-57.
+
+[629] Hooker's 'Bot. Misc.,' vol. i. p. 302; vol. ii. p. 111.
+
+[630] 'Teoria della Riproduzione,' p. 53.
+
+[631] Gallesio, 'Teoria della Riproduzione,' p. 69.
+
+[632] Gallesio, idem, p. 67.
+
+[633] Gallesio, idem, pp. 75, 76.
+
+[634] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1841, p. 613.
+
+[635] 'Annales du Museum,' tom. xx. p. 188.
+
+[636] 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 882.
+
+[637] 'Transactions of Hort. Soc.,' vol. iii. p. 1, and vol. iv. p. 369,
+and note to p. 370. A coloured drawing is given of this hybrid.
+
+[638] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1856, p. 532. A writer, it may be presumed
+Dr. Lindley, remarks on the perfect series which may be formed between the
+almond and the peach. Another high authority, Mr. Rivers, who has had such
+wide experience, strongly suspects ('Gardener's Chronicle,' 1863, p. 27)
+that peaches, if left to a state of nature, would in the course of time
+retrograde into thick-fleshed almonds.
+
+[639] 'Journal of Hort. Soc.,' vol. ix. p. 168.
+
+[640] Whether this is the same variety as one lately mentioned ('Gard.
+Chron.' 1865, p. 1154) by M. Carriere under the name of _Persica
+intermedia_, I know not: this var. is said to be intermediate in nearly all
+its characters between the almond and peach; it produces during successive
+years very different kinds of fruit.
+
+[641] Quoted in 'Gard. Chron.' 1866, p. 800.
+
+[642] Quoted in 'Journal de la Soc. Imp. d'Horticulture,' 1855, p. 238.
+
+[643] 'Teoria della Riproduzione Vegetale,' 1816, p. 86.
+
+[644] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1862, p. 1195.
+
+[645] Mr. Rivers, 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1859, p. 774.
+
+[646] Downing, 'The Fruits of America,' 1845, pp. 475, 489, 492, 494, 496.
+_See_ also F. Michaux, 'Travels in N. America' (Eng. translat.), p. 228.
+For similar cases in France _see_ Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 97.
+
+[647] Brickell's 'Nat. Hist. of N. Carolina,' p. 102, and Downing's 'Fruit
+Trees,' p. 505.
+
+[648] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1862, p. 1196.
+
+[649] The peach and nectarine do not succeed equally well in the same soil:
+_see_ Lindley's 'Horticulture,' p. 351.
+
+[650] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. 1859, p. 97.
+
+[651] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. vi. p. 394.
+
+[652] Downing's 'Fruit Trees,' p. 502.
+
+[653] 'Gardeners Chronicle,' 1862, p. 1195.
+
+[654] 'Journal of Horticulture,' Feb. 6th, 1866, p. 102.
+
+[655] Mr. Rivers, in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1859, p.774; 1862, p. 1195; 1865,
+p.1059; and 'Journal of Hort.,' 1866, p. 102.
+
+[656] 'Correspondence of Linnaeus,' 1821, pp. 7, 8, 70.
+
+[657] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. i. p. 103.
+
+[658] Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,' 1826, vol. i. p. 471.
+
+[659] Ibid., 1828, p. 53.
+
+[660] Ibid., 1830, p. 597.
+
+[661] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1841, p. 617.
+
+[662] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1844, p. 589.
+
+[663] 'Phytologist,' vol. iv. p. 299.
+
+[664] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1856, p. 531.
+
+[665] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 97.
+
+[666] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1856, p. 531.
+
+[667] Alph. De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 886.
+
+[668] Thompson, in Loudon's 'Encyclop. of Gardening,' p. 911.
+
+[669] 'Catalogue of Fruit in Garden of Hort. Soc.,' 1842, p. 105.
+
+[670] Dr. A. Targioni-Tozzetti, 'Journal Hort. Soc.,' vol. ix. p. 167.
+Alph. De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 885.
+
+[671] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. v. p. 554.
+
+[672] Loudon's 'Encyclop. of Gardening,' p. 907.
+
+[673] M. Carriere, in 'Gard. Chron.,' 1865, p. 1154.
+
+[674] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iii. p. 332. _See_ also 'Gardener's
+Chronicle,' 1865, p. 271, to same effect. Also 'Journal of Horticulture,'
+Sept. 26th, 1865, p. 254.
+
+[675] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iv. p. 512.
+
+[676] 'Journal of Horticulture,' Sept. 8th, 1863, p. 188.
+
+[677] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. vi. p. 412.
+
+[678] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1857, p. 216.
+
+[679] 'Journal of Hort. Soc.,' vol. ii. p. 283.
+
+[680] Alph. De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.', p. 879.
+
+[681] 'Transact. Hort. Soc' (2nd series), vol. i. 1835, p. 56. _See_ also
+'Cat. of Fruit in Garden of Hort. Soc.,' 3rd edit. 1842.
+
+[682] Downing,'The Fruits of America,' 1845, p. 157; with respect to the
+Alberge apricot in France, _see_ p. 153.
+
+[683] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1863, p. 364.
+
+[684] 'Travels in the Himalayan Provinces,' vol. i, 1841, p. 295.
+
+[685] _See_ an excellent discussion on this subject in Hewett O. Watson's
+'Cybele Britannica,' vol. iv. p. 80.
+
+[686] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1865, p. 27.
+
+[687] 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 94. On the parentage of our plums, _see_
+also Alph. De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 878. Also Targioni-Tozetti,
+'Journal Hort. Soc.,' vol. ix. p. 164. Also Babington, 'Manual of Brit.
+Botany,' 1851, p. 87.
+
+[688] 'Fruits of America,' pp. 276, 278, 314, 284, 276, 310. Mr. Rivers
+raised ('Gard. Chron.,' 1863, p. 27) from the Prune-peche, which bears
+large, round, red plums on stout robust shoots, a seedling which bears
+oval, smaller fruit on shoots that are so slender as to be almost
+pendulous.
+
+[689] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1855, p. 726.
+
+[690] Downing's 'Fruit Trees,' p. 278.
+
+[691] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1863, p. 27. Sageret, in his 'Pomologie
+Phys.,' p. 346, enumerates five kinds which can be propagated in France by
+seed: _see_ also Downing's 'Fruit Trees of America,' p. 305, 312, &c.
+
+[692] Compare Alph. De Candolle, p. 248. 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 877; Bentham
+and Targioni-Tozzetti, in 'Hort. Journal,' vol. ix. p. 163; Godron, 'De
+l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 92.
+
+[693] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. v., 1824, p. 295.
+
+[694] Ibid., second series, vol. i., 1835, p. 248.
+
+[695] Ibid., vol. ii. p. 138.
+
+[696] These several statements are taken from the four following works,
+which may I believe, be trusted. Thompson, in 'Hort. Transact.,' _see_
+above; Sageret's 'Pomologie Phys.,' 1830, pp. 358, 364, 367, 379;
+'Catalogue of the Fruit in the Garden of Hort. Soc.,' 1842, pp. 57, 60;
+Downing, 'The Fruits of America,' 1845, pp. 189, 195, 200.
+
+[697] Mr. Lowe states in his 'Flora of Madeira' (quoted in 'Gard. Chron.,'
+1862, p. 215) that the _P. malus_, with its nearly sessile fruit, ranges
+farther south than the long-stalked P. _acerba_, which is entirely absent
+in Madeira, the Canaries, and apparently in Portugal. This fact supports
+the belief that these two forms deserve to be called species. But the
+characters separating them are of slight importance, and of a kind known to
+vary in other cultivated fruit-trees.
+
+[698] _See_ 'Journ. of Hort. Tour,' by Deputation of the Caledonian Hort.
+Soc., 1823, p. 459.
+
+[699] H. C. Watson, 'Cybele Britannica,' vol. i. p. 334.
+
+[700] Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,' vol. vi., 1830, p. 83.
+
+[701] _See_ 'Catalogue of Fruit in Garden of Hort. Soc.,' 1842, and
+Downing's 'American Fruit Trees.'
+
+[702] Loudon's 'Gardener's Magazine,' vol. iv., 1828, p. 112.
+
+[703] 'The Culture of the Apple,' p. 43. Van Mons makes the same remark on
+the pear, 'Arbres Fruitiers,' tom. ii., 1836, p. 414.
+
+[704] Lindley's 'Horticulture,' p. 116. _See_ also Knight on the
+Apple-Tree, in 'Transact. of Hort. Soc.,' vol. vi. p. 229.
+
+[705] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. i., 1812, p. 120.
+
+[706] 'Journal of Horticulture,' March 13th, 1866, p. 194.
+
+[707] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iv. p. 68. For Knight's case, _see_ vol.
+vi. p. 547. When the _coccus_ first appeared in this country, it is said
+(vol. ii. p. 163) that it was more injurious to crab-stocks than to the
+apples grafted on them.
+
+[708] 'Mem. de la Soc. Linn. de Paris,' tom. iii., 1825, p. 164; and
+Seringe, 'Bulletin Bot.,' 1830, p. 117.
+
+[709] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1849, p. 24.
+
+[710] R. Thompson, in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1850, p. 788.
+
+[711] Sageret, 'Pomologie Physiologique,' 1830, p. 263. Downing's 'Fruit
+Trees,' pp. 130, 134, 139, &c. Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,' vol. viii. p.
+317. Alexis Jordan, 'De l'Origine des diverses Varietes,' in 'Mem. de
+l'Acad. Imp. de Lyon,' tom. ii., 1852, pp. 95, 114. 'Gardener's Chronicle,'
+1850, pp. 774, 788.
+
+[712] 'Comptes Rendus,' July 6th, 1863.
+
+[713] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1856, p. 804; 1857, p. 820; 1862, p. 1195.
+
+[714] Most of the largest cultivated strawberries are the descendants of
+_F. grandiflora_ or _Chiloensis_, and I have seen no account of these forms
+in their wild state. Methuen's Scarlet (Downing, 'Fruits,' p. 527) has
+"immense fruit of the largest size," and belongs to the section descended
+from _F. Virginiana_; and the fruit of this species, as I hear from Prof.
+A. Gray, is only a little larger than that of _F. vesca_, or our common
+wood strawberry.
+
+[715] 'Le Fraisier,' par le Comte L. de Lambertye, 1864, p. 50.
+
+[716] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iii. 1820, p. 207.
+
+[717] _See_ an account by Prof. Decaisne, and by others in 'Gardener's
+Chronicle,' 1862, p. 335, and 1858, p. 172; and Mr. Barnet's paper in
+'Hort. Soc. Transact.,' vol. vi., 1826, p. 170.
+
+[718] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. v., 1824, p. 294.
+
+[719] 'Journal of Horticulture,' Dec. 30th, 1862, p. 779. _See_ also Mr.
+Prince to the same effect, idem, 1863, p. 418.
+
+[720] For additional evidence _see_ 'Journal of Horticulture,' Dec. 9th,
+1862, p. 721.
+
+[721] 'Le Fraisier,' par le Comte L. de Lambertye, pp. 221, 230.
+
+[722] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. vi. p. 200.
+
+[723] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1858, p. 173.
+
+[724] Godron 'De l'Espece,' tom. i. p. 161.
+
+[725] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1851, p. 440.
+
+[726] F. Gloede, in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1862, p. 1053.
+
+[727] Downing's 'Fruits,' p. 532.
+
+[728] Barnet, in 'Hort. Transact.,' vol. vi. p. 210.
+
+[729] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1847, p. 539.
+
+[730] For the several statements with respect to the American strawberries,
+_see_ Downing, 'Fruits,' p. 524; 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1843, p. 188;
+1847, p. 539; 1861, p. 717.
+
+[731] Mr. D. Beaton, in 'Cottage Gardener,' 1860, p. 86. _See_ also
+'Cottage Gardener,' 1855, p. 88, and many other authorities. For the
+Continent, _see_ F. Gloede, in' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1862, p. 1053.
+
+[732] Rev. W. F. Radclyffe, in 'Journal of Hort.,' March 14, 1865, p. 207.
+
+[733] Mr. H. Doubleday in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1862, p. 1101.
+
+[734] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1854, p. 254.
+
+[735] Loudon's 'Encyclop. of Gardening,' p. 930; and Alph. De Candolle,
+Geograph. Bot.,' p. 910.
+
+[736] Loudon's 'Gardener's Magazine,' vol. iv. 1828, p. 112.
+
+[737] The fullest account of the gooseberry is given by Mr. Thompson in
+'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. i., 2nd series, 1835, p. 218, from which most
+of the foregoing facts are given.
+
+[738] 'Catalogue of Fruits of Hort. Soc. Garden,' 3rd edit. 1842.
+
+[739] Mr. Clarkson, of Manchester, on the Culture of the Gooseberry, in
+Loudon's 'Gardener's Magazine,' vol. iv. 1828, p. 482.
+
+[740] Downing's 'Fruits of America,' p. 213.
+
+[741] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1844, p. 811, where a table is given; and
+1845, p. 819. For the extreme weights gained, _see_ 'Journal of
+Horticulture,' July 26, 1864, p. 61.
+
+[742] Mr. Saul, of Lancaster, in Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,' vol. iii.
+1828, p. 421; and vol. x. 1834, p. 42.
+
+[743] 'Himalayan Journals,' 1854, vol. ii. p. 334. Moorcroft ('Travels,'
+vol. ii. p. 146) describes four varieties cultivated in Kashmir.
+
+[744] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1850, p. 723.
+
+[745] Paper translated in Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,' 1829, vol. v. p. 202.
+
+[746] Quoted in 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1849, p. 101.
+
+[747] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1847, pp. 541 and 558.
+
+[748] The following details are taken from the Catalogue of Fruits, 1842,
+in Garden of Hort. Soc., p. 103; and from Loudon's 'Encyclop. of
+Gardening,' p. 943.
+
+[749] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1860, p. 956.
+
+[750] 'Annales des Sc. Nat. Bot.,' 4th series, vol. vi. 1856, p. 5.
+
+[751] 'American Journ. of Science,' 2nd ser. vol. xxiv. 1857, p. 442.
+
+[752] Gaertner, 'Bastarderzeugung,' 1849, s. 87, and s. 169 with respect to
+Maize; on Verbascum, idem, ss. 92 and 181; also his 'Kenntniss der
+Berfruchtung,' s. 137. With respect to Nicotiana, _see_ Koelreuter, 'Zweite
+Forts.,' 1764, s. 53; though this is a somewhat different case.
+
+[753] 'De l'Espece,' par M. Godron, tom. ii. p. 64.
+
+[754] Naudin, in 'Annal. des Sci. Nat.,' 4th ser. Bot. tom. xi. 1859, p.
+28.
+
+[755] 'Memoire sur les Cucurbitacees,' 1826, pp. 6, 24.
+
+[756] 'Flore des Serres,' Oct. 1861, quoted in 'Gardener's Chronicle,'
+1861, p. 1135. I have also consulted and taken some facts from M. Naudin's
+Memoir on Cucumis in 'Annal. des Sc. Nat.,' 4th series, Bot. tom. xi. 1859,
+p. 5.
+
+[757] _See_ also Sageret's 'Memoire,' p. 7.
+
+[758] Loudon's 'Arboretum et Fruticetum,' vol. ii. p. 1217.
+
+[759] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1866, p. 1096.
+
+[760] 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 1096.
+
+[761] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1842, p. 36.
+
+[762] Loudon's 'Arboretum et Fruticetum,' vol. iii. p. 1731.
+
+[763] Ibid., vol. iv. p. 2489.
+
+[764] Godron ('De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 91) describes four varieties of
+Robinia remarkable from their manner of growth.
+
+[765] 'Journal of a Horticultural Tour, by Caledonian Hort. Soc.,' 1823, p.
+107. Alph. De Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 1083. Verlot, 'Sur la
+Production des Varietes,' 1865, p. 55, for the Barberry.
+
+[766] Loudon's 'Arboretum et Fruticetum,' vol. ii. p. 508.
+
+[767] Verlot, 'Des Varietes,' 1865, p. 92.
+
+[768] Loudon's 'Arboretum et Fruticetum,' vol. iii. p. 1376.
+
+[769] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1841, p. 687.
+
+[770] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 89. In Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,'
+vol. xii. 1836, p. 371, a variegated bushy ash is described and figured, as
+having simple leaves; it originated in Ireland.
+
+[771] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1861, p. 575.
+
+[772] Quoted from Royal Irish Academy in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1841, p. 767.
+
+[773] Loudon's 'Arboretum et Fruticetum:' for Elm, _see_ vol. iii. p. 1376;
+for Oak, p. 1846.
+
+[774] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1849, p. 822.
+
+[775] 'Arboretum et Fruticetum,' vol. iv. p. 2150.
+
+[776] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1852, p. 693.
+
+[777] _See_ 'Beitraege zur Kentniss Europaeischer Pinus-arten von Dr. Christ:
+Flora, 1864.' He shows that in the Ober-Engadin _P. sylvestris_ and
+_montana_ are connected by intermediate links.
+
+[778] 'Arboretum et Fruticetum,' vol. iv. pp. 2159 and 2189.
+
+[779] Ibid., vol. ii. p. 830; Loudon's 'Gardener's Magazine,' vol. vi.
+1830, p. 714.
+
+[780] Loudon's 'Arboretum et Fruticetum,' vol. ii. p. 834.
+
+[781] Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,' vol. ix. 1833, p. 123.
+
+[782] Ibid., vol. xi. 1835, p. 503.
+
+[783] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1845, p. 623.
+
+[784] D. Beaton, in 'Cottage Gardener,' 1860, p. 377. _See_ also Mr. Beck,
+on the habits of Queen Mab, in 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1845, p. 226.
+
+[785] Moquin-Tandon, 'Elements de Teratologie,' 1841, p. 213.
+
+[786] _See_ also 'Cottage Gardener,' 1860, p. 133.
+
+[787] Quoted by Alph. de Candolle, 'Bibl. Univ.,' November, 1862, p. 58.
+
+[788] Knight, 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iv. p. 322.
+
+[789] 'Botanical Magazine,' tab. 5160, fig. 4; Dr. Hooker, in 'Gardener's
+Chron.,' 1860, p. 190; Prof. Harvey, in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1860, p. 145;
+Mr. Crocker, in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1861, p. 1092.
+
+[790] Alph. de Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 1083; 'Gard. Chronicle,'
+1861, p. 433. The inheritance of the white and golden zones in Pelargonium
+largely depends on the nature of the soil. _See_ D. Beaton, in 'Journal of
+Horticulture,' 1861, p. 64.
+
+[791] 'Rose Amateur's Guide,' T. Rivers, 1837, p. 21.
+
+[792] 'Journal Hort. Soc.,' vol. ix. 1855, p. 182.
+
+[793] The Rev. W. F. Radclyffe, in 'Journal of Horticulture,' March 14,
+1865, p. 207.
+
+[794] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1861, p. 46.
+
+[795] Mr. Sabine, in 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iv. p. 285.
+
+[796] 'An Encyclop. of Plants,' by J. C. Loudon, 1841, p. 443.
+
+[797] Loudon's 'Gardener's Magazine,' vol. xi. 1835, p. 427; also 'Journal
+of Horticulture,' April 14, 1863, p. 275.
+
+[798] Loudon's 'Gardener's Magazine,' vol. viii. p. 575; vol. ix. p. 689.
+
+[799] Sir J. E. Smith, 'English Flora,' vol. i. p. 306. H. C. Watson,
+'Cybele Britannica,' vol. i. 1847, p. 181.
+
+[800] Quoted from 'Annales des Sciences,' in the Companion to the 'Bot.
+Mag.,' vol. i. 1835, p. 159.
+
+[801] 'Cybele Britannica,' vol. i. p. 173. _See_ also Dr. Herbert on the
+changes of colour in transplanted specimens, and on the natural variations
+of V. grandiflora, in 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iv. p. 19.
+
+[802] Salisbury, in 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. i. 1812, pp. 84, 92. A
+semi-double variety was produced in Madrid in 1790.
+
+[803] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iii. 1820, p. 225.
+
+[804] Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,' vol. vi. 1830, p. 77.
+
+[805] Loudon's 'Encyclop. of Gardening,' p. 1035.
+
+[806] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. i. p. 91; and Loudon's 'Gardener's
+Mag.,' vol. iii. 1828, p. 179.
+
+[807] Mr. Wildman, in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1843, p. 87.
+
+[808] 'Cottage Gardener,' April 8, 1856, p. 33.
+
+[809] The best and fullest account of this plant which I have met with is
+by a famous horticulturist, Mr. Paul of Waltham, in the 'Gardener's
+Chronicle,' 1864, p. 342.
+
+[810] 'Des Jacinthes, de leur Anatomie, Reproduction, et Culture,'
+Amsterdam, 1768.
+
+[811] Alph. de Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 1082.
+
+[812] Alph. de Candolle, 'Geograph. Bot.,' p. 983.
+
+[813] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1854, p. 821.
+
+[814] 'Lindley's Guide to Orchard,' as quoted in 'Gard. Chronicle,' 1852,
+p. 821. For the _Early mignonne peach_, _see_ 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1864, p.
+1251.
+
+[815] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. ii. p. 160.
+
+[816] _See_ also 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1863, p. 27.
+
+[817] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1852, p. 821.
+
+[818] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1852, p. 629; 1856, p. 648; 1864, p. 986. Other
+cases are given by Braun, 'Rejuvenescence,' in 'Ray Soc. Bot. Mem.,' 1853,
+p. 314.
+
+[819] 'Ampelographie,' &c., 1849, p. 71.
+
+[820] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1866, p.970.
+
+[821] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1855, pp. 597, 612.
+
+[822] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1842, p. 873; 1855, p. 646. In the 'Chronicle,'
+1866, p. 876, Mr. P. Mackenzie states that the bush still continues to bear
+the three kinds of fruit, "although they have not been every year alike."
+
+[823] 'Revue Horticole,' quoted in 'Gard. Chronicle,' 1844, p. 87.
+
+[824] 'Rejuvenescence in Nature,' 'Bot. Memoirs Ray Soc.,' 1853, p. 314.
+
+[825] 'Comptes Rendus,' tom. xli., 1855, p. 804. The second case is given
+on the authority of Gaudichaud, idem, tom. xxxiv., 1852, p. 748.
+
+[826] This case is given in the 'Gard. Chronicle,' 1867, p. 403.
+
+[827] 'Journal of Proc. Linn. Soc.,' vol. ii. Botany, p. 131.
+
+[828] 'Gard. Chronicle,' 1847, p. 207.
+
+[829] Herbert, 'Amaryllidaceae,' 1838, p. 369.
+
+[830] 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1843, p. 391.
+
+[831] Exhibited at Hort. Soc., London. Report in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1844,
+p. 337.
+
+[832] Mr. W. Bell, Bot. Soc. of Edinburgh, May, 1863.
+
+[833] 'Revue Horticole,' quoted in 'Gard. Chron.,' 1845, p. 475.
+
+[834] 'Bastarderzeugung,' 1849, s. 76.
+
+[835] 'Journal of Horticulture,' 1861, p. 336.
+
+[836] W. P. Ayres, in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1842, p. 791.
+
+[837] W. P. Ayres, idem.
+
+[838] 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1861, p. 968.
+
+[839] Idem, 1861, p. 945.
+
+[840] W. Paul, in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1861, p. 968.
+
+[841] Idem, p. 945.
+
+[842] For other cases of bud-variation in this same variety, see
+'Gardener's Chron.,' 1861, pp. 578, 600, 925. For other distinct cases of
+bud-variation in the genus Pelargonium, _see_ 'Cottage Gardener,' 1860, p.
+194.
+
+[843] Rev. W. T. Bree, in Loudon's 'Gard. Mag.,' vol. viii., 1832, p. 93.
+
+[844] 'The Chrysanthemum, its History and Culture,' by J. Salter, 1865, p.
+41, &c.
+
+[845] Bree, in Loudon's 'Gard. Mag.,' vol. viii., 1832, p. 93.
+
+[846] Bronn, 'Geschichte der Natur,' B. ii. s. 123.
+
+[847] T. Rivers, 'Rose Amateur's Guide,' 1837, p. 4.
+
+[848] Mr. Shailer, quoted in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1848, p. 759.
+
+[849] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iv., 1822, p. 137; 'Gard. Chron.,' 1842,
+p. 422.
+
+[850] See also Loudon's 'Arboretum,' vol. ii. p. 780.
+
+[851] All these statements on the origin of the several varieties of the
+moss-rose are given on the authority of Mr. Shailer, who, together with his
+father, was concerned in their original propagation, in 'Gard. Chron.,'
+1852, p. 759.
+
+[852] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1845, p. 564.
+
+[853] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. ii. p. 242.
+
+[854] 'Schriften der Phys. Oekon. Gesell. zu Koenigsberg,' Feb. 3, 1865, s.
+4. _See_ also Dr. Caspary's paper in 'Transactions of the Hort. Congress of
+Amsterdam,' 1865.
+
+[855] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1852, p. 759.
+
+[856] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. ii. p. 242.
+
+[857] Sir R. Schomburgk, 'Proc. Linn. Soc. Bot.,' vol. ii. p. 132.
+
+[858] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1862, p. 619.
+
+[859] Hopkirk's 'Flora Anomala,' p. 167.
+
+[860] 'Sur la Production et la Fixation des Varietes,' 1865, p. 4.
+
+[861] 'Journal of Horticulture,' March, 1865, p. 233.
+
+[862] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1843, p. 135.
+
+[863] Ibid., 1842, p. 55.
+
+[864] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1867, p. 235.
+
+[865] Gaertner, 'Bastarderzeugung,' s. 305.
+
+[866] Mr. D. Beaton, in 'Cottage Gardener,' 1860, p. 250.
+
+[867] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1850, p. 536.
+
+[868] Braun, 'Ray Soc. Bot. Mem.,' 1853, p. 315; Hopkirk's 'Flora Anomala,'
+p. 164; Lecoq, 'Geograph. Bot. de l'Europe,' tom. iii., 1854, p. 405; and
+'De la Fecondation,' 1862, p. 303.
+
+[869] 'Des Varietes,' 1865, p. 5.
+
+[870] W. Mason, in 'Gard. Chron.,' 1843, p. 878.
+
+[871] Alex. Braun, 'Ray Soc. Bot. Mem.,' 1853, p. 315; 'Gard. Chron.,'
+1841, p. 329.
+
+[872] Dr. M. T. Masters, 'Royal Institution Lecture,' March 16, 1860.
+
+[873] _See_ Mr. W. K. Bridgman's curious paper in 'Annals and Mag. of Nat.
+Hist.,' December, 1861; also Mr. J. Scott, 'Bot. Soc. Edinburgh,' June 12,
+1862.
+
+[874] 'Journal of Horticulture,' 1861, p. 336; Verlot, 'Des Varietes,' p.
+76.
+
+[875] _See_ also Verlot, 'Des Varietes,' p. 74.
+
+[876] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1844, p. 86.
+
+[877] Ibid., 1861, p. 968.
+
+[878] Ibid., 1861, p. 433. 'Cottage Gardener,' 1860, p. 2.
+
+[879] M. Lemoine (quoted in 'Gard. Chron.,' 1867, p. 74) has lately
+observed that the Symphitum with variegated leaves cannot be propagated by
+division of the roots. He also found that out of 500 plants of a Phlox with
+striped flowers, which had been propagated by root-division, only seven or
+eight produced striped flowers. See also, on striped Pelargoniums, 'Gard.
+Chron.' 1867, p. 1000.
+
+[880] Anderson's 'Recreations in Agriculture,' vol. v. p. 152.
+
+[881] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1857, p. 662.
+
+[882] Ibid., 1841, p. 814.
+
+[883] Ibid., 1857, p. 613.
+
+[884] Ibid., 1857, p. 679. _See_ also Phillips, 'Hist. of Vegetables,' vol.
+ii. p. 91, for other and similar accounts.
+
+[885] 'Journal of Proc. Linn. Soc.,' vol. ii. Botany, p. 132.
+
+[886] Loudon's 'Gard. Mag.,' vol. viii., 1832, p. 94.
+
+[887] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1850, p. 536; and 1842, p. 729.
+
+[888] 'Des Jacinthes,' &c., Amsterdam, 1768, p. 122.
+
+[889] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1845, p. 212.
+
+[890] Loudon's 'Encyclop. of Gardening,' p. 1024.
+
+[891] 'Production des Varietes,' 1865, p. 63.
+
+[892] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1841, p. 782; 1842, p. 55.
+
+[893] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1849, p. 565.
+
+[894] 'Transact. Linn. Soc.,' vol. ii. p. 354.
+
+[895] Godron, 'De l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 84.
+
+[896] M. Carriere has lately described, in the 'Revue Horticole' (Dec. 1,
+1866, p. 457), an extraordinary case. He twice inserted grafts of the _Aria
+vestita_ on thorn-trees (_epines_) growing in pots; and the grafts, as they
+grew, produced shoots with bark, buds, leaves, petioles, petals, and
+flower-stalks all widely different from those of the Aria. The grafted
+shoots were also much hardier, and flowered earlier, than those on the
+ungrafted Aria.
+
+[897] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. ii. p. 160.
+
+[898] For the cases of oaks _see_ Alph. De Candolle in 'Bibl. Univers.,'
+Geneva, Nov. 1862; for limes, &c., Loudon's 'Gard. Mag.,' vol. xi., 1835,
+p. 503.
+
+[899] For analogous facts, _see_ Braun, 'Rejuvenescence,' in 'Ray Soc. Bot.
+Mem.,' 1853, p. 320; and 'Gard. Chron.,' 1842, p. 397.
+
+[900] 'Journal of Hort. Soc.,' vol. ii., 1847, p. 100.
+
+[901] _See_ 'Transact. of Hort. Congress of Amsterdam,' 1865; but I owe
+most of the following information to Prof. Caspary's letters.
+
+[902] 'Nouvelles Archives du Museum,' tom. i. p. 143.
+
+[903] _See_ on this head, Naudin, idem, p. 141.
+
+[904] The statement is believed by Dr. Lindley in 'Gard. Chron.,' 1857, pp.
+382, 400.
+
+[905] Braun, in 'Bot. Mem. Ray Soc.,' 1853, p. xxiii.
+
+[906] This hybrid has never been described. It is exactly intermediate in
+foliage, time of flowering, dark striae at the base of the standard petal,
+hairiness of the ovarium, and in almost every other character, between _C.
+laburnum_ and _alpinus_; but it approaches the former species more nearly
+in colour, and exceeds it in the length of the racemes. We have before seen
+that 20.3 per cent. of its pollen-grains are ill-formed and worthless. My
+plant, though growing not above thirty or forty yards from both
+parent-species, during some seasons yielded no good seeds; but in 1866 it
+was unusually fertile, and its long racemes produced from one to
+occasionally even four pods. Many of the pods contained no good seeds, but
+generally they contained a single apparently good seed, sometimes two, and
+in one case three seeds. Some of the seeds germinated.
+
+[907] 'Annales de la Soc. de Hort. de Paris,' tom. vii., 1830, p. 93.
+
+[908] 'Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' March, 1848.
+
+[909] 'Pomologie Physiolog.,' 1830, p. 126.
+
+[910] Gallesio, 'Gli Agrumi dei Giard. Bot. Agrar. di Firenze,' 1839, p.
+11. In his 'Traite du Citrus,' 1811, p. 146, he speaks as if the compound
+fruit consisted in part of lemons, but this apparently was a mistake.
+
+[911] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1855, p. 628. _See_ also Prof. Caspary, in 'Transact.
+Hort. Congress of Amsterdam,' 1865.
+
+[912] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1851, p. 406.
+
+[913] Gaertner, 'Bastarderzeugung,' s. 549. It is, however, doubtful whether
+these plants should be ranked as species or varieties.
+
+[914] Gaertner, idem, s. 550.
+
+[915] 'Journal de Physique,' tom. xxiii., 1783, p. 100. 'Act. Acad. St.
+Petersburgh,' 1781, part i. p. 249.
+
+[916] 'Nouvelles Archives du Museum,' tom. i. p. 49.
+
+[917] L'Hermes, Jan. 14, 1837, quoted in Loudon's 'Gard. Mag.,' vol. xiii.
+p. 230.
+
+[918] 'Comptes Rendus,' tom. xxxiv., 1852, p. 746.
+
+[919] 'Geograph. Bot. de l'Europe,' tom. iii., 1854, p. 405; and 'De la
+Fecondation,' 1862, p. 302.
+
+[920] 'Traite du Citrus,' 1811, p. 45.
+
+[921] 'Transact. Linn. Soc.,' vol. ix. p. 268.
+
+[922] Gaertner ('Bastarderzeugung,' s. 611) gives many references on this
+subject.
+
+[923] A nearly similar account was given by Bradley, in 1724, in his
+'Treatise on Husbandry,' vol. i. p. 199.
+
+[924] Loudon's 'Arboretum,' vol. iv. p. 2595.
+
+[925] 'Bastarderzeugung,' s. 619.
+
+[926] Amsterdam, 1768, p. 124.
+
+[927] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1860, p. 672, with a woodcut.
+
+[928] 'Philosophical Transact.,' vol. xiiii., 1744-45, p. 525.
+
+[929] Mr. Swayne, in 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. v. p. 234; and Gaertner,
+'Bastarderzeugung,' 1849, s. 81 and 499.
+
+[930] 'Gard. Chron.,' 1854, p. 404.
+
+[931] Ibid., 1866, p. 900.
+
+[932] _See_ also a paper by this observer, read before the International
+Hort. and Bot. Congress of London, 1866.
+
+[933] 'Traite du Citrus,' p. 40.
+
+[934] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. iv. p. 318. _See_ also vol. v. p. 65.
+
+[935] Prof. Asa Gray, 'Proc. Acad. Sc.,' Boston, vol. iv., 1860, p. 21.
+
+[936] For the French case, _see_ 'Proc. Hort. Soc.,' vol. i. new series,
+1866, p. 50. For Germany, _see_ M. Jack, quoted in Henfrey's 'Botanical
+Gazette,' vol. i. p. 277. A case in England has recently been alluded to by
+the Rev. J. M. Berkeley before the Hort. Soc. of London.
+
+[937] 'Philosophical Transactions,' vol. xlvii., 1751-52, p. 206.
+
+[938] Gallesio, 'Teoria della Riproduzione,' 1816, p. 95.
+
+[939] It may be worth while to call attention to the several means by which
+flowers and fruit become striped or mottled. Firstly, by the direct action
+of the pollen of another variety or species, as with the above-given cases
+of oranges and maize. Secondly, in crosses of the first generation, when
+the colours of the two parents do not readily unite, as in the cases of
+Mirabilis and Dianthus given a few pages back. Thirdly, in crossed plants
+of a subsequent generation, by reversion, through either bud or seminal
+generation. Fourthly, by reversion to a character not originally gained by
+a cross, but which had long been lost, as with white-flowered varieties,
+which we shall hereafter see often become striped with some other colour.
+Lastly, there are cases, as when peaches are produced with a half or
+quarter of the fruit like a nectarine, in which the change is apparently
+due to mere variation, through either bud or seminal generation.
+
+[940] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. v. p. 69.
+
+[941] 'Journal of Horticulture,' Jan. 20, 1863, p. 46.
+
+[942] _See_ on this head the high authority of Prof. Decaisne, in a paper
+translated in 'Proc. Hort. Soc.,' vol. i. new series, 1866, p. 48.
+
+[943] Vol. xliii., 1744-45, p. 525; vol. xlv., 1747-48, p. 602.
+
+[944] 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. v. pp. 63 and 68. Puvis also has
+collected ('De la Degeneration,' 1837, p. 36) several other instances; but
+it is not in all cases possible to distinguish between the direct action of
+foreign pollen and bud-variations.
+
+[945] T. de Clermont-Tonnerre, in 'Mem. de la Soc. Linn. de Paris,' tom.
+iii., 1825, p. 164.
+
+[946] 'Transact. of Hort. Soc.,' vol. v. p. 68.
+
+[947] 'Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Befruchtung,' 1844, s. 347-351.
+
+[948] 'Die Fruchtbildung der Orchideen, ein Beweis fuer die doppelte Wirkung
+des Pollen,' Botanische Zeitung, No. 44 et seq., Oct. 30, 1863; and 1865,
+s. 249.
+
+[949] 'Philos. Transact.,' 1821, p. 20.
+
+[950] Dr. Alex. Harvey on 'A remarkable Effect of Cross-breeding,' 1851. On
+the 'Physiology of Breeding,' by Mr. Reginald Orton, 1855. 'Intermarriage,'
+by Alex. Walker, 1837. 'L'Heredite Naturelle,' by Dr. Prosper Lucas, tom.
+ii. p. 58. Mr. W. Sedgwick in 'British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical
+Review,' 1863, July, p. 183. Bronn, in his 'Geschichte der Natur,' 1843, B.
+ii. s. 127, has collected several cases with respect to mares, sows, and
+dogs. Mr. W. C. L. Martin ('History of the Dog,' 1845, p. 104) says he can
+personally vouch for the influence of the male parent of the first litter
+on the subsequent litters by other fathers. A French poet, Jacques Savary,
+who wrote in 1665 on dogs, was aware of this singular fact.
+
+[951] 'Le Pigeon Voyageur Belge,' 1865, p. 59.
+
+[952] 'Flora Anomala,' p. 164.
+
+[953] 'Schriften der Phys.-Oekon. Gesell. zu Koenigsberg,' Band vi., Feb. 3,
+1865, s. 4.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Corrections made to printed original.
+
+p. 65. "constant osteological characters": 'charcters' in original.
+
+p. 76. "Phacochoerus": 'Phascochoerus' in original, corrected by Errata
+page.
+
+p. 213. "From what we now see occasionally": 'occasionlly' in original.
+
+p. 275. "Amherstiae": 'Amherstii' in original, corrected by Errata page.
+
+p. 282. "Anser AEgyptiacus": 'Tadorna AEgyptiaca' in original, corrected by
+Errata page.
+
+p. 286 (last row of table). "717": '713' in original, corrected by Errata
+page.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Variation of Animals and Plants
+Under Domestication, Vol. I., by Charles Darwin
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