The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication Volume II Part 3

From the various facts recorded by Dr. Prosper Lucas, Mr. Sedgwick, and others, there can be no doubt that peculiarities first appearing in either s.e.x, though not in any way necessarily or invariably connected with that s.e.x, strongly tend to be inherited by the offspring of the same s.e.x, but are often transmitted in a latent state through the opposite s.e.x.

Turning now to domesticated animals, we find that certain characters not proper to the parent species are often confined to, and inherited by, one s.e.x alone; but we do not know the history of the first appearance of such characters. In the chapter on Sheep, we have seen that the males of certain races differ greatly from the females in the shape of their horns, these being absent in the ewes of some breeds; they differ also in the development of fat in the tail and in the outline of the forehead. These differences, judging from the character of the allied wild species, cannot be accounted for by supposing that they have been derived from distinct parent forms. There is, also, a great difference between the horns of the two s.e.xes in one Indian breed of goats. The bull zebu is said to have a larger hump than the cow. In the Scotch deer-hound the two s.e.xes differ in size more than in any other variety of the dog (14/28. W. Scrope 'Art of Deer Stalking' page 354.) and, judging from a.n.a.logy, more than in the aboriginal parent-species. The peculiar colour called tortoise-sh.e.l.l is very rarely seen in a male cat; the males of this variety being of a rusty tint.

In various breeds of the fowl the males and females often differ greatly; and these differences are far from being the same with those which distinguish the two s.e.xes of the parent-species, the Gallus bankiva; and consequently have originated under domestication. In certain sub-varieties of the Game race we have the unusual case of the hens differing from each other more than the c.o.c.ks. In an Indian breed of a white colour shaded with black, the hens invariably have black skins, and their bones are covered by a black periosteum, whilst the c.o.c.ks are never or most rarely thus characterised.

Pigeons offer a more interesting case; for throughout the whole great family the two s.e.xes do not often differ much; and the males and females of the parent-form, the C. livia, are undistinguishable: yet we have seen that with pouters the male has the characteristic quality of pouting more strongly developed than the female; and in certain sub-varieties the males alone are spotted or striated with black, or otherwise differ in colour. When male and female English carrier-pigeons are exhibited in separate pens, the difference in the development of the wattle over the beak and round the eyes is conspicuous. So that here we have instances of the appearance of secondary s.e.xual characters in the domesticated races of a species in which such differences are naturally quite absent.]

On the other hand, secondary s.e.xual characters which belong to the species in a state of nature are sometimes quite lost, or greatly diminished, under domestication. We see this in the small size of the tusks in our improved breeds of the pig, in comparison with those of the wild boar. There are sub- breeds of fowls, in which the males have lost the fine-flowing tail-feathers and hackles; and others in which there is no difference in colour between the two s.e.xes. In some cases the barred plumage, which in gallinaceous birds is commonly the attribute of the hen, has been transferred to the c.o.c.k, as in the cuckoo sub-breeds. In other cases masculine characters have been partly transferred to the female, as with the splendid plumage of the golden-spangled Hamburgh hen, the enlarged comb of the Spanish hen, the pugnacious disposition of the Game hen, and as in the well-developed spurs which occasionally appear in the hens of various breeds. In Polish fowls both s.e.xes are ornamented with a topknot, that of the male being formed of hackle-like feathers, and this is a new male character in the genus Gallus. On the whole, as far as I can judge, new characters are more apt to appear in the males of our domesticated animals than in the females (14/29. I have given in my 'Descent of Man' 2nd edition page 223 sufficient evidence that male animals are usually more variable than the females.), and afterwards to be inherited exclusively or more strongly by the males. Finally, in accordance with the principle of inheritance as limited by s.e.x, the preservation and augmentation of secondary s.e.xual characters in natural species offers no especial difficulty, as this would follow through that form of selection which I have called s.e.xual selection.

INHERITANCE AT CORRESPONDING PERIODS OF LIFE.

This is an important subject. Since the publication of my 'Origin of Species'

I have seen no reason to doubt the truth of the explanation there given of one of the most remarkable facts in biology, namely, the difference between the embryo and the adult animal. The explanation is, that variations do not necessarily or generally occur at a very early period of embryonic growth, and that such variations are inherited at a corresponding age. As a consequence of this the embryo, even after the parent-form has undergone great modification, is left only slightly modified; and the embryos of widely-different animals which are descended from a common progenitor remain in many important respects like one another and probably like their common progenitor. We can thus understand why embryology throws a flood of light on the natural system of cla.s.sification, as this ought to be as far as possible genealogical. When the embryo leads an independent life, that is, becomes a larva, it has to be adapted to the surrounding conditions in its structure and instincts, independently of those of its parents; and the principle of inheritance at corresponding periods of life renders this possible.

This principle is, indeed, in one way so obvious that it escapes attention. We possess a number of races of animals and plants, which, when compared with one another and with their parent-forms, present conspicuous differences, both in their immature and mature states. Look at the seeds of the several kinds of peas, beans, maize, which can be propagated truly, and see how they differ in size, colour, and shape, whilst the full-grown plants differ but little.

Cabbages, on the other hand, differ greatly in foliage and manner of growth, but hardly at all in their seeds; and generally it will be found that the differences between cultivated plants at different periods of growth are not necessarily closely connected together, for plants may differ much in their seeds and little when full-grown, and conversely may yield seeds hardly distinguishable, yet differ much when full-grown. In the several breeds of poultry, descended from a single species, differences in the eggs and chickens whilst covered with down, in the plumage at the first and subsequent moults, as well as in the comb and wattles, are all inherited. With man peculiarities in the milk and second teeth (of which I have received the details) are inheritable, and longevity is often transmitted. So again with our improved breeds of cattle and sheep, early maturity, including the early development of the teeth, and with certain breeds of fowl the early appearance of secondary s.e.xual characters, all come under the same head of inheritance at corresponding periods.

Numerous a.n.a.logous facts could be given. The silk-moth, perhaps, offers the best instance; for in the breeds which transmit their characters truly, the eggs differ in size, colour, and shape: the caterpillars differ, in moulting three or four times, in colour, even in having a dark-coloured mark like an eyebrow, and in the loss of certain instincts;--the coc.o.o.ns differ in size, shape, and in the colour and quality of the silk; these several differences being followed by slight or barely distinguishable differences in the mature moth.

But it may be said that, if in the above cases a new peculiarity is inherited, it must be at the corresponding stage of development; for an egg or seed can resemble only an egg or seed, and the horn in a full-grown ox can resemble only a horn. The following cases show inheritance at corresponding periods more plainly, because they refer to peculiarities which might have supervened, as far as we can see, earlier or later in life, yet are inherited at the same period at which they first appeared.

[In the Lambert family the porcupine-like excrescences appeared in the father and sons at the same age, namely, about nine weeks after birth. (14/30.

Prichard 'Phys. Hist. of Mankind' 1851 volume 1 page 349.) In the extraordinary hairy family described by Mr. Crawfurd (14/31. 'Emba.s.sy to the Court of Ava' volume 1 page 320. The third generation is described by Capt.

Yule in his 'Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava' 1855 page 94.), children were produced during three generations with hairy ears; in the father the hair began to grow over his body at six years old; in his daughter somewhat earlier, namely, at one year; and in both generations the milk teeth appeared late in life, the permanent teeth being afterwards singularly deficient. Greyness of hair at an unusually early age has been transmitted in some families. These cases border on diseases inherited at corresponding periods of life, to which I shall immediately refer.

It is a well-known peculiarity with almond-tumbler pigeons, that the full beauty and peculiar character of the plumage does not appear until the bird has moulted two or three times. Neumeister describes and figures a brace of pigeons in which the whole body is white except the breast, neck, and head; but in their first plumage all the white feathers have coloured edges. Another breed is more remarkable: its first plumage is black, with rusty-red wing-bars and a crescent-shaped mark on the breast; these marks then become white, and remain so during three or four moults; but after this period the white spreads over the body, and the bird loses its beauty. (14/32. 'Das Ganze der Taubenzucht' 1837 s. 24 tab. 4 figure 2 s. 21 tab. 1 figure 4.) Prize canary- birds have their wings and tail black: "this colour, however, is only retained until the first moult, so that they must be exhibited ere the change takes place. Once moulted, the peculiarity has ceased. Of course all the birds emanating from this stock have black wings and tails the first year." (14/33.

Kidd 'Treatise on the Canary' page 18.) A curious and somewhat a.n.a.logous account has been given (14/34. Charlesworth 'Mag. of Nat. Hist.' volume 1 1837 page 167.) of a family of wild pied rooks which were first observed in 1798, near Chalfont, and which every year from that date up to the period of the published notice, viz., 1837 "have several of their brood particoloured, black and white. This variegation of the plumage, however, disappears with the first moult; but among the next young families there are always a few pied ones."

These changes of plumage, which are inherited at various corresponding periods of life in the pigeon, canary-bird, and rook, are remarkable, because the parent-species pa.s.ses through no such change.

Inherited diseases afford evidence in some respects of less value than the foregoing cases, because diseases are not necessarily connected with any change in structure; but in other respects of more value, because the periods have been more carefully observed. Certain diseases are communicated to the child apparently by a process like inoculation, and the child is from the first affected; such cases may be here pa.s.sed over. Large cla.s.ses of diseases usually appear at certain ages, such as St. Vitus's dance in youth, consumption in early mid-life, gout later, and apoplexy still later; and these are naturally inherited at the same period. But even in diseases of this cla.s.s, instances have been recorded, as with St. Vitus's dance, showing that an unusually early or late tendency to the disease is inheritable. (14/35. Dr.

Prosper Lucas 'Hered. Nat.' tome 2 page 713.) In most cases the appearance of any inherited disease is largely determined by certain critical periods in each person's life, as well as by unfavourable conditions. There are many other diseases, which are not attached to any particular period, but which certainly tend to appear in the child at about the same age at which the parent was first attacked. An array of high authorities, ancient and modern, could be given in support of this proposition. The ill.u.s.trious Hunter believed in it; and Piorry (14/36. 'L'Hered. dans les Maladies' 1840 page 135. For Hunter see Harlan 'Med. Researches' page 530.) cautions the physician to look closely to the child at the period when any grave inheritable disease attacked the parent. Dr. Prosper Lucas (14/37. 'L'Hered. Nat.' tome 2 page 850.), after collecting facts from every source, a.s.serts that affections of all kinds, though not related to any particular period of life, tend to reappear in the offspring at whatever period of life they first appeared in the progenitor.

As the subject is important, it may be well to give a few instances, simply as ill.u.s.trations, not as proof; for proof, recourse must be had to the authorities above quoted. Some of the following cases have been selected for the sake of showing that, when a slight departure from the rule occurs, the child is affected somewhat earlier in life than the parent. In the family of Le Compte blindness was inherited through three generations, and no less than twenty-seven children and grandchildren were all affected at about the same age; their blindness in general began to advance about the fifteenth or sixteenth year, and ended in total deprivation of sight at the age of about twenty-two. (14/38. Sedgwick 'Brit. and For. Med.-Chirurg. Review' April 1861 page 485. In some accounts the number of children and grandchildren is given as 37; but this seems to be an error judging from the paper first published in the 'Baltimore Med. and Phys. Reg.' 1809 of which Mr. Sedgwick has been so kind as to send me a copy.) In another case a father and his four children all became blind at twenty-one years old; in another, a grandmother grew blind at thirty-five, her daughter at nineteen, and three grandchildren at the ages of thirteen and eleven. (14/39. Prosper Lucas 'Hered. Nat.' tome 1 page 400.) So with deafness, two brothers, their father and paternal grandfather, all became deaf at the age of forty. (14/40. Sedgwick ibid July 1861 page 202.)

Esquirol gives several striking instances of insanity coming on at the same age, as that of a grandfather, father, and son, who all committed suicide near their fiftieth year. Many other cases could be given, as of a whole family who became insane at the age of forty. (14/41. Piorry page 109; Prosper Lucas tome 2 page 759.) Other cerebral affections sometimes follow the same rule,--for instance, epilepsy and apoplexy. A woman died of the latter disease when sixty-three years old; one of her daughters at forty-three, and the other at sixty-seven: the latter had twelve children, who all died from tubercular meningitis. (14/42. Prosper Lucas tome 2 page 748.) I mention this latter case because it ill.u.s.trates a frequent occurrence, namely, a change in the precise nature of an inherited disease, though still affecting the same organ.

Asthma has attacked several members of the same family when forty years old, and other families during infancy. The most different diseases, such as angina pectoris, stone in the bladder, and various affections of the skin, have appeared in successive generations at nearly the same age. The little finger of a man began from some unknown cause to grow inwards, and the same finger in his two sons began at the same age to bend inwards in a similar manner.

Strange and inexplicable neuralgic affections have caused parents and children to suffer agonies at about the same period of life. (14/43. Prosper Lucas tome 3 pages 678, 700, 702; Sedgwick ibid April 1863 page 449 and July 1863 page 162. Dr. J. Steinan 'Essay on Hereditary Disease' 1843 pages 27, 34.)

I will give only two other cases, which are interesting as ill.u.s.trating the disappearance as well as the appearance of disease at the same age. Two brothers, their father, their paternal uncles, seven cousins, and their paternal grandfather, were all similarly affected by a skin-disease, called pityriasis versicolor; "the disease, strictly limited to the males of the family (though transmitted through the females), usually appeared at p.u.b.erty, and disappeared at about the age of forty or forty-five years." The second case is that of four brothers, who when about twelve years old suffered almost every week from severe headaches, which were relieved only by a rec.u.mbent position in a dark room. Their father, paternal uncles, paternal grandfather, and granduncles all suffered in the same way from headaches, which ceased at the age of fifty-four or fifty-five in all those who lived so long. None of the females of the family were affected. (14/44. These cases are given by Mr.

Sedgwick on the authority of Dr. H. Stewart in 'Med.-Chirurg. Review' April 1863 pages 449, 477.)]

It is impossible to read the foregoing accounts, and the many others which have been recorded, of diseases coming on during three or even more generations in several members of the same family at the same age, especially in the case of rare affections in which the coincidence cannot be attributed to chance, and to doubt that there is a strong tendency to inheritance in disease at corresponding periods of life. When the rule fails, the disease is apt to come on earlier in the child than in the parent; the exceptions in the other direction being very much rarer. Dr. Lucas (14/45. 'Hered. Nat.' tome 2 page 852.) alludes to several cases of inherited diseases coming on at an earlier period. I have already given one striking instance with blindness during three generations; and Mr. Bowman remarks that this frequently occurs with cataract. With cancer there seems to be a peculiar liability to earlier inheritance: Sir J. Paget, who has particularly attended to this subject, and tabulated a large number of cases, informs me that he believes that in nine cases out of ten the later generation suffers from the disease at an earlier period than the previous generation. He adds, "In the instances in which the opposite relation holds, and the members of later generations have cancer at a later age than their predecessors, I think it will be found that the non- cancerous parents have lived to extreme old ages." So that the longevity of a non-affected parent seems to have the power of influencing the fatal period in the offspring; and we thus apparently get another element of complexity in inheritance.

The facts, showing that with certain diseases the period of inheritance occasionally or even frequently advances, are important with respect to the general descent-theory, for they render it probable that the same thing would occur with ordinary modifications of structure. The final result of a long series of such advances would be the gradual obliteration of characters proper to the embryo and larva, which would thus come to resemble more and more closely the mature parent-form. But any structure which was of service to the embryo or larva would be preserved by the destruction at this stage of growth of each individual which manifested any tendency to lose its proper character at too early an age.

Finally, from the numerous races of cultivated plants and domestic animals, in which the seeds or eggs, the young or old, differ from one another and from those of the parent-species;--from the cases in which new characters have appeared at a particular period, and afterwards been inherited at the same period;--and from what we know with respect to disease, we must believe in the truth of the great principle of inheritance at corresponding periods of life.

SUMMARY OF THE THREE PRECEDING CHAPTERS.

Strong as is the force of inheritance, it allows the incessant appearance of new characters. These, whether beneficial or injurious,--of the most trifling importance, such as a shade of colour in a flower, a coloured lock of hair, or a mere gesture,--or of the highest importance, as when affecting the brain, or an organ so perfect and complex as the eye,--or of so grave a nature as to deserve to be called a monstrosity,--or so peculiar as not to occur normally in any member of the same natural cla.s.s,--are often inherited by man, by the lower animals, and plants. In numberless cases it suffices for the inheritance of a peculiarity that one parent alone should be thus characterised.

Inequalities in the two sides of the body, though opposed to the law of symmetry, may be transmitted. There is ample evidence that the effects of mutilations and of accidents, especially or perhaps exclusively when followed by disease, are occasionally inherited. There can be no doubt that the evil effects of the long-continued exposure of the parent to injurious conditions are sometimes transmitted to the offspring. So it is, as we shall see in a future chapter, with the effects of the use and disuse of parts, and of mental habits. Periodical habits are likewise transmitted, but generally, as it would appear, with little force.

Hence we are led to look at inheritance as the rule, and non-inheritance as the anomaly. But this power often appears to us in our ignorance to act capriciously, transmitting a character with inexplicable strength or feebleness. The very same peculiarity, as the weeping habit of trees, silky feathers, etc., may be inherited either firmly or not at all by different members of the same group, and even by different individuals of the same species, though treated in the same manner. In this latter case we see that the power of transmission is a quality which is merely individual in its attachment. As with single characters, so it is with the several concurrent slight differences which distinguish sub-varieties or races; for of these, some can be propagated almost as truly as species, whilst others cannot be relied on. The same rule holds good with plants, when propagated by bulbs, offsets, etc., which in one sense still form parts of the same individual, for some varieties retain or inherit through successive bud-generations their character far more truly than others.

Some characters not proper to the parent-species have certainly been inherited from an extremely remote epoch, and may therefore be considered as firmly fixed. But it is doubtful whether length of inheritance in itself gives fixedness of character; though the chances are obviously in favour of any character which has long been transmitted true or unaltered still being transmitted true as long as the conditions of life remain the same. We know that many species, after having retained the same character for countless ages, whilst living under their natural conditions, when domesticated have varied in the most diversified manner, that is, have failed to transmit their original form; so that no character appears to be absolutely fixed. We can sometimes account for the failure of inheritance by the conditions of life being opposed to the development of certain characters; and still oftener, as with plants cultivated by grafts and buds, by the conditions causing new and slight modifications incessantly to appear. In this latter case it is not that inheritance wholly fails, but that new characters are continually superadded.

In some few cases, in which both parents are similarly characterised, inheritance seems to gain so much force by the combined action of the two parents, that it counteracts its own power, and a new modification is the result.

In many cases the failure of the parents to transmit their likeness is due to the breed having been at some former period crossed; and the child takes after his grandparent or more remote ancestor of foreign blood. In other cases, in which the breed has not been crossed, but some ancient character has been lost through variation, it occasionally reappears through reversion, so that the parents apparently fail to transmit their own likeness. In all cases, however, we may safely conclude that the child inherits all its characters from its parents, in whom certain characters are latent, like the secondary s.e.xual characters of one s.e.x in the other. When, after a long succession of bud- generations, a flower or fruit becomes separated into distinct segments, having the colours or other attributes of both parent-forms, we cannot doubt that these characters were latent in the earlier buds, though they could not then be detected, or could be detected only in an intimately commingled state.

So it is with animals of crossed parentage, which with advancing years occasionally exhibit characters derived from one of their two parents, of which not a trace could at first be perceived. Certain monstrosities, which resemble what naturalists call the typical form of the group in question, apparently come under the same law of reversion. It is a.s.suredly an astonishing fact that the male and female s.e.xual elements, that buds, and even full-grown animals, should retain characters, during several generations in the case of crossed breeds, and during thousands of generations in the case of pure breeds, written as it were in invisible ink, yet ready at any time to be evolved under certain conditions.

What these conditions precisely are, we do not know. But any cause which disturbs the organisation or const.i.tution seems to be sufficient. A cross certainly gives a strong tendency to the reappearance of long-lost characters, both corporeal and mental. In the case of plants, this tendency is much stronger with those species which have been crossed after long cultivation and which therefore have had their const.i.tutions disturbed by this cause as well as by crossing, than with species which have always lived under their natural conditions and have then been crossed. A return, also, of domesticated animals and cultivated plants to a wild state favours reversion; but the tendency under these circ.u.mstances has been much exaggerated.

When individuals of the same family which differ somewhat, and when races or species are crossed, the one is often prepotent over the other in transmitting its character. A race may possess a strong power of inheritance, and yet when crossed, as we have seen with trumpeter-pigeons, yield to the prepotency of every other race. Prepotency of transmission may be equal in the two s.e.xes of the same species, but often runs more strongly in one s.e.x. It plays an important part in determining the rate at which one race can be modified or wholly absorbed by repeated crosses with another. We can seldom tell what makes one race or species prepotent over another; but it sometimes depends on the same character being present and visible in one parent, and latent or potentially present in the other.

Characters may first appear in either s.e.x, but oftener in the male than in the female, and afterwards be transmitted to the offspring of the same s.e.x. In this case we may feel confident that the peculiarity in question is really present though latent in the opposite s.e.x! hence the father may transmit through his daughter any character to his grandson; and the mother conversely to her granddaughter. We thus learn, and the fact is an important one, that transmission and development are distinct powers. Occasionally these two powers seem to be antagonistic, or incapable of combination in the same individual; for several cases have been recorded in which the son has not directly inherited a character from his father, or directly transmitted it to his son, but has received it by transmission through his non-affected mother, and transmitted it through his non-affected daughter. Owing to inheritance being limited by s.e.x, we see how secondary s.e.xual characters may have arisen under nature; their preservation and acc.u.mulation being dependent on their service to either s.e.x.

At whatever period of life a new character first appears, it generally remains latent in the offspring until a corresponding age is attained, and then is developed. When this rule fails, the child generally exhibits the character at an earlier period than the parent. On this principle of inheritance at corresponding periods, we can understand how it is that most animals display from the germ to maturity such a marvellous succession of characters.

Finally, though much remains obscure with respect to Inheritance, we may look at the following laws as fairly well established.

FIRSTLY, a tendency in every character, new and old, to be transmitted by seminal and bud generation, though often counteracted by various known and unknown causes.

SECONDLY, reversion or atavism, which depends on transmission and development being distinct powers: it acts in various degrees and manners through both seminal and bud generation.

THIRDLY, prepotency of transmission, which may be confined to one s.e.x, or be common to both s.e.xes.

FOURTHLY, transmission, as limited by s.e.x, generally to the same s.e.x in which the inherited character first appeared; and this in many, probably most cases, depends on the new character having first appeared at a rather late period of life.

FIFTHLY, inheritance at corresponding periods of life, with some tendency to the earlier development of the inherited character.

In these laws of Inheritance, as displayed under domestication, we see an ample provision for the production, through variability and natural selection, of new specific forms.

CHAPTER 2.XV.

ON CROSSING.

FREE INTERCROSSING OBLITERATES THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ALLIED BREEDS.

WHEN THE NUMBERS OF TWO COMMINGLING BREEDS ARE UNEQUAL, ONE ABSORBS THE OTHER.

THE RATE OF ABSORPTION DETERMINED BY PREPOTENCY OF TRANSMISSION, BY THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE, AND BY NATURAL SELECTION.

ALL ORGANIC BEINGS OCCASIONALLY INTERCROSS; APPARENT EXCEPTIONS.

ON CERTAIN CHARACTERS INCAPABLE OF FUSION; CHIEFLY OR EXCLUSIVELY THOSE WHICH HAVE SUDDENLY APPEARED IN THE INDIVIDUAL.

ON THE MODIFICATION OF OLD RACES, AND THE FORMATION OF NEW RACES BY CROSSING.

SOME CROSSED RACES HAVE BRED TRUE FROM THEIR FIRST PRODUCTION.

ON THE CROSSING OF DISTINCT SPECIES IN RELATION TO THE FORMATION OF DOMESTIC RACES.

In the two previous chapters, when discussing reversion and prepotency, I was necessarily led to give many facts on crossing. In the present chapter I shall consider the part which crossing plays in two opposed directions,--firstly, in obliterating characters, and consequently in preventing the formation of new races; and secondly, in the modification of old races, or in the formation of new and intermediate races, by a combination of characters. I shall also show that certain characters are incapable of fusion.

The effects of free or uncontrolled breeding between the members of the same variety or of closely allied varieties are important; but are so obvious that they need not be discussed at much length. It is free intercrossing which chiefly gives uniformity, both under nature and under domestication, to the individuals of the same species or variety, when they live mingled together and are not exposed to any cause inducing excessive variability. The prevention of free crossing, and the intentional matching of individual animals, are the corner-stones of the breeder's art. No man in his senses would expect to improve or modify a breed in any particular manner, or keep an old breed true and distinct, unless he separated his animals. The killing of inferior animals in each generation comes to the same thing as their separation. In savage and semi-civilised countries, where the inhabitants have not the means of separating their animals, more than a single breed of the same species rarely or never exists. In former times, even in the United States, there were no distinct races of sheep, for all had been mingled together. (15/1. 'Communications to the Board of Agriculture' volume 1 page 367.) The celebrated agriculturist Marshall (15/2. 'Review of Reports, North of England' 1808 page 200.) remarks that "sheep that are kept within fences, as well as shepherded flocks in open countries, have generally a similarity, if not a uniformity, of character in the individuals of each flock;" for they breed freely together, and are prevented from crossing with other kinds; whereas in the unenclosed parts of England the unshepherded sheep, even of the same flock, are far from true or uniform, owing to various breeds having mingled and crossed. We have seen that the half-wild cattle in each of the several British parks are nearly uniform in character; but in the different parks, from not having mingled and crossed during many generations, they differ to a certain small extent.