40 ON THE TENDENCY OF VARIETIES TO DEPART 



pouter pigeons, and poodle dogs could never have 

 come into existence in a state of nature, because 

 the very first step towards such inferior forms would 

 have led to the rapid extinction of the race; still 

 less could they now exist in competition with their 

 wild allies. The great speed but slight endurance 

 of the race horse, the unwieldly strength of the 

 ploughman's team, would both be useless in a state 

 of nature. If turned wild on the pampas, such ani- 

 mals would probably soon become extinct, or under 

 favourable circumstances might each gradually lose 

 those extreme qualities which would never be called 

 into action, and in a few generations revert to a 

 common type, which must be that in which the 

 various powers and faculties are so proportioned to 

 each other as to be best adapted to procure food and 

 secure safety, that in which by the full exercise of 

 every part of its organisation the animal can alone 

 continue to live. Domestic varieties, when turned 

 wild, must return to something near the type of 

 the original wild stock, or become altogether extinct.* 

 We see, then, that no inferences as to the per- 

 manence of varieties in a state of nature can be 

 deduced from the observations of those occurring 

 among domestic animals. The two are so much op- 

 posed to each other in every circumstance of their 



* That is, they will vary, and the variations which tend to 

 adapt them to the wild state, and therefore approximate them 

 to wild animals, will be preserved. Those individuals which do 

 not vary sufficiently will perish. 



