I JO The Descent of Man. Paut I. 



countries from the different races of man ; 8 and he finds that 

 they differ, not only in colour, but in the structure of their 

 claws and limbs. In every case in which many specimens were 

 obtained the differences were constant. The surgeon of a whaling 

 ship in the Pacific assured me that when the Pediculi, with 

 which some Sandwich Islanders on board swarmed, strayed on 

 to the bodies of the English sailors, they died in the course of 

 three or four days. These Pediculi were darker coloured, and 

 appeared different from those proper to tbe natives of Chiloe in 

 South America, of which he gave me specimens. These, again, 

 appeared larger and much softer than European lice. Mr. 

 Murray procured four kinds from Africa, namely from the Negroes 

 of the Eastern and Western coasts, from the Hottentots and 

 Kaffirs ; two kinds from the natives of Australia ; two from North 

 and two from South America. In these latter cases it may be 

 presumed that the Pediculi came from natives inhabiting different 

 districts. With insects slight structural differences, if constant, 

 are generally esteemed of specific value: and the fact of the 

 races of man being infested by parasites, which appear to be 

 specifically distinct, might fairly be urged as an argument that 

 the races themselves ought to be classed as distinct species. 



Our supposed naturalist having proceeded thus far in his 

 investigation, would next enquire whether the races of men, when 

 crossed, were in any degree sterile. He might consult the work 9 

 of Professor Broca, a cautious and jDhilosophical observer, and in 

 this he would find good evidence that some races were quite 

 fertile together, but evidence of an opposite nature in regard to 

 other races. Thus it has been asserted that the native women of 

 Australia and Tasmania rarely produce children to European 

 men ; the evidence, however, on this head has now been shewn 

 to be almost valueless. The half-castes are killed by the pure 

 blacks : and an account has lately been published of eleven half- 

 caste youths murdered and burnt at the same time, whose 

 remains were found by the police. 10 Again, it has often been 

 said that when mulattoes intermarry they produce few children ; 

 on the other hand, Dr. Pachman of Charleston 11 positively 



8 'Transact. R. Soc. of Edinburgh,' who have borne children to a white 

 vol. xxii. 1861, p. 567. man are afterwards sterile with 



9 'On the Phenomena of Hybridity their own race, is disproved. M. A. 

 m the Genus Homo,' Eng. translat. de Quatrefages has also collected 

 1864. (' Revue des Cours Scientifiques,' 



10 See the interesting letter by March 1869, p. 239) much evidence 

 Mr. T. A. Murray, in the ' Anthro- that Australians and Europeans are 

 polog. Review,' April 1868, p. liii. not sterile when crossed. 



Ju this letter Count Strzelecki's u 'An Examination of Prcf. 



statement, that Australian women Agassiz's Sketch of the Nat. Pro- 



